Tag Archives: nature

Travis & Stephanie // Malaga Cove anniversary session Los Angeles

South Bay Wedding Photographer 0001

Travis and Stephanie met in the college dorms at the University of Chicago. Their chemistry was undeniable from the first time they met; however, dating Stephanie would violate Travis’ #1 rule as a college senior – NO DATING FRESHMAN. After months of flirting, Travis finally decided to break his own rules and they started dating in April 2007. Two months later, Travis graduated and moved to St. Louis for graduate school while Stephanie finished her degree in Chicago. They continued to date long-distance for 7 years as they pursued their careers in different states. Travis traveled back and forth between St. Louis and Chicago almost every weekend. In 2014, Travis followed Stephanie to LA so they could finally live together and get married. Their August 2014 Chicago wedding was an absolute dream, but tragically the photos didn’t turn out. The devastation of the photography nightmare was quickly cast aside as they got pregnant with their first child. Now, nearly two years after the wedding, they finally have wedding photos that reflect the true magic and romance of their wedding day!

We are so honored to have been a part of this beautiful anniversary session. Travis & Stephanie came to us to photograph their wedding day a few years after their wedding. They wanted a beautiful fairytale to commemorate their love. We are so honored and blessed to help them have their fairytale dream wedding photos!

South Bay Wedding Photographer 0002

SEE MORE DREAM FAIRYTALE WEDDINGS

0 comments

Edson & Vanessa // Fairytale South Coast botanic garden wedding

South Coast Botanic Garden Wedding 0032

Our wedding day came and went in a blink of an eye! I cherished those moments where time stood still and I could just breathe everything in and focus on just what our day was all about, Love. While getting ready for my day, I remember watching my mother get her hair and makeup done as I sat on my bed with one of my 13yr old dogs, petting her and listening to some Alicia keys was just the perfect start to my day! My heart just felt so overjoyed in that moment. Everything else was just a fast forward and pause kind of day. My favorite pause was our first look, my nerves were thru the roof and I knew as soon as I saw Edson I would not be able to control my emotions. Sure enough, one look at him and I just couldn’t hold back my tears, here in front of me was standing the love of my life moments before becoming my husband, it just felt so surreal! So many talks about getting married, to being engaged and then the crazy planning phase and the day was finally here! All my morning nerves were at ease after that, I felt so relaxed and ready to just enjoy our wedding day together and finally be married.

I’m a simple kind of girl! I love natural light and beautiful soft colors so from the get go I always knew I wanted a garden wedding. I didn’t want anything to take away from the natural beauty our venue had to offer. My amazing florist, Laura was the mastermind behind it all. She just knew exactly what made me happy and made my wedding a dream!

Brides to be, take it all in as much as you can! Do not worry about a single thing on the day of because something WILL go wrong or at least not how you planned and it’ll all be ok!

Enjoy it all as it comes and bask in all the love that surrounds you two. Truly treasure those moments alone with your husband because those come so little. People really weren’t kidding when they say your wedding day comes and goes, I am so glad I have all these beautiful images to help me relive such an amazing day in our lives.

Venue: South coast botanic garden http://southcoastbotanicgarden.org/

Catering: Chipotle https://chipotle.com/catering

Florist/Coordinator: Laura Barraza https://www.instagram.com/laura_instyleblooms/

Hair and Makeup: Cynthia Rodriguez https://www.instagram.com/sinsix_/

Dress: Vivienne Atelier http://vivienneatelier.com/

Suit: Express http://www.express.com/

Video: Jackie Arevalo

South Coast Botanic Garden Wedding 0003

South Coast Botanic Garden Wedding 0026

0 comments

Matt & Gyselle // Fairytale wedding in Malibu Paradise

FROM THE BRIDE // Our wedding was absolutely perfect! It was honestly a fairytale Malibu Hills wedding! We’ve never in our lives been able to truly enjoy living in the moment until our wedding day. The only thing on our minds on this day was the excitement of being with one another forever! We were both truly mesmerized and so in LOVE! Our wedding day was euphoric and full of joy!

Our favorite moment of our wedding day was first laying eyes on one another at the alter. I’ll never forget taking my father’s arm and not realizing how heavy I was breathing until I looked up and saw him, my future husband, standing there in a royal blue suit like my Prince charming. He was waiting so patiently to see me! It was surreal…seeing him immediately calmed me down. Everything around us became a blur and all my attention was focused on him and how he looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes. I can just envision that day, where we were so mesmerized with one another, it was such an amazing and beautiful feeling.

We are the type of people that truly do not like stress and do not mind when someone else takes control, which I know is not easy for many people. Our absolutely amazing Wedding coordinator, Aleta Parrish, and her amazing staff (who also catered our wedding as Choux Choux events) single handedly planned all our wedding from the flowers to the all white dance floor, the string lights, the rustic arch. At our ceremony, she had even planned the alter to look out toward a breathtaking view of the Malibu wine country while an amazing harpist played in the background. Aleta even hired our DJ who was fantastic! The only direction we gave Aleta was the meal plan which we chose from her menu by Choux Choux (which is a farm to table caterer) the appetizers during cocktail hour and the 3 course meal, our guests had the main course option of filet mignon or miso salmon during dinner which was cooked perfectly and delicious! We also gave her a hint on the decor ” All White Wedding”, everything else she did from the napkins to the lace table runners, the gorgeous white flowers and silver ware and plates! Everything about the decor was ALL Aleta! She honestly made our dream wedding come true without barely any direction. Truly amazing!

