I met Susan last year and we instantly hit it off! When I found out she was a Villa bride, I got even MORE excited because of how much I love working with the staff there. I knew that this was an event built for smoothness and beauty.

Over the past several months, Susan passed several ideas through me, and in doing so, I felt like I really became a PART of her wedding! That being said, I wish I had more pictures to show for it!!! But, I don’t. Sad face! Not even a single ceremony shot!!!

But, I did get to see her “work it”:

And, she knew it…

Susan supplied her guest’s with my FAVORITE beverages, and enjoyed one herself between the ceremony and photos…

Some belated ceremony decor pictures. They tied the knot at the Pine Wind Garden in Torrance.

Love it! Their engagement session was compliments of their photographer, Youkeun, ofYo Photography. I cannot WAIT until their wedding teasers are up! I’m depending on you, Yo!!

Onto The Villa!

Susan had a labor of love in these unique place cards!!!

I LOVED this idea, with their hand-written, personalized vows:

Gorgeous, right??

Impeccable, as always…

As you can see, the sweetheart table was delicious!

Her bouquet from the Tea Ceremony, which was earlier in the morning, doubled as her Toss bouquet!

This. Cake.

LOVED the unique “stand” they used. So cute!!

The grand entrance!!!

Straight into an amazingly choreographed first dance!

Onto speeches!

The lovely Villa staff, presenting the food… [they used "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and The Beast]:

Another shot of the guest book:

And, lastly [sadly], one of Susan’s amazing all-orchid bouquet:

I know, I know. No ceremony pics, no cake cutting pics… what a slacker I am! BUT- that does mean that when we FINALLY get to see Yo’s pictures, it will be that much more exciting and amazing!

Susan and Eddie- you two are so fun, so full of life and joy! I’m glad that on your day, you were determined to enjoy it! It really made the difference! I loved every moment that I got to spend with you, and can’t wait to relive each of them through photos!!!

I was thrilled when I found out that one of my sister’s life-long friends, Jasmine, was tying the knot with her long time boyfriend from New Zealand, Alastair! I hadn’t seen Jasmine in years and talking with her from across the world was so fun [and had to be timed out just right!]. Since they were such an international couple, they went with a travel theme to express themselves on their wedding day!

My shots are all over the place with this one, and I have graciously used another friend of my sister’s shots as well [thanks Heidi!!], so enjoy them as random as they are. We’re starting on the ceremony:

[This is the youngest of Jasmine's 4 sisters- yes. 5 kids, all girls!!]

Jas and Alastair got married in beautiful San Clemente at the mellow Ole Hanson Beach Club. The day started off overcast, but truly ended up with the most perfect beach weather a bride could ask for!!!

A detail of Jasmine’s dress [and her something blue]:

Immediately after the ceremony, Jas decided to greet the guests with a receiving line. Promptly, all of the New Zealand gents gave their coats over to the ladies [Jas's three other sisters, and her cousin]. I thought it was too cute!

During cocktails, our little flower girl Grace [youngest], got to show off her talent with their string quartet. The quartet gladly played with their guest member and it was such a cute little personal touch for the families!

The suitcase on this table is something that Alastair’s grandmother found and gave to them. A unique vintage touch for their guest book table!!

Into the room for some details…

One of Jasmine’s friends from college, Lara, stepped it up BIG time in providing the floral centerpieces and decor for the reception. For someone that doesn’t do florals full time, she blew me away! They were breath-taking!!

Yes, this is their cake. It’s INCREDIBLE. It was created by Black Market Bakery and was soo intricate. They got to hand pick the stickers on the luggage, too. They were all New Zealand inspired [did I mentioned that Jas and Al have been living there the past two or so years??]!

After the receiving line, they took a group photo from the entire wedding. I loved the idea, since the venue overlooks two grass fields and have great balcony areas overlooking!

All a-light!

Detail shot of their favors [mini suitcases with candy inside!]:

Their outdoor tables were round, and had these gorgeous centerpieces that went around their umbrellas!

A few snagged portrait pics:

Their reception was catered with Indian food [as Jasmine is half Pakistani], and it was all made by her aunt and uncle. Oh my, was it deeeelish!

My sister with her friends since elementary school:

Jas did her bouquet toss off the patio down to the grass- love it!

Thanks to Al for holding on, or else we may have had a bride overboard!!

I didn’t get pictures of everything, like speeches and the cutting of that phenomenal cake, but what I did capture was some beautiful memories of this day that was full of love, family, and friends! I couldn’t believe how many of Al’s friends flew out to be with him from NZ- that is one LONG flight!! Now that you’re back living in the states, my best to you both!!!!

