San Juan Capistrano: Julie and Jon's Engagement!

"Hi, I'm Julie!, what's your name?"

"Whoa, what the heck? Who is this girl?" I thought to myself.

This was my first encounter with Julie at the Freshman Luau at Saddleback Community Church. If you can imagine it, I was an even bigger dork then; quiet, shy, skinny, pimply, and frankly just plain scared of girls. And then all of a sudden this random girl comes up to me and talks to me?! This was an unprecedented event, and I didn't quite know what to make of it.

But, if you know Julie, then you know this is anything but out of the ordinary! Julie's personality and pizazz for life is infectious, and her smile has undoubtedly gotten her out of some trouble, haha. She's a firecracker, and I knew it would take an amazing man to captivate her heart and win her undying love.

Julie herself is an artist, dabbling in photography, but her real calling and passion is as a songwriter! She's traveled from Orange Country, to Nashville, and then back again as she pursues her dreams! I have no doubt she's feeling as if one of her biggest dreams has already come true; she's found the cowboy that will ride off with her into the sunset, with the sky as their limits. I can tell Jon is her rock, her anchor here on earth that keeps her from flying all over the place ;)

We had so much fun with Julie and Jon in downtown San Juan Capistrano. I love how they both play off of one another and just seem to be the perfect compliment to the others quirks! I love it! Isn't that how it's supposed to be? Perfect like that?

You'll see right off the bat, these two are more fun than a bag-full of marbles at a dance recital; no one could stop laughing. We loved our time together and can't wait to shoot their wedding next month at Strawberry Farms in Irvine!

You rock Julie and Jon!

Downtown Disneyland: Sara and Noam's Engagement!

I kissed Dumbo's butt.

It all started with my first trip to Disneyland...I was 5 years old, I had my Mickey Mouse ears on, and my Mom, Aunt, and Uncle all in tow. I was the first child in the entire family, and this trip was apparently a HUGE deal. A story from that momentous occasion still haunts me to this day. For whatever reason, my late-night sense of self-inflicted humiliation is just ready to roll.

So I was young, and those big Disney characters were scary! I was shy, and while all the other kids were giving Dumbo a hug, I was hidden behind my mom. Slowly, I inched my way towards the elephant I had adored my entire life. I kept looking back at my Mom for reassurance that it was okay to approach this monstrous animal. "Go ahead!" she said, "Go give Dumbo a kiss!" Sheepishly I kept inching my way towards him and right before I was going to kiss my portly pachyderm friend, I looked back at mom (my lips puckered) for that last word of approval. "Kiss Dumbo, sweetheart!" And so with my resolve emboldened, I did just that. Only Dumbo had turned around, and in doing so gave my family a story they will never let me forget.

I had to chuckle when we found out that Sara and Noam wanted to have their engagement shoot in Downtown Disney.

These two LOVE Disneyland! They have season passes and drive down from Simi Valley all the time to have wonderfully romantic dates under the glow of fireworks. However, on one particular night, Noam had different plans, and proposed to Sara in front of the castle and hundreds of people watching. It had so happened that they were all alone, and it was perfect! Amidst cheers from the crown, Sara said "YES!" and wasted no time at all getting the ring onto her finger!

It seems only fitting that Sara and Noam's season of engagement both start and end at the happiest place on earth. We had so much fun with them last weekend, and can't wait to shoot their wedding at the Disneyland Hotel later this Fall!

Joshua Tree National Park: Theresa and Justin's Engagement Session! Part 2

As promised, here is the second installment of the sizzling Theresa and Justin who we shot out in Joshua Tree! As you can see, the "props" that they brought were beyond amazing, and totally sexy! We can't wait to shoot their wedding at La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes in August :)



































In the last shot, you'll see our debut of off-camera lighting! What do you think? For all you photogs out there, we used pocket wizards with two SB-800s and two shoot-through umbrellas. We used all manual flash settings. Oh, and our second flash conked out on us so the image you see here was taken with one off camera strobe :)