springfield & agawam, ma . agawam congregational church . chez josef
Over the past week and weekend, it seemed that the whole U.S. had been covered with thunderstorms (except for the west coast, that is!). On the way to Boston, I saw lightning over Arizona which was awesome to see from a plane. I even got a video of it, which I can post if anyone’s interested in seeing it. :)
On the morning of Nick and Liya’s wedding, it was no exception, there was a heavy downpour, and thunder and lightning in the sky. It was a beautiful wedding nonetheless, with Liya, a beautiful and sweet bride, and Nick, who so obviously adored her so much! When Nick first contacted me last September, he actually hadn’t even proposed yet! He went on to tell me that he had loved her for over three years, and had finally been able to snag her ;) Liya confirmed this the day of the wedding, telling me that they had known each other for 5 years, with him loving her 4 out of the 5 years and she didn’t even know! How sweet is that?! :) When Nick asked me to photograph their wedding (he actually heard about me through an old friend whose wedding I had photographed a few years ago and apparently had been set on using me as his wedding photographer ever since he saw their photos!), I jumped on the opportunity! And so, here are the photos – thank you SO much, Nick & Liya, for giving me the opportunity to photograph your beautiful wedding, as well as visit your side of the coast! I loved it all, and I can’t wait to go back! We should definitely meet up if I do come back :) I hope you have a beautiful honeymoon in the Dominican Republic! :)
A drawing of the couple, by Nick’s sister
Liya getting some food before the crazy day!
The lyrics to Liya’s song to Nick
The first time Nick saw Liya
The first thing out of Vitay’s mouth when they came through the door “Is that pizza?!”
After the ceremony, they couldn’t stop kissing each other! ;) Not that I blame them!
I’m back! And with pictures to share! I will definitely be posting photos from the wedding soon, but I’ll post photos from the trip itself first. :) We were all over the place, and I loved it! New England is beautiful, and I really want to visit again soon! It all started on the plane, and we flew the red eye into Boston on Jetblue – which is awesome because you get your own TV with LIVE channels! I watched HGTV, Food Network and VH1 mostly :)
Once we got a chance to eat, we headed to The Paramount on Beacon’s Hill
My friend Emee who came with me
Angela, who graciously let us stay with her in Boston :)
I couldn’t get over how fancy all the shop storefronts looked there! The 7-Eleven even had this fancy sign!! It was really quaint and I loved it.
On the Longfellow’s Bridge
I know!
And this was the photo from that point:
A store I wanted to visit was the Magpie store, which sells goods from indie artists. Lots of fun stuff in there!
Booksale at Harvard
The Harvard library steps. We had fun lounging around on the steps and people watching. So many tourists at this time of year (with us being one of them!) and it was fun trying to figure out who came from where based on what they wore.
Emee & me at Harvard :)
We stopped by the Halfshell and watched a youth symphony performing by the grass. The acoustics are amazing!
And watched the sunset afterwards
Others were too
Thought this was sweet :)
Towards dinner, we headed to the North End and passed by the Holocaust Memorial
These are all the numbers of people who were killed
We stopped at Giacomo’s Ristorante (mentioned by Rachael Ray on $40 a Day)
There was a line outside – that’s how popular it is :)
I had the seafood special and it was GOOD!
The next day, we headed to Newbury Street, which is a shopper’s dream. I LOVED all the shops, especially one called 1154 Lill Studio. They sell custom bags where you select your own fabrics. I bought myself a messenger bag, which I LOVE and can’t wait for it to come in the mail! You can also play and design a bag on their website :)
We also stopped at the Boston Public Library
And the miniature book exhibit
Some other photos from that night on the way back to the apartment
The next day we headed towards Hartford, Connecticut, where we were staying during the wedding. We got to see a little bit of the sights that they had to offer too.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s House (next door!)
The next day was the wedding, which I’ll save for another entry, but let’s just say that it thunderstormed that day!
The next morning after the wedding, we got up and drove towards Rhode Island, where we were flying out of.
We stopped at an overlook at Mystic River. Let me tell you, the drive there was SCARY. It was so foggy that I was this close to pulling over a few times!
The next stop was the Aupponaug Cove in Warwick, Rhode Island before we boarded the plane :)
And saw the sunrise :)
And our last photo!
