On Sunday, March 31st, we were in Laguna Beach at one of my favorite spots just behind the Montage Resort, to photograph engagement portraits for Jill Kovalcin and John Petrizzi. Their wedding will be held June 30th of this year at Wiens Family Cellars in Temecula.
As with many of my wedding clients, Jill and John told me that they are not particularly fond of posing for pictures. Fortunately for them, that fits my preferred style of primarily candid shooting just fine. And, fortunately for me, Jill and John were unbelievably photogenic and relaxed and completely into each other during the whole shoot. John has a tremendous sense of humor and was having a great time getting Jill to crack up the whole time.
Here are just some of our personal favorites from their session:
Last month we photographed a really awesome UnBridaled session in Laguna with one of our July brides, Monique Smith. Awesome weather, access to a private beach, Monique’s carefree spirit, and Monique’s romantic husband, Randy, all converged together for a perfect storm of picture taking!
Also known as a “Trash The Dress” session, that term may scare some brides, who fear the thought of actually “trashing” their wedding dress. Not to worry. That’s merely an expression for doing something (anything) with your wedding dress that you would not dare do before the wedding. After the wedding, you can afford to be fearless!
We’ll let these images speak for themselves.
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On October 16th, I was at my most popular beach location for photographing engagement portraits — Laguna Beach, just behind the Montage Resort. On this occasion, the happy engaged couple in front of my lens was Vi Ly and her fiance, Steven Aranda.
Vi and Steven are doing a great job of planning ahead, as their wedding is not until next July 8th (at Los Willows in Fallbrook). They just came into our studio today to view the images from their session and select the image they wanted to use for the mounted 16×24 metallic print that they will be displaying at the wedding. There were so many shots that they loved, it took them awhile to narrow it down to just one. I like it when my couples have trouble selecting just one favorite!
Here are some of my own favorites from their session…
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Seven years ago, April and Ken Gaudette said “I do”. And they hired a fairly well-known and respected wedding photographer to document their day. Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case with even the best in the business, for various reasons, their photographer (who will remain unnamed here) just did not have sufficient time to capture enough of the romantic portraits that April and Ken had wanted.
Now, after all these years, and after starting a family, April felt that she’d better get the shots she had previously wanted while — in her words — she could still fit in her dress. Having formerly dabbled in wedding photography herself, April was actually my second-shooter for one wedding that I had photographed in Los Angeles a few years back. It’s always a nice compliment when another photographer asks me to photograph them!
So, on their anniversary of Tuesday, October 4th, I met up with April and Ken at one of my favorite beach locations — in Laguna Beach, just behind the Montage Resort — to help them recapture the emotions they first share seven years ago.
Here are some highlights of their ‘Day After’ session…7 years later!
It’s engagement portrait season! On March 6, 2011, we photographed the engagement session of a beautiful couple, Kelly Keprios and Tim Jiannino, at one of our favorite locations in Laguna Beach.
Here are just some of the amazing shots from the session that Kelly and Tim selected for use in their custom Photo Guest Book that we’re designing for them. And, check out their cinematic engagement video too! They loved it!
On Monday, September 6th, we were in Laguna Beach at the beautiful Pacific Edge Villa for the wedding of Natasha and Steve (last names withheld by request).
The villa had just been completely remodeled and looked amazing! And, by “villa”, I mean, this was really a gorgeous three-story house right there on the beach. The ceremony and reception dinner were held on the beach-facing deck and the dancing was inside the lower-level.
As with many modern-day wedding couples, Steve and Natasha elected to do a “reveal” or “first look” of each other prior to the ceremony, where we documented the first time they saw each other in their wedding attire. This allowed us to not have to rush after the ceremony to get all of the formal portraits that they wanted, since we were now free to get many of the shots of them together with the bridal party prior to the ceremony.
The day was overcast, but not gloomy. It was actually perfect for an outdoor wedding in that the thin layer of clouds acted as a giant soft-box in the sky to provide even soft lighting, rather than the harsh shadows and blown-out highlights you may see in photographs taken in bright sunshine.
Steve and Natasha had a dove release at the end of their ceremony. There were two doves in a cage of their own, one each for the couple to release, followed by about 20 other doves that were released from the rear of the seating area. Ironically, as the officiant was just starting to mention the doves and how they were a symbol of love, the two doves in the front cage began pecking at each other, causing the guests who saw this to chuckle somewhat at the timing.
Their cake was meticulously-designed with a nautical theme to match the beach setting — and it tasted delicious too! The beautiful floral arrangements for their wedding were crafted by Everyday Flowers of Tustin.
On Monday, August 9th, we met up with high school Senior, Jenna Dunn, and her family at the Glen Arbor Park in Murrieta to photograph Jenna’s Senior Portraits. After about 45 minutes of shooting in the wooded area of the park, we headed to Laguna Beach for about another hour of shooting there — with Jenna’s friend, mother, and grandmother in tow.
