Angela and John met at a taekwondo studio. Angela’s very first impression of John was that he was cute, but also incredibly intimidating. Intimidating despite the fact that she was the teacher and he was the student. And despite the fact that she had conquered 3 degrees of blackbelt and had competed in national and world championships. Her sparring record and perfect form was all no match for the tall and intimidating student in her class, and Angela decided she would have nothing to do with approching him anytime soon.

And then one fateful day, Angela was working in the studio office and in entered a slightly disgruntled John. An accidental $700 overcharge on a class is hardly ever a good thing, but in this case, it was the very thing that sparked their first conversation, their relationship, and then their love. The studio’s little error brought together two people who are ridiculously perfect together and will be marrying this May at San Juan Capistrano Mission!

They love the entire area, so we decided to do their engagement session in San Juan Capistrano as well, spending time at the train depot and the little colorful houses that line the road behind it. I love the light, the colors, and all the little spots we found!

When Scott’s sister Lauren and her husband Josh first got engaged, they so kindly asked me if I wanted to be a photographer or a guest. The photographer in me dreamed of the beauty of their wedding, a lovely fall occasion set amongst the vineyards with the Los Olivos hills in the background, a lively but intimate union of two absolutely amazing people. But then the guest in me started imagining up the same scenario and I realized what a dream it would be to focus distinctly on the celebrating of their day (and the eating of amazing hors d’oeuvres, and the breaking it down on the dance floor – two aspects we as photographers generally do not partake in).

Though I was a guest and toyed with the idea of leaving my camera behind, I could not quite bring myself to leave it at home, and am so excited to share with you some images of their beautiful day. Throughout the day I tried my darndest to limit my shots and relish in the moments, even when I would randomly have panic attacks when I realized I didn’t know where Lauren & Josh were at a particular moment, and why wasn’t I with them? And OMG the ceremony is starting and why am I sitting in this chair instead of up by the altar? And the grand entrance is happening and I didn’t even get shots of all the details yet, THE DETAILS. But thankfully I caught myself everytime, and they had hired the utterly amazing and talented Susan Dean to capture all the important moments of the day.

And their day was nothing short of spectacular. Lauren & Josh are both such kind, warm, and thoughtful people, and honestly such a perfect fit. Together they cook meals, they drink wine, they go hiking and biking, they travel the world, and they plan an amazing wedding. Not a single detail was overlooked and the day spoke wonderfully of who they are and what is most important to them. And the Firestone Vineyards in Los Olivos provided the absolute perfect backdrop – it had the excitement and buzz of a mini-destination wedding, yet was still so conveniently close to LA. I am crossing all my fingers and toes that I’ll get to photograph a wedding there soon! :)

I could go on forever, but let’s let the photos do the speaking!

Lauren & her bridesmaids spent the night and got ready at a beautiful ranch house not far from Firestone. They didn’t opt for getting-ready photography coverage, so Lauren asked if I could get a few shots. It really makes a huge difference to have an attractive backdrop for the getting-ready photos and the ranch house was ridiculously perfect!

A fierce battle of checkers:

Lauren’s mother is one of the kindest, most warm-hearted people I have ever met. They have such a wonderful close-knit relationship and I loved how joyful both of them were on this day!

Once we arrived at Firestone Vineyards, I helped Mai of Bunch Studio with the floral arrangements (and snuck in a few [dozen] shots in the process). Mai recently started doing flowers for weddings and her work is absolutely breathtaking! (An added bonus: we have the honor of photographing her own wedding next fall!)

Ranunculus always make my heart skip a couple beats…

I love this moment right after the ceremony… it’s like they are the only two people in the world…

A quick shot with my handsome groomsman ;)

When we reached the cocktail hour, I may or may not have made a mad dash to the crackers & cheese table and gracefully stuffed my face as if I hadn’t eaten in 3 months, all the while keeping a keen eye out for any moving platters of delicious morsels. My favorite was the tomato soup cups with grilled cheese bites!

The cocktail hour was held in the barrel room and Lauren and Josh had strung up photos from their childhood as well as photos of the two of them together. It was such a thoughtful touch and the ambiance in the barrel room was unbelievable!

The night ended with a reception in the courtyard. I leave you with this shot of their first dance, to Adele’s rendition of “Make You Feel My Love”, one of the dreamiest and most romantic first dance songs ever!

And so concludes their lovely day! Lauren & Josh – congratulations and wishing you all the best for years and years to come! And to you amazing blog readers who stick it out through each of my mile-long posts, there are many more to come soon! I’m going to be playing a mad game of catch-up on the blog in the next couple of weeks and will be posting lots of wonderful October weddings & engagement sessions!

Back in August, Scott and I found ourselves with a very rare and enticing situation on our hands – a free weekend! We usually have at least one wedding or engagement session per weekend, but that weekend we found ourselves entirely open and decided it would be the perfect opportunity for a mini summer trip. We brainstormed a few places to visit, and ended up choosing the Santa Ynez Valley, a new untapped spot for both of us, filled with stunning vineyards and located just above Santa Barbara.

And that’s how it became one of my new favorite places. Amazing food, beautiful rolling hills covered in grapes, wonderful little oak trees lining both sides of the highway, and well, Solvang (who doesn’t love Solvang?) – it was the perfect location to refresh our minds before the fall wedding season. Come take a tour with us!

(Special thanks to Betty of Type A Planning, Josh & Lauren, and Bonnie Tsang for their amazing recommendations on where to go and what to do!

When we first drove in (or Scott drove in and I reluctantly rubbed the sleep out of my eyes) we found that the weather was not quite the perfect sunny wine-country weather we imagined. But what could make that better? Sandwiches! We drove straight to Panino, an amazing sandwich place that came highly recommended. They were deliciously fresh and tasty:

Afterwards we headed to the place I was looking forward to most on the trip – Saarloos & Sons! A beautiful tasting room that I first saw on Design*Sponge. But an absolutely lovely interior alone, though giddy-inducing, was not quite enough to make me as excited as I was – a built-in cupcake shop, however, was!

I’ve had my fair share of cupcakes, but I have to say Enjoy Cupcakes *ahem* takes the cake (yes, I just went there, I did). I know this is a strong and dangerous statement to make, but they are in fact the BEST cupcakes I’ve ever tasted – the sweetness, the consistency, the ratio of frosting to cake is all perfection! And the best part, many of the flavors are wine-inspired, like Chocolate Blackberry Syrah and Pineapple Chardonnay. The Honey Mousse was my favorite:

Afterwards we visited Solvang to walk around for a bit and also stopped by the mission to take in the view of the hills – and do some crazy jumping shots of course. It seems Scott is quite excited about our mini-vacation:

That night we had dinner at Root 246, a new restaurant in Solvang with delicious food and a clean, modern vibe:

On Day 2 we visited a few different wineries, my favorite which was Foley Estates. As you drive up the road to the tasting room it feels like you’re pulling up to a Tuscan villa!

In the midst of our winery tour, we came across an awesome little find – an ostrich farm! I may look smiley but I was really holding onto that feeder for dear life. Ostriches are all kinds of violent when they eat:

And some emus! I’m not going to lie – they are definitely no cuddly puppies (but a little less spastic than ostriches when you feed them):

It was almost time to head home, but we couldn’t leave Los Olivos without having just onnnne more of those amazing cupcakes. So we picked up some sandwiches and some creme brulee cupcakes and had a little picnic at Firestone Vineyards…

Stay tuned for more on Firestone Vineyards next! Just a few weeks after our trip we returned there for Scott’s sister’s beautiful vineyard wedding! Can’t wait to share about their amazing day!