You may remember Molly and Wayne from their summery poolside engagement session – it was so colorful and full of their fun personalities and I knew right then that their wedding would be just as amazing! It was held at the stunning Serra Plaza in San Juan Capistrano, which meant we got to hop over to the mission to get some pretty portraits as well. The whole day had such an air of relaxed elegance and so many thoughtful touches – lovely white peonies, hanging chandeliers, and Mexican food (including refreshing horchata & agua fresca!) for dinner!

It was so much fun and I was so happy to be there to document it!

When I first met with Angela & John {over mile-high pastrami sandwiches at Jerry’s Famous Deli, my kind of couple!}, they shared about their wedding, but also extensively about their families. I got such a strong sense of how important their families were to them and what a vital role they would be playing in the wedding.

But what I discovered on their wedding day was even more wonderful – that they were close with their families yes, but also that the two families seemed to be so close to each other. I spotted their mothers laughing together and walking arm in arm, I saw the sweet friendship between Angela’s brother and John’s son, observed the fun interaction between everyone on the dance floor. A wedding day, just as it joins people, most definitely joins families, but I seriously felt as if everyone there was already one big happy wonderful family – tears and hugs and laughs were shared freely among everyone and it was amazing to witness.

I know Angela poured her heart and soul into planning this wedding and it unfolded perfectly. It definitely couldn’t hurt that it all started off with the loveliest pair of shoes…

I think my heart skipped 2 beats when I saw her bouquet, pale pink peonies are one of my favorites…

For their first dance, John surprised Angela with a live song performed by their friends. Her reaction was perfect!

I love how John’s son came over and sat on Angela’s lap during the slideshow. So sweet:

What’s better than one bride trashing her dress? Four brides trashing their dresses!! (plus some grooms too!)

Last Saturday I attended a group TTD session, graciously organized by Chris Austin. We gathered at the San Juan Capistrano train depot, which has lots of cool little places to shoot (including train tracks of course, which are always exciting.) Got to meet some awesome So Cal photographers and some equally awesome models who were up for whatever our crazy minds could come up with. One cool model even enthusiastically announced, “yeah, I’ll totally do whatever you guys want – climb on things, roll around in the dirt, you got it!”

One of my favorite things about the shoot was getting to see the unique styles of each couple & model. Everyone had a bit of a different mood, a different way of interacting with the camera, and it was really exciting to try and capture that in the images. In the same way, it was so cool seeing the different styles of all the photographers who were there that day, both in the midst of their work and in their finished images. It got me thinking even more about what kind of style I find myself gravitating towards and what I want to create for myself & reflect in my photos. Anyway, here are a few from the day!