Thank you to Style Me Pretty for featuring this wedding yesterday! Check out the full lovely feature here! :)

I think I first met Amanda when I was only a few months into wedding photography. She was perhaps one of the very first wedding planners I ever met, and despite me having only a teensy weensy bit of experience, she gave me the opportunity to photograph this amazing event, and passed my name along to one of her super sweet couples. It’s hard to express how much something like that can mean to you when you’re just starting out… that someone can grant you this unassuming trust, when you don’t have much to show or offer at all other than an incredible desire to meet people and make photos. It meant the world to me.

And now, some three years later, to be asked to photograph her own special day? It’s an unspeakable honor. I’m sure as a coordinator Amanda got asked tons of questions from family & friends during her planning process – what flowers? what colors? what details? After coordinating & designing so many weddings, I’m sure she realized how completely endless the possibilities are. And although the details were amazing, and the flowers spectacular, the dress breathtaking, the venue gorgeous – it really warmed my heart to see that Amanda & Kelly really embraced on what they learned most from planning other people’s weddings… that the day is about you & your love, that it is a reflection of your personalities, that in that moment, you let go and you laugh and love and enjoy the day completely.

Since this was the wedding of an amazing coordinator, the day of course unfolded flawlessly {it helped that Shirley from Amanda’s team was on hand to coordinate, she’s phenomenal!} Special thanks to William Kim for shooting with me, and to the all-star team of vendors – I had worked with them on so many different weddings with Amanda/Fresh Events & it was so fun to have everyone together for Amanda & Kelly’s big day! :)

Event Design & Planning: Fresh Events Company
Floral Design: Le Petit Gardenia
Venue: Westin Pasadena
Wedding Cinematography: Walter Pawluk Videography
DJ: Jason of 11H Entertainment
Hair/Make-up: Make-up: Kelly Zhang
Invitations: I Do Concepts
Dessert: Popcakes / Dots Cupcakes

The internet is a crazy thing isn’t it? It creates these connections with people you may have never otherwise met, and in this industry, this often means couples {just like Jackie & James for example} who happen to live 3000 miles away, but somehow find you nonetheless. And it’s exciting, because when you finally meet, maybe for tea lattes at Coffee Bean? you find that they’re really just like you, and everything is a perfect fit, and it’s as if you’ve known each other all along :)

Jackie & James’s wedding was held at one of my most favorite urban venues, Cafe Pinot, a quiet green oasis in the midst of downtown LA, flanked by skyscrapers on all sides (which resulted in reflections galore and the.most.amazing light!) Jackie was exactly how a bride should be on her wedding day – a perfect blend of smiles, laughs, excitement, joy. There were a few moments – while she was getting ready, while walking over to the venue – where she would have a moment of realization, and whisper “oh my goodness, I’m getting MARRIED today..”, her eyes welling up with tears of joy.

It was a perfect day :)

The photo below is perhaps one of my favorite images ever. Jackie wanted to do a private first look, so her bridemaids & mom stayed behind as she walked over towards James… the moment she spotted him in the distance, she started tearing up and paused for a moment, as her bridesmaids & mom encouraged and comforted her to go on… it was such a beautiful moment…

A shot of the guys courtesy of my awesome second shooter for the day Ayumi Pantell!

I love when all the components of a wedding come together just perfectly!

It maybe begins with an intimate seaside venue {the Long Beach Museum of Art}. It includes a darling first look, the kind with lots of smiles and perhaps a few tears. There is a ton of time for fun portraits. There might be pretty diffuse light, and definitely a warm & relaxed atmosphere. Overjoyed family and friends abound, laughter fills every corner of the venue. Maybe a fantastic sweets bar, filled with treats from Sweet and Saucy? :) And of course, a couple that shares a deeply-rooted love, the kind of people that are warm & sweet & beautiful on their own, but, even better together.

Before the crazy photo barrage ensues {there are something like 50 of them!}, I would like to give a special shoutout to Mai of Bunch Studio, who not only created the florals for this wedding, but designed this wedding in its entirety. She took Deena’s visions of bold pinks, black & white, damask, and added her own Bunch Studio flair (the peonies! the feathers! I die!) that is immensely creative, full of style, and always unmatched. If you don’t yet have a florist, you really do need to give this girl a ring :)

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