It was so much fun, and I’d do it all over again! And plus, like I had wanted, I finished Harry Potter during the trip. I’m so sad that the book’s over, I feel like I’ve said goodbye to an old friend. But my boyfriend said “read it again, that’s what I did and I felt better about it.” Yea, he read it three times already! :P
I’m headed off to Boston today! I have a wedding to photograph in Massachusetts this Saturday and I’ve never been to the East Coast, so I had to visit early! If you need to reach me, I will be able to check my email regularly so please feel free to email me if you need to reach me this week! :) Otherwise I’ll be back on Monday so I’ll see you all then! :)
So you will probably recently remember Jenny and Jeff from a few posts down – yesterday we geared up and headed out to do their “Post Wedding” AKA “Trash the Dress” session! :) These two are such amazing people and I I LOVED getting to know them even better! They have the cutest Boston terrier named Hamilton, aka Hammy, and Jeff is a fellow Harry Potter fan too! He’s actually slowly reading the last book because he wants to savor it – he’s sad that it’s ending! Heee. :D
The whole shoot was an adventure, especially on our way to the last location!
We started the shoot at Horton Plaza
The Hamster
Getting love!
We just had to sneak in some Harry into the shot! :)
The most attractive looking couple!
When I pulled this shot up, it literally made me laugh out loud. I love Hammy’s expression!
Then we headed to Lake Poway where Hammy got all dressed up. Jenny’s mom Annie was a HUGE help too! She made Hammy’s tie & did the veils as well as ran around San Diego with us and watched Hammy when he wasn’t in the photos. Thanks so much, Annie!
Lazy afternoon
Now, this is where the story gets interesting! On the way to the beach, our car ran out of gas!! We were already trying to beat the sunset, but this just added on top of it! So we all got out of the car to push. I couldn’t resist and had to get a photo.
After we parked the car, we ran up to the nearest car leaving and asked to hitch a ride to the beach. They were so nice and took us there!
So luckily, we did make it in time to the beach to get some shots. :)
Jeff’s anticipating it!
Look at that dress balloon up!
What an adventure it was! I would’ve like to have done more night shots, but I totally couldn’t find my light until we got back to the house! Boo! Maybe another time? :) Also, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to my favorite pair of Rainbow sandals before the ocean swept them away. :( Goodbye Rainbows! I loved you, and I will probably end up getting another pair. :P
Guess who found their way into our little hands? :) And of course, my boyfriend Zach has already finished it. Yea, he’s that crazy.
The scene on our patio at 3am last night:
Zach and our friend Charlie reading all night long.
ETA: Gromit loves Harry too
Now that Zach’s finished the book, he keeps making comments about it, but I keep shutting my ears and saying “LALALALA!” I’ve seriously avoided any type of spoiler/hype/info about the book thus far, and I do NOT WANT INFO! I’m hoping to finish it by the end of the Boston trip next week :)
So, if you didn’t already know, I have a dance recital coming up in two and a half weeks and you’re all invited. :) Seriously! If you want more info on how to get tickets for the event and watch me make a fool of myself onstage, feel free to email me for more info on the show and ticket info. I’d seriously love to see each and everyone one of you there so email me!
And yes, that is what I have to wear for the dance. It’s a jazz piece to “Ain’t No Other Man” by Christina Aguilera. You don’t want to miss it a bunch of people on stage in mermaid-looking outfits dancing! Hahaa! :P
In all seriousness though, I’m really looking forward to it because it’s been several years since I’ve been on stage, and I really missed it (thanks to So You Think You Can Dance, really!) and it’s just going to be so much fun! :)
september 2, 2006 . thursday club
Jenny & Jeff were married last September, but I never got a chance to post their images! But I’m posting them now because we’ll be doing a “Post Wedding” session (aka Trash the Dress), next week! And I can’t wait. :) You’ll be seeing more “blast from the past” weddings because there were quite a few weddings I did last year that I really enjoyed but never got around to posting.
Upon seeing his bride for the first time :)
They got each other good!
A stolen moment
So, Nataly and Ryan were my big 07.07.07 couple! And boy was the day lucky! Aside from the fact that it was a HOT day, it ended up fantastic. And because of the heat, they were bold enough to do… well.. you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of the entry! BUT NOT YET! That would be cheating :) Let’s just say they did what many brides and grooms would look at my crazy for if I ever suggested it on their wedding day!
