Another ones of my beautiful past couples, who has welcomed a new addition to their family and invited me to document another milestone in their lives :) They’re living in nor cal now and it worked out that I was able to meet up with them while I was there for one of my weddings last month. They showed me their cute new home, the parks where they take Ryan, and one of their favorite ramen places (which was DELICIOUS!)

From the moment I decided to do photography, I always wanted to specialize in weddings and engagements, but I’ve really been enjoying these family sessions that have fatefully fallen into my lap recently. The images that result from these relaxed, peek-into-the-daily, lifestyle type sessions speak so closely to my heart :)

I knew Stephanie and Bruce would be amazing to work with from our initial Skype meeting, which was basically filled with laughter from beginning to end. This was reinforced when I flew to nor cal for their engagement session {they are huge foodies and picked the ultimate foodie location… coming to the blog soon!} and of course on their wedding day, which was packed with beautiful emotion. One of my favorite moments was during the ceremony when letters that Steph and Bruce had written to their parents were read aloud. Both families have experienced health-related hardships in the recent years, and for their parents to be present there to celebrate with them was so so special and meaningful.

I almost can’t even being to express how thankful and blessed I feel to have been a part of their wedding day, and the journey leading up to it. As Steph and Bruce had also sweetly expressed in a note they slipped to me at the end of the wedding, I feel like I’ve gained not just wonderful past clients, but wonderful friends along the way :)

// see Part 1 here //

Every day for the first half of the road trip, we would wake up and be like, IT’S ONLY THE THIRD DAY! or IT’S ONLY THE FOURTH DAY! It was so exciting to think that with all the amazing things we had seen so far, there was still more of the coast, and Portland, and Seattle, in the days to come.

We initially wanted to spend 2 nights in San Francisco, a city we both love to pieces, but when planning the trip realized we could only spend one. So we squished all the zillion places we wanted to eat at into less than 24 hours, and it was MARVELOUS. And because that wasn’t enough, at the end of it all I started craving cheese, so we picked up some of the best cheese I’ve ever had (Beecher’s!) at the Ferry Building, that served as our snack on our drive up to Fort Bragg (a stop we put on the map just for North Coast Brewery).

The last leg of California was the redwoods – one of the things I was most looking forward to. I pretty much wouldn’t shut up about how I wanted to see the HUGE GIANT TREES THAT YOU CAN DRIVE YOUR CAR THROUGH OMG. We did get suckered into one touristy version of those, which was actually a pretty small tree, and therefore was really nervewracking and stressful to drive through (“turn your mirrors in!”). But Barrie got a trucker hat at the gift shop, and I picked up some vintage-inspired postcards, and we still laugh and reminisce about the Chandelier Tree, and like many of the things on the trip I realize – it wasn’t the big landmark things per say, it was the random unexpected moments that made it all so beautiful :)

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day 3 & 4 – san francisco | fort bragg | avenue of the giants

Ike’s, San Francisco, CA – This is where we got the infamous Kryptonite sandwich, which includes (WAIT FOR IT): roast beef, pastrami, salami, turkey, bacon, ham, mozzarella sticks, stuffed jalapeno poppers, beer battered onion rings, avocado, pepper jack, and pesto spread. When Barrie first told me about it, I swore he was lying, and was just naming everything I like in one sandwich to entice me to go there (not that he’d have to because I LOVE ANY AND ALL SANDWICHES! THINGS BETWEEN BREAD FTW!) And I have to say, even though all those things are delicious on their own, I was a bit skeptical about throwing them all together and having it be too much of one good thing. And then I realized, what does that even mean?? OF COURSE IT WAS DELICIOUS.

Morning – Fort Bragg, CA

Avenue of the Giants, CA

Up next – into Oregon! :)