I first met Mai over the sweetest email.. she wrote that she had been following my blog for awhile and as it would soon be her turn to tie the knot, she was excited to chat about wedding photography. She also wrote how she had recently started a floral business, Bunch Studio, and upon first glance at her website I was speechless. She created some of the most lush & creative designs I had ever seen, especially for someone who was only months (MONTHS!) into ever picking up a flower to arrange.

As the year before her wedding unfolded, I hung out with Mai (and Nick!) at various events & through mutual friends, we worked together on shoots and weddings, and by the time their own wedding (at the beautiful Strawberry Farms) came around, I felt I was definitely shooting the wedding of not clients, but dear friends. Which makes writing this entry almost more difficult.. because how to even describe such a day? A wedding where the bride is one of the most talented floral designers I’ve ever met? A ceremony arch of air plants; homegrown, picked, and potted succulents as favors; bouquets {each one unique!} that Mai handcrafted herself; every rustic & organic detail infused with Mai & Nick and their story..

But even moreso, how to describe the beautiful intangible side of things? A ceremony, officiated by a friend {my favorite type!}, that brought everyone present to tears, music & dance performances by friends at the reception, all the fathers/daughters & mothers/sons being invited out to dance during those respective moments & seeing all the various generations.. And a love between Mai and Nick that is all the right things – warm, silly, confident, and filled with that undeniable feeling of “home”.

A million thank yous to Mai & Nick for giving me the opportunity to document all of this!

This wedding is featured on one of my most favorite wedding blogs today… Green Wedding Shoes! Thank you Jen for the feature! Be sure to head over to GWS to see the post and a lovely description of the details of the wedding by Mai herself!

My favorite kinds of bouquets – whimsical, eclectic, and filled with unique not-your-typical-floral finds…

Nick asked all his groomsmen to grow out their mustaches for the wedding… love it!!

A shave ice truck was on hand providing endless refreshment, such a genius (and delicious) idea!

The most perfect photobooth setup…

And the cake! Laurie of I Believe It’s Cake! is a true artist and quite possibly outdid herself on this one… so elegant and beautiful…

Venue, Catering, Coordination: Strawberry Farms
Florals: Bunch Studio & Floral Elements
Cake: I Believe Its Cake
Shave Ice Truck: Tropical Shave Ice
DJ & MC: Playtime Attractions, Andy & Daphne Felicitas

A long tree-lined road opened up to the beautiful Middle Ranch lodge. In a spacious & warmly decorated room, Suzanne, the beautiful bride, bustled about with an excited smile upon her face. A smile that only grew wider as she slipped on her dress, and wider still as she walked through the trees to meet her groom, and perhaps widest when he turned and they saw each other for the first time that day.

Suzanne & Robert both spent the day with the biggest ear-to-ear grins, accompanied by a smattering of sweet teary moments and laughter. The day was overflowing with such joyous emotion and there were more than a few times where I found myself fervently blinking back tears behind the lens…

In the touching toasts during the reception everyone shared stories of Suzanne & Robert’s kindness, and even in the short period of time we’ve gotten to know them, I know every single one of those stories is true. They treated us with such graciousness and warmth the entire day, and I left feeling as if we had made two wonderful friends!

Before we dive into the photos, I’d just like to mention how madly in love I am with the bright eclectic color scheme Suzanne chose! This use of color was extended to the prettiest pair of shoes…

I was head over heels for the colorful bouquets, a fantastic mix of textures and tones, incorporating berries and succulents alike. Flora by Fauna did an amazing job bringing Suzanne’s vision to life!

Loved their fun first dance, you could seriously tell they were having an awesome time! Many thanks to Jason Henson of 11H Entertainment for providing the tunes – we’ve worked with him before and he wows us everytime with his awesome DJ/MCing skills!

Venue: Middle Ranch, Lake View Terrace, CA
Florals: Flora by Fauna
DJ: Jason Henson of 11H Entertainment
Coordinator: Melvin Santiago

There are many many parts of Carrie & Matt’s day that stole my heart.

There was the warm & homey Senshin Temple, where they had an intimate Japanese Buddhist ceremony set against a breathtakingly ornate altar.
There were the elegantly clean & modern chrysanthemum arrangements & bouquets.
Then there were the millions of white pom-poms, lovingly created by hand and strung above the courtyard for the reception. {I could have seriously spent all day just photographing those alone – it was such a simple concept, yet resulted in some of the most amazing reception decor I’ve seen!}
And then – then there was the In N Out truck they brought in, wafting delicious smells across the entire temple & resulting in happy tummies among all the guests. (And photographers.)

But the kicker, the big thing that made their day so special & pulled so earnestly at my heartstrings, was Carrie & Matt themselves and the amazing, genuine, uplifting love they share. I truly believe that somehow, someway, I have completely lucked out and get to work with some of the kindest & sweetest couples that walk this earth, and it brings me so much joy to see these coules on one of their happiest days, having found the one person that truly completes them. Carrie & Matt of course were no exception, and it was truly inspiring watching how happy they are together.

Do enjoy the photos of the poofs, and the burgers, and the flowers, but ultimately I hope these images reflect the love that filled every moment of this special day :)

Loved this moment post-ceremony – Carrie & Matt embraced right after their exit and held each other for a few minutes… even as guests were exiting and milling around the area. It was such a sweet intimate moment…

Love these mixed CDs Carrie & Matt made as fun & personalized favors!

The paper lanterns below all had unique designs created by Carrie’s friend!