This weekend was a whirlwind but seriously sooo amazing! The lovely Laura was such a pleasure to work with! I remember our first meeting with her and Ryan, Ryan cooked us steak and we all sat around getting to know one another over dinner! It was such a delight. Now, onto their wedding day! Laura, being the amazingly fabulously talented girl that she is, had some labor intensive details, and I love her for it. But, a picture is worth a thousand words, so…

I had the pleasure of working with two AMAZING photogs on this day. Zenia and Jonilyn- what a force to be reckoned with! I cannot WAIT for the pro pics!!

Oh Laura- even her vendor payment envelopes matched the event!

Those photog ladies snagging their signature pics:

Ceremony!

A quick jaunt to check on the reception and some more detail shots:

Hi Jen!

Florals were provided by Yamaguchi Flowers [which I'm not sure of the website for]. They were incredible!

Their home-made margaritas were a HUGE hit!

Laura and Ryan set up their bars ideally for bringing in their own alcohol. As you can see by their bar menus, they set up one bar with mexican drinks, and one with what they affectionately coined “gringo drinks”!

A few shots of the whole shebang!

Back to the important stuff…

Yay!

Candles lined the path from the wedding to the reception. At night, their glow was magical!

Some bridal party close ups:

Cake by the delightful Bread Basket! Holy delicious!

The rope that you see in front of the cake is a VERY important symbol to Laura and Ryan. It’s actually Laura’s grandparent’s lazo, which is a catholic/mexican ceremony tradition. Since Laura’s grandfather passed away last month, the sentiment was very important to the couple!

Some photos of my fab photog buds getting the goods!

Grand Entrance and onto the party!

Speeches!

Cut that cake!

Thanks Jen for the photo of me at work!

LOVE that shot!

The reception just kept getting more beautiful and ambient as the night went on! It was amazing and I loved it!! Laura and Ryan had a grand farwell complete with sparklers all the way to Ryan’s classic Chevy Malibu [that's right, right Ryan? Don't kill me if it's wrong!]. It was seriously beautiful! L & R- you two are the most fun loving, easy going couple to be around! I wish the day could have lasted forever- but Laura I’m sure by the end you were ready to get out of that va-va-va-voooom dress of yours!! Thanks for letting me be a part of it!

So, in case all of you aren’t professional blog stalkers like me, Kim Seidl blogged some of Jen and Jacob’s amazing photos from the 10th! They literally took my breath away! To see more of the wonderful images captured by Kim, visit her blog, but here are a few of my absolute FAVES:

And, in even BETTER news for me personally, I got my hair done today. It’s looking sooo long [as my stylist and bestie flipped it out on the ends whence she styled it]!!! My apologies for the lack of makeup, but hey, I’m too excited to not share my amazing hair with all of you out there. Okay, that rhyme was terrible, the picture is terrible.. but the message still gets across, right??

I’ve got a full week and busy weekend ahead, and I can’t wait to bring you all into my world! I’ll try to keep up with my blog as best I can!

Yes, today I attended the very HOT service for Chapman University’s Master Degree Graduation. Both my sister, Rebekah, AND Jen graduated in today’s event. While I missed every opportunity for a few pics of Jen, I did scoop up some of my sis and the fam. But not before, of course, making her a lovely hand-tied bouquet to match school colors…

An all-red bouquet of spray roses, alstromeria and tulips fit the bill!

Dying in the heat! Oh, did I mention it ws 97 degrees out today, as we sat with NO shade on the football field for 2+ hours?? It was a long, long, loooong afternoon!!

[Apparently, already too cool for school...]

And you’ll never guess who I ran into there! I should have known, as last year both of these girls mentioned Chapman to me, but none other than TWO of my ‘07 girls, Jennifer and Christine were walking as well! It was a very quick, very AMAZING little spontaneous reunion!

[Just as beautiful as their wedding days!!!]

The fam, minus me of course!

And for dinner, we went to a great little Greek restaurant where Bex ordered Falafel and they gave her this “special” plate [which literally said "I am special today"]. Amazing!!

It was nice to have a family day/night all to ourselves. Even in the height and hectic of the season, being able to sweat out the afternoon with my parents and cheer like crazy for my sis was a special moment! I know I don’t tell her this enough but I am SO proud of her!!! She’s officially a master of English. Or, something like that…

From my double-header weekend. Oh how I LOVE photographers, their amazing skills, their amazing hearts for weddings, and their amazing equipment.

Elaine, my Saturday bride, was featured about a week ago on the ever-so-talented Jan Garcia’s blog! Some of my faves:

And then, just a day later my lovely Krystin popped up on my sweet new friend Thao Vu’s blog!

I love, love, LOVE them all! Please check out the photographer’s websites to view more. Now, I’m anxiously checking Kim Seidl’s blog daily waiting for Jennifer to make her grand entrance into the pro pic world!!

