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How to make sure your engagement pictures come out looking like you had fun.
1. Come extremely nervous to your shoot.
2. Tell your photographer that you are awkward in front of cameras.
3. Make sure you hire a funny photographer.
So I don't consider myself being that funny. Ingrid, tells me that I'm not that funny. I know I'm not that funny. I don't crack jokes or have special one liners that I use to make couples laugh. I think I just tend to make brutally honest observations that my couples and I can all laugh about. When I can be real and honest about the silliness of trying to make my couples look all romantic in front of a camera, then the fun begins. I hope that helps every camera shy person feel excited about their next photoshoot!
So the fun continued for Chiara and Erik's camp after the bonfire the night before. I hadn't been to Holly Farm before this wedding, but I heard good things about it. It didn't prepare me for how amazing this place is though. When I first walked around the place, I thought I landed in a Hawaiian-Texan ranch retreat. The tropical greenery has that Hawaiian touch, but then the decorations lend themselves to some kind of cowboy Western movie. It was surreal. Which is what I love about the place. Like most venues, the pictures on their website don't do justice to their amazing grounds.
Some of the fun highlights from Chiara and Erik's most joyously fun filled day!
This was our last wedding trip to Carmel this year and it certainly was memorable. We got to relax at the beach the night before Chiara and Erik's wedding at their beach bonfire party. The homemade beer flowed and the fires were stoked. Ingrid took advantage of the endless smores and ate at least five of them. I think she was trying to stock up on her energy of choice before the long wedding day ahead. Good thing, because I can't wait to show their awesome wedding next week on our blog!
Ingrid's photo.
Heather and Gary picked out one of the best spots ever for an engagement shoot. When they told me that they could get access to the Fillmore in San Francisco for their shoot, my heart skipped a beat. You mean THE Fillmore? Where Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix and other rock legends played at? Yes, of course, that one. That dark, dank, auditorium with sticky floors welcomed us into its arms with its intoxicating smells of sweat filled fans from the night before. The first thing I did was head straight to the backstage room where every legendary rock star smoked out with their groupies and band members. It was surreal. Going back there for a concert will never be the same again.
My fantastically awesome studio partner, Aubrey, came out with me to shoot and half the shots are hers.
This is a special post. Sometimes we get this itch to try something. And, for us that means trying something new on a blog post. Yes, our lives are that exciting. So for Candice and Burton's images, we saw the opportunity to do all the blog images in B&W. Ingrid is so good with her color editing, that I've always wondered how our images would turn out if they were all B&W. Well, we've finally put that to the test. Let us know what you think in the comments!
Wedding coordinator: Michele Damon Events
Venue: Tremont Grand
Lighting and Draping: Perkins Productions
Flowers: Eufloria with Perkins
Cake: Sugar Bakers Cakes
These shoes rocked so hard. Literally!
As if the Tyler and Terence's amazingly heartfelt beach ceremony wasn't enough, they had wedding day part deux. And to help them create their epic wedding day part deux was an entourage of the largest and closest group of extremely talented triathlon athletes, musicians, designers, lawyers and supermen. They even made their own self printing photobooth out of a cardboard box! When I first stumbled upon it, I was left dumbstruck for a couple minutes, then I heartily chuckled at step #2, and then sang the song in my head. How did we score such awesome clients?
From a photographic point, this wedding shoot was like walking into a candy store for us. I think it helped that Terence is a photographer himself and knew that a venue like the Smog Shoppe is going to come out amazing. He went the extra mile and projected images on the far wall so that we'd get cool backdrops for the whole reception! A.w.e.s.o.m.e.
Ty and TY are also beginning to shoot weddings themselves, so if you're at all interested in having this awesome couple shoot your wedding, then please email them at tylerchou@gmail.com. Catching photographers as they are starting out in their business is always a great value.
If I had any idea how awesome Tyler and Terence's wedding day would turn out to be, I think I would have been pretty nervous to shoot such an intimate and heartfelt event. All the way up to the event, during the event and afterwards, Ty and TY were 110% living in each moment. I was seriously convicted by Terence's vow to Tyler that he'll always live in the moment for her and their family. Well, this morning beach ceremony was definitely a moment that Terence was giving it his all. He wanted so badly to give Tyler the wedding of her dreams, which would have been a destination wedding far off, but with the economy being the way it is these days, they just couldn't afford it. Well, lack of money is no excuse for lack of effort right? Terence had all his friends come out to the beach that morning and invited them to witness a tearjerking and emotional mini-ceremony.
We took so many pictures that day that we had to split their blog post into two parts. Here's some highlights from the morning!
This destination engagement shoot was special. This is my cousin, Sarah, and her fiance, Steve. She'll be the first to go in our family, so it's been fun realizing that I get to be such an integral part at this point in her life. Ingrid and I spent almost a whole week out there with them, so we got to know Steve pretty well. Before that, I had only seen him three times briefly, so hanging out with him at his home was very different. They are both busy doctors, but Steve manages to watch and re-watch every episode of So You Think You Can Dance. He's Tivo'ed every episode, so one night he got us caught up on the whole season! We were mesmerized, because we actually don't own a TV.
We'll be shooting their wedding next year, so you'll be seeing a ton of pics of my family up here, which is going to be a weird experience for me.
Jolene and Chris were such a great couple to work with and “fun” was the keyword of the day. You can't ask for too much more from a couple on their wedding day. The hard part came in when we saw that we were shooting in really harsh lighting and the golf club didn't have many backdrops that we could easily shoot in front of. But I think this is why I love these situations, because it's a challenge that pushes us to be really creative. From the candids to the portraiture, we have to be working full steam to capture images that we truly love.
It also helped that everyone at the wedding was really enjoying themselves and everyone was so friendly to us. Here's some highlights of the day!
Bodrey and Kenny’s wedding had it all. The hip couple just knew how to put together a great wedding. And all great weddings are ones where the guests are able to celebrate like it’s 1969. And oh, did they celebrate! Bodrey is the first in her line of friends and relatives that are getting married, so the anticipation was very high. People were itchin’ to get on the dance floor all night long. And the thing that I was most surprised about, was that their parents out danced all the twenty somethings. It was legendary. Here’s just a snippet of the 1300 pictures we showed them this week.
Dress: Amsale (Marina Morrison Boutique)
Shoes: Christian Louboutin
Groomsmen Ties: Paul Smith
Bridesmaid dresses: BCBG, Yaya Aflalo, Acne
Florist: Asiel Design
Hair: Linh Tran (Tangerine Hair Studio)
Makeup: Irmina Loeffler (Thi Cosmetics)
Cake: Layer’s Bakery (Monterey)
Venue: Hyatt Regency Monterey
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Jerry Yoon, San Francisco
Vendor: Photographer
Website: Jerry Yoon Photography
About Me: Gone are the days of being stuck with boring wedding photography, where everyone and everything looks like the same old photographer took it. We're not here to please your mom. We want to rock your socks off with imagery that explodes off the page and makes you feel all fuzzy inside. We're inspired by who you are and not what others think you should be. Playwright, architect, nuclear scientist, tax man, dance machine, burly construction man, blog stalker. We take them all. Can't wait to jump into the pool together and make something your kindergarten teacher would be proud of!
