Jonathan and Marsha met on an online dating site and I’m REAL impressed at how perfect they are for each other. She’s sweet and incredibly encouraging, and he’s quietly intelligent with a strength of character that peeks out now and again in conversation. Both love the Lord with all their heart and their relationship is built strong on the rock of that love. Here’s just a snapshot of how amazing these two are…. After taking a few shots at the beginning of their engagement shoot, Jonathan quietly suggests we “pray for the pictures”, and at his suggestion, Marsha excitedly exclaims, “oohh! What a great idea! Yes! Let’s pray for our pictures!” So we circled up, and Jonathan offered a prayer of thanks for such a beautiful evening for photos, and he prayed for a time with me that would glorify God’s name. Marsha chimed in and prayed for me to be able to see them how God sees their love, and that I would be able to document their love in a way that touches hearts. We ended the prayer and continued shooting…. and I left that evening feeling refreshed, completely blessed, and full. It’s not often I meet people like Marsha and Jonathan, and it’s even less often that I get to spend an afternoon chatting, shooting, and getting to know “them.” I pray for more times like that afternoon shoot, and I’m so thankful I’ve had the opportunity to document their love. Here’s my favorites from the evening at Casper’s Wilderness Park and Laguna Beach….

Marsha and Jonathan,

You two are beyond cute together and I’m so excited to shoot your wedding in a few weeks!

I’ve always heard planning a wedding is one of the hardest and most stressful things you’ll ever do in your entire life… and that always made me sad to hear. About 90% of the time, in asking brides if they’re excited on their wedding day, they respond, “Yes, but I’m so glad it’s going to be over today.” Again… that makes me sad every time. But now, I suppose I’m older and wiser… and in planning my own wedding, I’m realizing why so many brides have a love/hate relationship with their wedding days–making huge wedding decisions SUCKS. I’m sure that if I was a lot easier to please and less informed on all the options there are out there, it would be easier to choose, say, a date and venue… but since I’m neither easy to please, nor un-informed…. it’s been a rough go thus far.

All this to say… I’m not giving up. I’m not letting these mammoth decisions and the weight of this “once in a lifetime event” convince me that mediocrity and settling is worth it. Being older and wiser doesn’t mean I can’t choose to fight for the magic in my wedding day. It will be a day like no other. The magic will be painted perfectly, accenting the intentionality and our hard work of putting together a day to celebrate…. us. After all, my wedding day will be the day I promise to share my heart and my life with my prince…. everything else fades away. It will be about him and me… about us. That’s all that really matters, right? Right.

This is a shot I took after Chris and Chelsea’s wedding on Saturday…. I’ve always wanted to do this… and, as always, Chris and Chelsea were excited and up for anything. More images from their wedding are coming soon! Happy Tuesday.

Saturday was one of the most perfect evenings I’ve experienced in a long time. It happened to be ridiculously hot for an October weekend, but when the sun started going down… it was perfect weather and the light was TO DIE FOR! You may remember Josh and Katie from their wedding that took place in late May of this year. Their wedding was gorgeous and totally a dream wedding. Well… when I approached them about possibly doing a “We Did” /not-so-trash-the-dress shoot… they were ALL OVER THAT! We chose to do it at Peter’s Canyon Regional Park in Irvine/Orange….. and it was SO AWESOME!  Katie and Josh are total outdoors people and they love nothing better than a good camping trip or a day hike through Yosemite… we thought it was fitting for them to capture some post-wedding awesomeness in their element.

Also, the thing I love about Katie… is she’s a dreamer and an artist herself… so when planning the shoot, we both agreed to go for an Anthropologie style with antique lighting, possible antique furniture, and balloons. Aaaand… it turned out amazing! She even brought the vintage Ford Bronco do do some shots with as well! My clients spoil me….

Here’s some of my favorites…. it was hard to narrow the choices down because they were all SO GOOD! Enjoy…

Twas an awesome evening… and I just want to give a big shout out to Christopher for being an awesome assistant and support to me…. and to my buddy Jack Ratana of Jack Ratana Photographers for coming out and helping me out that day!