Okay, so these are late. I mean, I made the yesterday. Whoops! But, it’s the thought that counts!

On Sunday, Josh and I stayed up all night so that Monday morning we could partake in the LA Flower Market experience. He wanted some flowers for his mom and so I made him come with me to pick them out personally! We ended up with a great selection of warm orange tones paired with buttery yellows. We started off by buying some kumquat branches, then added some funky sunflowers [I think], ranunculus [of course], tulips [parrot tulips, with ruffled feathers], solidaster for filler and then to top it all off… vanda orchids! Yum. It seriously looks delish. I wanted to keep it super garden-y. What do you think??

For my mother in law:

For my mommy:

My husband is the BEST! He really is such a “quality time” guy, and he wanted to do this WITH me. He was a trooper, cleaning the leaves off of the flowers, trimming them for me… I even taught him how to use a floral knife!! And while I was arranging, he made me this:

Maybe this was my “potential-mother’s-day” arrangement! Haha!

Wow! What can I say about J&J’s wedding? If you’re at ALL into flowers, you’ll die at their decor. Her flower choices, which were almost strictly peonies, were my dream come true! But more than that, Jennifer was a dream bride! Her bridal party was amazing- so fun and so supportive, her husband was great- loving her and soaking it all it, and she was above all else set to enjoy her day! What more can a coordinator ask for?? The whole day took place at the amazing Sheraton Anaheim!

I arrived early and snapped a few pre-ceremony shots of getting ready:

Floral details provided by the AMAZINGLY talented [and up-and-coming NEW florist] Monica Jones! Remeber that name ladies!!

J&J shared love notes to one another during the ceremony. I snapped a pic of Jen’s as she handed it off to me…

Ceremony details:

These hydrangea were imported… I can see why. They are to. die. for.

P.S.- yes, these programs are stamped and hand-embossed by the bride [aka, the DIY queen!]. She told me earlier that day she doesn’t know what she was thinking when she thought that would be a good idea!

Although Sarah did not work their wedding, her lovely engagement session was still with us throughout the day!

Onto some reception details:

The. Cake. Was. Ridiculous.

[Just wait 'til you see it with the uplights on...]

Jen opted for a wishing tree as a guest book, and the SMARTEST thing she did [to help her guests who may not be familiar with this un-traditional idea] was have her bridesmaids sign a few cards to hang from the branches and start things off!

Cute little Martha-esque escort card set up!

Almost ceremony time….

The bride’s gorgeous bouquet:

And the girls’ bouquets:

My beautiful blushing bride!!!

Before we get to the ceremony, a few shots of the finished room [the hotel let us set up early enough to where I could fully set the room and actually bring my camera down to Jen to see ALL of her details prior to her walk down the aisle! She, and her 'maids, loved it!!!]:

Glow-riffic!

Back to the ceremony!

The ring bearer had this AMAZING pillow, and his sister, the flower girl, had a similarly stellar pomander to carry!

Hanging orchids in the gazebo…

Typically at this point in the day, I throw my camera at one of my assistants so that I can be in charge of the ceremony. So, here it goes!

The maid of honor duties were split between Jen’s sister and her best friend! I love how they worked it: one had train duty, one held the bouquet and held the ring, then they switched the order of who sat next to the bride in the reception from who stood next to her in the ceremony. Too many amazing friends- always a good problem to have!

Back up to the room…

Did I mention they had a signature cocktail??? I LOVE a signature cocktail!

Hi!

What did I tell you??

Another FAB shot by Sarah K. Chen!

Just checking in on the portraits…

Bustle time! [That's Brittany, my assistant, in the back workin' it!!]

Since she did a quick shoe switch before the grand entrance, I snapped a shot of her GORGEOUS heels:

Straight into the first dance!

Sorry for the drastic difference in color quality- throughout the night I was switching between flash on/flash off!

The bride and groom pulled up some chairs to enjoy their slideshow. I tried to take time capturing more of their emotion towards the show than actually watching it myself…

Into the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances…

I LOVED how Jennifer was looking on at them…

Cutting that masterpiece of a cake…

A few words from our sentimental bride and groom:

And now, onto the emotional and touching speeches!

The toss, with a twist [the bride had to be spun around until she was dizzy!]:

Time for the garter!

You thought the bride had it bad? Not only was the groom spun until dizzy, he was blind folded…

And then, TRICKED! They switched out our sweet bride for a groomsman!!!

Not knowing, of course, the groom went full force while the crowd went WILD!

Poor, poor Jacob…

Ready to try again, for real this time!

All in all, Jacob was a great sport about the whole thing and the rest of the night was spent drinking and dancing the night away! I LOVED being a part of this colorful group’s wedding day! They all had a blast, and when YOU do, I do!! Special thanks to J&J- I loved sharing this moment in your lives!!!