married | angie+grant

Couple of weeks ago (okay, it's been more than a couple of weeks but we'll leave it at that for now!), I had the pleasure of documenting Angie+Grant's wedding in First Baptist Church of Pasadena with Youkeun again. As you all know, Pasadena is one of the cutest areas with lots of cool backdrops for pictures so I was pretty excited to shoot there! Then after the ceremony, we headed back down to Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Downtown, Los Angeles for the reception. The reception was held on the Fifth floor with lots and lots of windows and a complete view of Downtown! And the cherry on top? The-best-tiramisu-on-the-planet to end the night! Yummmm..

Ok. onto the pictures. Isn't she just gorgeous?

Not only is she gorgeous, I can't get over her killer laugh! If this laugh doesn't do it for you, I don't know what will. Grant is a lucky man..

Beautiful details by Catherine Cindy Leo. They used tons and tons of books all throughout the reception that the groom had! Loved how they used a resource they already had!

Who would've thought dduk (korean rice cake) could look this cute?!

Again, thanks Youkeun for bringing me along! :)

Sandi's Baby shower

I'm a planner, I plan everything. I even plan out lunch with a friend. When I have to meet with a friend at 12pm, I plan out exactly how long it'll take me to get ready, figure out when I should start getting ready, then execute. Till it's time for me to start getting ready, I won't budge and just lounge around as if I have no place to go, only because I have a plan and I follow my plans. :)

Right now, I'm in a place where I haven't launched my business, I'm still honing my craft and working out the details before I officially get started. That's my plan and I plan to stick to it. So imagine my confusion when I get an email from Liz titled "inquiry." What could this be? Inquiry for what?! I slowly opened up the email with butterflies in my stomach. She explained that she was hosting a baby shower for a friend and was wondering if I'd be interested in shooting it. Are you kidding me?!

Ok, this isn't a wedding, it's a baby shower and I want to shoot weddings, that's what I want to do primarily as far as events are concerned, and if so, what's up with all the excitement?! If it was any other person asking me to shoot a baby shower, I'm not sure I'd agree to it, only cause I want to shoot weddings, not baby showers. Yeah yeah, I'm sure you get it by now... But you see, Liz is different. I knew if she was hosting a baby shower, it would be done with style. If you've seen her work before, I'm sure you can clearly see where I'm coming from. She's a designer/scrapbooker (and I'm not talking about your average scrapbooker that you think of when you hear that word) that designs digital scrapbooking products and stuff for photographers and she's not only talented but has great taste. If there were such thing as soul mates for design taste, she'd be mine. sigh. Can you tell I have a mad crush on her? ;)

So I digress. I told her as long as she was comfortable with the fact that i had no experience shooting alone, I'd be up for the challenge. Heck, any experience is a good experience, right?! Then the day came. May 15th. The day that I was going to shoot my very first event alone. I woke up that morning full of excitement/anxiety/fear, hoping that I won't let them down or at least survive the day. But I survived, just like I survived my first 2nd shooting experience. hooray!

Sandi's baby shower was held in the lounge at the Langham in Pasadena where they serve afternoon tea, talk about throwing a baby shower with style...

The host, Liz.

Have you seen a more gorgeous mother-to-be? If everyone was guaranteed to look this good pregnant, I don't think anyone would hesitate, lol.

Thanks Liz for having the confidence in me to shoot this, always inspiring me to chase my dreams, and for being my friend.

Wedding | Kathrine+Alvin

You know the feeling when you've had such a good experience that when it's all over, you still feel a high afterwards? That's what this wedding did for me. I don't know if it's the gorgeous venue, or the oh-so-in-love couple that we shot, or shooting for Brian Khang, who I had a blast with or the combination of all of the above. Whatever it is, the ride back home, I felt like I was on cloud nine, no joke.

For those of you who actually know me, know that I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. I love chick flicks even if it's all so predictable, I love crying through sappy movies, cause that's just how I cope with stress. You can hate on me all you want, but that's who I am. And lucky for me, I have a boyfriend who will sit next to me through it all, except for SATC, but that's a whole different story! So I digress. So for those few that really know me personally that read this blog, probably weren't too surprised that I wanted to venture into weddings when I decided to take this photography hobby into another level. It just made sense.

I'm not one to start a wedding post with a love story cause for one, I'm not much of a writer and honestly, I'm shooting these weddings as a second shooter and I don't know the couple at all other than their names. But right off the bat, you'd be a fool not to notice the love and connection Kathrine+Alvin had for each other. Their wedding was just the kind of weddings that I wanted to be a part of, the emotional kind, full of laughter+tears. Although it feels pretty odd to cry on a job, looking through the viewfinder, hoping the guests won't notice the tears streaming down my cheeks, it still leaves you with the same warm, fuzzy feeling to be a part of something so emotional, whether you're attending as a guest or a photographer. sigh.

Church: Crossline Church, Laguna Hills
Venue: Dove Canyon Country Club
Wedding Coordinator: ME Events & Design
Officiant: Pastor Dave Gibbons of Newsong Church
Florist: Fiore
DJ: DJ Mikey P
Cake: Beverly’s Best Bakery

Isn't this bouquest to die for? Love the unexpected touch of color!

The boys getting ready for the ceremony.

This church seriously had me smittened.

This part of the wedding always, without fail, gets me everytime.

My favorite shot of the day.

Thanks Brian for letting me be part of this. Don't forget to head over to Brian's blog for more images from this wedding!