When Lindsay told me she wanted to shoot at LACMA in her hometown of Los Angeles, I was unfamiliar with the location.  I did a Google image search and immediately recognized the location as that from my girl Natalie Portman’s movie “No Strings Attached.”  Now before you judge me on movie choices I have to say I stand by my argument of Natalie was my main draw to seeing it in the first place.

The journey to this shoot was a bit of an adventure.  Let me just say if you’re driving to LA on a Sunday leave over 3 1/2 hours in advance.  I believe that people come down to SD for the weekends and all go back on Sunday, which made for almost constant traffic.  However Lindsay and John were so understanding and we all arrived to the shoot at the same time and from there everything went smoothly.  This location is a great photo spot, full of a lot of neat spots to chose from.  Also might I suggest seeing the Tim Burton exhibit before it’s over on 10/31.  I myself did not see it, had I remembered I would have gone up earlier to have checked it out.  I hear good things.

Lindsay and John you were both such a treat to photograph.  You really brought the energy and it was apparent how comfortable you were with each other throughout the shoot.  See you next month for the wedding!

As soon as I walked into Rhiona and Ricky’s house my immediate thought was “dang I’m going to steal all their design ideas!” I loved everything about it, from the hanging decorative glass to the bold stripes on the wall.  Their home’s design is what I would want my place to look like if I actually was able to execute it.  I get hung up on the details and all the choices- and end up with a white Ikea bookshelf against a white wall.  So I think I have decided to just copy them-imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right?

I met these two at their home out in Fallbrook.  And they immediately made me fell welcomed.  We kind of just went for it, about 20 minutes after getting there I was standing on their bed taking, in their closest, and was under a sheet with them taking photos-so we became friends pretty quick.  From their fabulous house we went around the Fallbrook area, which was really cute and full of great spots.  We drove by the red warehouse looking building and I knew I had to shoot there!

I wish you both the best of luck to the both of you in your new adorable, modern, fun and creative house.  I’m envious of your design skills. Maybe one day I will be able to share my inspired by you designs!

It took three years for Jason to realize his good friend Amanda was, not so secretly, into him.  She vehemently explained to me that she made it clear to him that she wanted to be more than a friend-but in Jason’s mind he thought she was just a friend and nothing more.  However that all changed one day, Jason realized Amanda wanted to be more than just friends and he realized the same about her. And just three weeks ago they took the walk down the aisle on the east coast. They described their wedding day as a joyful and wonderful experience only negative-it rained. It seemed to me while talking to them that rain is a theme in their marriage.  They had a rain experience once before the day he proposed, Jason had it all planned out.  A horseback riding adventure through the wineries of Temecula full with engraved wine classes and framed photos.  However those original plans were somewhat thwarted when the rain came down.  The proposal still occurred that day, just in a somewhat different fashion, and in the end a stunned Amanda of course said: “YES!”

I met with these two downtown right in the Gaslamp-which to start is a great location but this one in particular was even better.  They had a few ideas for locations and I’m so glad they did because it led me to a location I always wanted to shoot at and is definitely now one of my favorite spots.

Amanda and Jason you are such a nice, sweet, fun and accommodating couple.  You immediately made me feel comfortable when I got to the shoot with your kind demeanor.  I wish you both the best in your new marriage-thanks for being such a wonderful couple you two!

Talk about a beautiful venue! I could not have asked for anything more from this location.  Beautiful doors, bridges, lakes, and trees every which way.  The Crosby (as in Bing Crosby) might be one of the most beautiful spots I have ever had the pleasure of shooting at.  I was already sold on the name alone, who doesn’t like Bing Crosby? Every Christmas I have to watch “White Christmas” and “Holiday Inn”, just wouldn’t be Christmas without either of those.

I digress, back to the topic at hand here, Lauren and Josh.  Their wedding day could not have been any more perfect, from the venue down to the smallest detail. At the start of the day I walked into the room where Lauren was getting ready, a beautiful locker room with the most gorgeous bathrooms you have ever seen! I mean really maybe I lost cool points for being so excited that each bathroom had it’s own stall, but how often do you see that?  When I first saw Lauren she was calm, cool and collected just a girl filled with excitement to finally be married to her man. After getting some shots of Lauren’s beautiful dress I returned to find her choking back tears-she wanted to get it all out before the makeup started. The ceremony was fast approaching and the reality was setting in, with each passing minute her excitement grew.

The moment of their wedding that I found myself choking back tears was when Lauren approached her groom at the aisle.  As she begin that walk towards her future husband a huge smile fixed upon her face as she focused in on Josh.  It was Josh’s reaction to Lauren that was so touching, as he saw her you could see the overwhelming emotion bubbling up inside of him.  Just so happy to be there in that moment watching Lauren approach him to start the rest of their lives together.  What a sweet and touching moment, and speaking from a woman’s perspective seeing your man react like that is everything you could have hoped for!

I wish you both the best in your new marriage together, the love you two share is so special and emanates from you both.  Thank you so much for your kindness and involving me in your big day, it was a pleasure having met and worked with you.  I’m also dying to know where you went on your honeymoon! I hope wherever it was you both had a wonderful time.

They got this beautiful box from my favorite website Etsy.  Really I could get lost for hours on that site.

Love it when a bride goes bold and brings some color to her look with bright shoes.  Nice choice Lauren!

Right before the ceremony the light went from being more direct and harsh to cloud cover the provided the perfect diffuser for beautifully lit ceremony shots!

This was seconds after they walked down the aisle together.  How thrilled do they look right there?!

  • Javier Ramirez - Kelly,

    Your pictures are a work of art! Absolutely awesome!

    Kind regards,
    Javier
    (father of the groom)

I met Christy in Chuck up in Los Angeles, Runyon Canyon to be specific.  I lived in LA for a year a few years back so I am quite familiar with the drive from San Diego to LA, and shamefully enough I think I know the names of streets of LA better than SD.  Even though I have been to LA more times than I can count I had never been to Runyon Canyon, all I knew about it was that the celebrities like to go jog around there, and I can see why.  I was excited to go and check it out, and I think it’s become one of my favorite spots to shoot in LA.  It was just so beautiful, it had field! FIELDS! I love that and I feel like it’s impossible to find those in SD.  There is something so nice about the contrast of places like this and Griffith Park to the chaotic nature of the city right below.

Their romance all started with a date set up by friends, they met and at the time Christy just wasn’t quite sold on the idea.  But eventually over time a romance developed and they have had an epic love story that years later has lead them to being engaged.

Thanks for sharing this spot me with! I’m jealous you both live so close by to such a lovely place. Can’t wait for your wedding!