We all had a great time! And, Jenna and I pretty much got soaked by the spray of the waves shooting through this hole in the rocks on the last couple shots.
Quite often, I shoot engagement portrait sessions for my wedding clients at Laguna Beach. And, sometimes, the couples like to get a little bit wet and walk barefoot through the very edge of the surf for some shots. And then there are Natasha and Steve who really wanted to get wet — and did.
They had a blast, and so did I. Their wedding is coming up on September 6th, and I cannot wait to see how they let loose then!
Being too busy behind the camera to update the blog is both a good thing (nice to be busy) and a bad thing (you have no idea what I’ve been up to). Most recently, we’ve been keeping busy shooting a plethora of portraits and headshots. Many of the portraits have been boudoir portraits that are surprises for grooms of upcoming weddings. So we can’t share highlights of those, or we’d spoil the surprise. (Perhaps after the weddings.)
Being the part-time actor that I am, I try to squeeze in a stage production during the wedding photography off-season. Last February, I played the role of Max in “Lend Me A Tenor” at the Old Town Temecula Theater, and earlier this February at the same theater, I played the role of Lenny in Neil Simon’s “Rumors”. Hope Davidson played Lenny’s wife, Claire, in the same show. After the show closed, my stage wife asked me to take family photos of her real hubby, Bruce, and their adorable kids, Eric and Emma.
So, on Sunday, February 28th, we went to one of my favorite beaches to shoot their session — Laguna Beach, just behind the Montage Resort. We had a lot of fun letting the kids run and jump as kids love to do — and even mom and dad got into the jumping mood! It was a fun day for all of us.
Contact us to schedule your own family portraits today —
before summer comes and all of the green fields turn brown!!
On October 9th, we were back in our familiar stomping grounds of Laguna Beach for the engagement portrait session of Crystal Kinn and Michael Whitaker. They will be tying the knot on April 3rd at the beautiful Pala Mesa Resort in Fallbrook.
I know it sounds cliché, but this was truly an awesome couple to photograph. They were completely into each other and expressing the romance and fun you’d expect to see from a couple about to start married life together. Here are some highlights:
Crystal and Michael selected their favorite shots from their e-session and had us design one of our custom photo engagement books for their guests to sign at the wedding. You can view their custom engagement book design HERE. I can’t wait for their wedding day!
Once again, I find myself so busy taking pictures that my blog has fallen behind by several weeks! I’ve photographed some great weddings over the past couple months. So, I’ll do my best to get caught up over the next week on this blog so everyone care see what I’ve been up to!
On Sunday, July 12th, we were at Occasions at Laguna Village in beautiful Laguna Beach for the wedding of Amanda Jokela and Ronny Krogstad.
The weather was perfect for an outdoor wedding at the beach — not too hot and not too cold.
Amanda turned the calendar back with her retro look with a birdcage veil that highlighted the look perfectly. Meanwhile, Ronny and his guys mixed it up with red satin vests and black canvas Vans.
Click the PLAY icon below to view a slideshow of highlights from Amanda and Ronny’s wedding.
Congratulations Amanda & Ronny!
On Thursday, October 9th, I was on the oft-visited shores of Laguna Beach again. This time it was for the engagement session of Krystle Vagara & Shawn Balteff.
The weather wasn’t the best on this day — hazy and breezy, but that didn’t stop Krystle and Shawn from enjoying their time together and it showed in the images I captured of them.
Click the “play” button below to view a short slide show of their e-session.
On Sunday, August 24th, I was back at one of the most popular engagement session spots for my clients — Laguna Beach, behind the Montage Resort. This time, the happy couple was Tiffany Merrick and Fady Mikhael. The weather was great for a sunset at the beach, and Fady and Tiffany were clearly in love and enjoying themselves during the session.
And, at the moment where Fady playfully pushed Tiffany towards the incoming waves, he was probably enjoying himself just a bit more than her.
Tiffany and Fady’s wedding is coming up on October 12th. More to come!
On February 17th, we were back at Laguna Beach to photograph the engagement portrait session for Jineane Moore and Kaden Kennedy.
I first met this bride to be on the same beach on June 17th, 2007 when I was there photographing the engagement session for Diana and Alfredo Torres. Jineane’s fiance, Kaden, was off running around on the beach somewhere. His parents were relaxing on the beach with Jineane when Kaden’s father commented that she was getting married to his son soon too. I asked if they had a photographer yet. They said, “no”, and seconds later they had my card in their hand.
So, eight months later we were on the same beach shooting Jineane and Kaden’s engagement session. What a fun couple!! Their wedding will be on 08-08-08. Stay tuned!
