A perfect sunny day in Long Beach, the shimmery ocean, lots of bright jewel tones courtesy of the Hotel Maya, tons of emotion, and a seriously awesome couple. So much prettiness to shoot that day :) Meghan and Lee are the type of people who go with the flow, who keep it real, who find every opportunity to smile & enjoy the moment, so you can imagine that shooting their wedding was a breeze and so much fun! It was the perfect way to round out my summer wedding season :)

The past couple months have been the busiest for me this year, and I’m excited to share lots of lovely fall weddings with you soon!

Sarah and I first met sometime around the 7th grade, in Girl Scouts. I joined a troop of girls who all attended a different school than I did, and she was one of the first to reach out and talk to me. I feel like this little snippet of information alone will tell you mountains about my friend. She’s the type of person who makes friends out of strangers wherever she goes, because she genuinely is interested in you – she wants to get to know you, to hear about your day, to catch up, to stay in touch. She is also perhaps one of the most “real” people I have ever met – she definitely was one of my funniest and quirkiest friends growing up, and when we reunited a few years ago I was SO so happy to find that even as an adult, she hadn’t changed one bit.

And I was also so happy to find that she had met this amazing guy named Tory, who somehow complemented her quirkiness just perfectly. It’s a pretty fantastic thing to see your friend – especially someone as awesome and unique as Sarah – be with a person who so totally let’s them be themselves. Sarah and Tory fit together just perfectly, and it was such an honor for Barrie and I to be able to join them up in SF on their wedding weekend. There was an intimate Jewish ceremony at the Sunnyside Conservatory, followed by a casual reception (catered by a delicious Vietnamese food truck) at Project One Gallery.

Once upon a time, in middle school, Sarah and I used to take pictures of each other with our little film cameras and put the prints together in magazines (these were legit guys – with fashion spreads and beauty tips and advertisements and everything!) It was quite lovely and nostalgic having her in front of my lens again :)

Absolutely adored the fact that Sarah chose to get ready in her beautiful light-filled apartment…

I sometimes feel there is an extra special dynamic between couples who have been doing long distance during the span of their relationship. When they’re together, and perhaps especially on their wedding day, you can almost feel them treasure every single moment, you can see the excitement of being reunited, you can sense the appreciation and enjoyment of having their favorite person by their side. To witness it is a reminder for all of us – that to be able to hold the hand of the one you love, to see the way their face breaks into a smile, or find the way your head fits perfectly on their shoulder, are beautiful things never to be taken for granted.

For much of their relationship Harnnull had been in Seattle while Kristy was in LA, and I couldn’t be happier for them to both be together now here! They are seriously some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and their wedding day was brimming with the sort of joy and gratitude I described – I caught them more than a few times expressing “I love you” to each other when few others could hear :)

To top it off, it all came together at one of my favorite city venues, Cafe Pinot, and we had a complete dream team of vendors – Sassy Girl Weddings coordinating everything perfectly, and Bunch Studio creating all the lovely blooms. And not to be forgotten – Coolhaus providing dessert! :)

I love this tradition! I’ve seen a few different unity or sand ceremonies at weddings, but this has to be one of my favorites. Kristy and Harnnull each wrote each other letters and sealed them up in this box along with a bottle of wine, to share with each other come their one year anniversary :)