The best part of planning our wedding was allowing someone else to do it! Like I mentioned earlier Aleta Parrish from Choux Choux is simply spectacular! Tiffani Matsuura from Sun and Sparrow (our wedding photographer) was over and beyond what we expected from a photographer! Like our wedding planner she had amazing calming sweet energy. She made me look like a model! She needed no direction from us at all and had us take so many cute photos in the most adorable poses. She even came out an hour early to scout out the venue and figure out what places were the best photo ops. She was perfect! She truly captured the LOVE in our relationship so elegantly.

Now my absolutely favorite part about planning our wedding was how much time I was able to spend with my mother. Unlike most brides I had the luxury of having my wedding dress designer and hair stylist be my mom! Yes, my mother Elvia Rocha designed, created, and tailored my wedding dress all by hand and did my hair on my wedding day. She is truly an amazing mother. I cannot or will never be able to thank her enough for making me feel so special on that day! My wedding dress stole the show! I felt so beautiful and gorgeous in it! It was so comfortable and fit me perfectly! It was truly a memorable experience, from driving down to the fashion district in LA once a week and picking out my fabrics, to seeing my dress made from start to finish, and watching my mom work day and night hand sewing each flower and Crystal bead. It’s an experience I’ll always treasure and remember. I’m so happy and proud to say that my mother made my wedding dress.

My now husband and I are strong believers of hiring the right people to do the job and let them do what they do best! Sometimes its okay to let someone else take control, especially if you do your research! We can honestly say we definitely hired the right people for the job! We also used our family! Like I mentioned before my mother made and designed my wedding dress and did my hair! My mother’s friend daughter did my make up! My husband’s sister was our minister! We saved so much money utilizing these resources and were able to really go all out on other parts of our wedding like our venue. But having our family help us throughout our wedding really made it extra special and brought us even closer together!

MY VENDORS:

VENUE : Malibu Paradise on Malibu Wine Trail Located in Malibu,CA www.vrbo.com

Wedding Planner/Caterer/Florist/Decorations: Aleta Parrish // Choux Choux www.chouxchouxla.com

DJ: Dominic Miranda, Lead Associate DJ/MC // Who’s That DJ www.whosthatdj.com

Wedding Cake: Jamie Cakes www.jamiecakes.net

Wedding Photographer: Sun and Sparrow www.sunandsparrow.com

Minister // Rachelle Moore

Wedding Dress Designer/Creator/Hair stylist : Elvia Rocha

Wedding Make-up artist: Paola Isabel Paoisabel.mua@gmail.com

Malibu Wedding Photographer 0007

Malibu Wedding Photographer 0005

Malibu Wedding Photographer 0024

Malibu Wedding Photographer 0046

0 comments

Rameen & Heather // Fairy tale mountain engagement

FROM THE BRIDE // It is not too common, I think, that a person is able to remember the exact evening that let her know that she has met someone to really hold on to. In my case, I count myself lucky to be among those who had a moment when they just “knew.”

Right from our second date, we really started to hit things off –literally! We had just made it downtown to get dinner and do a local art/wine walk when Rameen accidentally ran his car into a concrete wall while parking in a downtown structure. Thankfully, he was going very slow and no damage was done, so we just had a bit of a laugh and continued on to dinner. He took me to his favorite Italian restaurant in downtown Santa Barbara; there, we laughed some more and swapped stories and opinions over delicious but very generous portions. Soon finding ourselves completely full, we had the leftovers bagged to-go and left the restaurant to continue with our wine tasting. Rameen lagged behind as we started walking, however, and I heard him say, “Hey, you hungry?” Thinking that he was talking to me, I turned around to reply, but instead saw him offering our leftovers to a homeless man nearby on a bench. It was a small gesture- lots of people might not have even noticed- but it was one that has stuck out in my mind for years. It was what first clued me in to what a genuine, generous, and kind person Rameen was– and I’d somehow had the luck to meet him!

We went to only 1 of ~10 intended wine tastings that evening. To be honest, I completely forgot that that was what we were supposed to be doing. Instead, we just idly wandered up and down State Street, talking about basically everything. By the time he drove me home and we said goodnight, I knew that this was something different.

FROM THE GROOM // The weekend I proposed, I had everything set up–breakfast out at her favorite restaurant, the ring I knew she’d love, a decoy Valentines Day trip to Vegas for the next weekend in order to throw her off my trail (she’s a naturally suspicious person), and a plan for how to proceed. A nonchalant suggestion that we make the small hike to the nearby monarch butterfly grove got us started (it was the perfect time of year for it, and she’d never been–I knew she’d be excited to go). The hike itself was casual, but I’d rarely felt so nervous and anxious. I had to keep cool, and also prevent her from bumping into the little box stored in my jacket pocket. We made it to the grove, and there were butterflies all around. We sat and chatted for a bit while I waited for a good time (and to build up my courage). It started to drizzle lightly, and people cleared out. I saw my moment, perfect and intimate. I looked at her, got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. I honestly can’t remember what I said, but next I knew she was nodding her head and saying “Yes!” Her eyes welled up, I smiled, we kissed, and she became my fiancee.

MAKE SURE TO COMMENT BELOW AND SHARE THIS POST TO CONGRATULATE THESE TWO!

3 comments

Chelsea
You guys are incredibly adorable. Loved the stories.

Awww stop it you twoReplyCancel
Chelsea
You guys are incredibly adorable. Loved the stories.

Awww stop it you twoReplyCancel
TAJI&ALI
WONDERFULL&COUNGRADULATIONReplyCancel

Welcome To The Blog

Tag Archives: nature

Travis & Stephanie // Malaga Cove anniversary session Los Angeles

Edson & Vanessa // Fairytale South Coast botanic garden wedding

Matt & Gyselle // Fairytale wedding in Malibu Paradise

Rameen & Heather // Fairy tale mountain engagement