Aubrey+Liz | Black Bear Inn Wedding | Arnold, Ca

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Aubrey and Liz’s wedding took place  in Arnold, Ca. Yes, I had to google it. I had no idea where Arnold was. It’s a very small and beautiful town up in the mountains. We had absolutely no cell phone reception the entire time we were there. It was a break from the world and it was pretty nice. Aubrey and Liz decided to have their wedding here because this was where they first met. Their wedding was beautiful and so real. The love, emotions, and happiness displayed at this wedding was just real. That’s the word I kept thinking about as I was shooting this wedding. My heart is still soaring from being apart of this wedding. Aurey and Liz hired me because I like to color outside of the box. I hope I was able to do that with this wedding. Special thank you to Samuel Vannasopha and Henry Li for coming out to help me at this wedding.

Ceremony & Reception location: Black Bear Inn

Wedding Coordinator: Paige Galla

Caterer: Kris Fichtner 

Florist: Janet Powers

Dress: Ivy & Aster

Makeup Artist: Vicky Lara

The wedding party was actuallly the officiants. They formed a square around Aubrey and Liz and each had a verse they recited. This was a very unique ceremony and I thought it was totally awesome! There were lots of very touching moments shared by everyone who was there. It could not have gone any more perfect. 

Beautiful moment between Liz and Aubrey.

Smores for the wedding favors.

The bride and bride’s fist dance as a married couple. 🙂

Please click here to view Aubrey and Liz’s entire wedding slideshow: Aubrey & Liz Wedding at the Black Bear Inn, Arnold, Ca

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Azor: the Amazing Shih Tzu! | San Luis Obispo Wedding Puppy

We’ve added a new addition to our home and his name is Azor! Azor is a two month old Shih Tzu puppy born in Santa Barbara. We’re really excited to have him in our home and I just wanted to share our excitement with everybody. How in the world did we come up with the name Azor? Good question. If you’re familiar with pharmaceutical drugs, you’ll know that Azor is, “a medicine proven to lower high blood pressure”. We’re hoping that Azor  can be our therapy and will come to the rescue when our stress levels are high and keep our blood pressure at a nice healthy level. Azor definitely has that cute factor to calm anyone’s blood pressure. So far Azor has been amazing buddy and he loves to lay next to me and watch as I process my photos. Here’s just one photo of Azor on his first day at his new home. I’ll put up a full blog post with more photos once we get him all settled in and take him for his first visit to the veterinarian. Everybody, say hello to  the newest member of our team, Azor!!!

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Tarisha + Sherri | Stern Grove Wedding | San Francisco, Ca

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Tarisha and I were both in Phi Alpha Delta, a pre-law fraternity, together at UC Davis. It’s been over five years since I last saw her until she asked me to document her wedding in San Francisco at Stern Grove. What I loved about this wedding the most was how all the guest were close friends and family of Tarisha and Sherri who pretty much help put the wedding together. And not to mention their dog as the ring barer! Special thank you to Samuel for coming out to assist me at this wedding. Here’s a little taste of their wedding day.

Location: Stern Grove in San Francisco, Ca



Please click here to view Tarisha and Sherri’s slideshow : San Francisco Wedding at Stern Grove.

Melanie+Lawrence | First United Methodist Church | Palo Alto, Ca

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I photographed Melanie and Lawrence’s engagement a while back in L.A. (View a sample engagement book from their session here.) I love how this couple just falls into place when I was taking their portraits. Their wedding day in Palo Alto also fell into place perfectly. Everything from the schedule to the weather was just perfect. All the elements of a great wedding was in play for this wedding, especially the raw emotions displayed though out the day. It was a photographer’s gold mine. Special thank you to Samuel and Quan for coming out to help me with this wedding.

Ceremony location: First United Methodist Church

Reception location: Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel

Portrait location: Standford University Campus 

Videographer: Leo Mendoza

Cake: Marissa Villasis

Florist: Jeeryn Dang

Makeup Artist: Jen Lao

Body oil and handcuffs? Hummm… 🙂

The guys praying before the wedding ceremony starts.

This church is pretty epic. (United Methodist Church, Palo Alto)

I love this beautiful moment between Melanie and her dad. I can almost feel the love, happiness and warmth in his kiss.

Their exit dance was awesome!

Click here to see their slideshow: Melanie+Lawrence | First United Methodist Church Wedding in Palo Alto

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Kristeen+Jimmy | Engagement Session | San Francisco, Ca

Back in my days at UC Davis, I photographed Kristeen’s college senior portraits. Now she’s getting married to one of my people’s, the Laotian superstar, Jimmy Shexouquovongkhasong! It’s always a great honor to be apart of the lives of people I’ve photographed in the past and help document their life as they move forward.  For Kristeen and Jimmy’s e-session, we explored the city of San Francisco and walked around random areas which proved to be a fun adventure for us. I later discovered that it was Kristeen’s birthday that day, so it was really a great honor to know that she would want to spend the day letting me photograph her on her birthday. Big happy birthday Kristeen! And congratulations to this wonderful couple.