The wedding was held at Oceanview Room at the Point Loma Sub base. They actually wanted to do a post wedding shoot at their hotel, so after the reception, we headed over to Town and Country Club and finished up the day there! These two are fabulous people and so much fun to work with and have so much spirit and love! They are awesome and I hope they’re having fun in Mexico! :D
These guys were up for anything!
Someone printed out a photo the same day and put it at their table during the reception! Someone hiding a printer in their room? ;)
Nataly needed help eating a chocolate covered strawberry :)
Teaching the younger ones the classics :)
That was one tall groomsman!
We are clearly dorks!
Their ride
Yep! They jumped in the pool! It was actually quite funny when Ryan got in the pool – some lady walking by made a noise and ran away because it freaked her out – I’m assuming because they were still in wedding clothes! Thanks so much to the two of them for being such awesome sports and having so much fun with this! I’d love to do more post wedding sessions the day of – I’ve seen some at night which are beautiful, so if any of you want to do this, let me know! *hint*hint!* :D And no, you don’t necessarily have to get in a pool or anything like that ;)
P.S. Just a reminder! Trashing the dress does not literally mean you’re trashing your dress! It’s just a lot shorter than “Portrait session where you don’t need to worry about getting your dress dirty and/or wet!” :) Of course, you could always just call it a “Day After” session :)
Been busy being smack in the middle of wedding season! Whee! I’m going to be posting a BUNCH of “new” stuff soon, right now, here are some photos from Dominique & Andrew’s engagement session! They’re an adorable and sweet couple – we had so much fun running around the beach! Can’t wait till the wedding, you two!
Our good friend Josh was recently back in San Diego on leave (and his wife Nancy came back too!) and we got to meet their daughter Chloe for the first time! They’re actually the first of our good friends to have a baby! :) And of course, I had to do an impromptu baby session before he left to go back to the East Coast and then Iraq. :(
Her shirt says “daddy does my hair!”
The whole family :)
Look at that pout!
Welcome to the newly redesigned blog! One of the things that I wished about my old blog was that I could write regular text posts to update you guys about anything without loosing the idea of seeing images from recent events! So, I decided to go to a “normal” looking blog, so you can do just that! I’m currently still in the process of moving things over, like some images and comments, and over the next few days, you might see some things being added/tweaked, but otherwise, I hope you like the new look/style! Feel free to comment and let me know! <3
Also because I want to post an image, here are a few images where I’ve been playing with textures :)
Alan & Jennifer are one of the cutest couples!! Alan is so tender with Jen and so loving, it’s sweet. These two compliment each other so well, and I loved the vibe of their whole wedding. The wedding was held at the La Jolla Bridge Club, with coordination by the awesome Brian Bosch. :)
The first time they saw each other that day
The guests all had parasols
They had to stop and greet this little guy! :)
They were so easy to photograph – they stole moments like this all day!
The fabulous Emily who assisted me that day! :D
During the speeches
Perfect way to end :)
Oh what fun! Kim & Remo are an adorable, fun couple – and I had a blast shooting with them! Here are a couple of photos from the engagement shoot. :) You guys should just live in San Diego guys! I know you love it down here so much :)
I hope everyone had a great 4th! I’m gearing up for the most anticipated wedding date of the year – 07.07.07! Nataly and Ryan are a great couple and I can’t wait to shoot their special day tomorrow :) Lots of other photos coming up too – been busy with life activities, as well as wedding stuff! I’m actually traveling to Massachusetts to photograph a wedding at the end of the month, and I can’t wait! I’ve never been to the east coast. :) I’m going to be flying into Boston for a few days before the wedding – anyone have suggestions on what I should see/eat? :D I’m open!
Heather and Mike had a fabulous wedding at Heather’s uncle house out in Alpine, CA. Sometimes I just think this is the way to go! The wedding was beautiful, everyone was so comfortable and happy, especially the couple! Heather and Mike are a fun pair – and totally adorable together. :) With a mutual love for Starbucks (well that’s how they met! :D) and joy in their eyes, these two are a perfect blend. :)
Worry free wedding shoes! :D
Whoooaaaaa
BUNDY!
Nice bling
last dance with sparklers!
HAPPY 4th of JULY everyone! :D
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