Before I jump into this post, a quick announcement! Apologies to anyone who emailed me yesterday and had their email bounce back – I was having some email issues but they are all resolved now! If you haven’t received a reply from me for an email you’ve sent, please try sending your message again :) Thanks!

And now.. Jill & Jamar’s wedding! There are certain things that go into creating the recipe for a perfect wedding.. of course, hands down the number one ingredient is an excited & so in-love couple. And then there is the presence of family & friends, especially when they come together to help create the wedding as a labor of love. And it doesn’t hurt to have spectacular details, handcrafted & personally pieced together with help from those closest to you. And a dreamy location? The cherry on top!

Jill & Jamar’s wedding was filled with all of these special pieces and was indeed the perfect day. As you scroll through these photos you might be thinking “OMG they got married in the middle of the street in NYC!” but their wedding was in fact held in the backlot of CBS studios – the ambiance was SO perfect & it really felt like you were dining & dancing right in the midst of a sparkly NYC neighborhood. Just a few steps away and there was a quaint residential neighborhood lot waiting perfectly for us to make portraits in. The flowers, cake table, centerpieces.. EVERYTHING was designed & assembled by Jill’s mother and her friend, and the entire setup was an explosion of color & texture. It was such a joy to document their day!

Seriously, the cake display was the most amazing & decadent one I’ve ever seen.. party for your eyeballs AND your mouth? Why yes!

I adored Jill & Jamar’s first dance – they danced to “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars – it was an upbeat alternative to the usual first dance songs, and Jamar sang the whole song to her as they danced… heart = melting.

Sweet moment during the mother-son dance..

P.S. Check out the awesome SDE of their wedding by the fabulous videography team Weddings by SML, loved working with them!

I first met Mai over the sweetest email.. she wrote that she had been following my blog for awhile and as it would soon be her turn to tie the knot, she was excited to chat about wedding photography. She also wrote how she had recently started a floral business, Bunch Studio, and upon first glance at her website I was speechless. She created some of the most lush & creative designs I had ever seen, especially for someone who was only months (MONTHS!) into ever picking up a flower to arrange.

As the year before her wedding unfolded, I hung out with Mai (and Nick!) at various events & through mutual friends, we worked together on shoots and weddings, and by the time their own wedding (at the beautiful Strawberry Farms) came around, I felt I was definitely shooting the wedding of not clients, but dear friends. Which makes writing this entry almost more difficult.. because how to even describe such a day? A wedding where the bride is one of the most talented floral designers I’ve ever met? A ceremony arch of air plants; homegrown, picked, and potted succulents as favors; bouquets {each one unique!} that Mai handcrafted herself; every rustic & organic detail infused with Mai & Nick and their story..

But even moreso, how to describe the beautiful intangible side of things? A ceremony, officiated by a friend {my favorite type!}, that brought everyone present to tears, music & dance performances by friends at the reception, all the fathers/daughters & mothers/sons being invited out to dance during those respective moments & seeing all the various generations.. And a love between Mai and Nick that is all the right things – warm, silly, confident, and filled with that undeniable feeling of “home”.

A million thank yous to Mai & Nick for giving me the opportunity to document all of this!

This wedding is featured on one of my most favorite wedding blogs today… Green Wedding Shoes! Thank you Jen for the feature! Be sure to head over to GWS to see the post and a lovely description of the details of the wedding by Mai herself!

My favorite kinds of bouquets – whimsical, eclectic, and filled with unique not-your-typical-floral finds…

Nick asked all his groomsmen to grow out their mustaches for the wedding… love it!!

A shave ice truck was on hand providing endless refreshment, such a genius (and delicious) idea!

The most perfect photobooth setup…

And the cake! Laurie of I Believe It’s Cake! is a true artist and quite possibly outdid herself on this one… so elegant and beautiful…

Venue, Catering, Coordination: Strawberry Farms
Florals: Bunch Studio & Floral Elements
Cake: I Believe Its Cake
Shave Ice Truck: Tropical Shave Ice
DJ & MC: Playtime Attractions, Andy & Daphne Felicitas

Thao & Dinh were married at the beautiful Rancho Las Lomas, a rustic property tucked away in south Orange County, dotted with lush gardens, a small zoo (with tigers, zebras, & macaws!), cute cottages, and orange orchards… Thao & Dinh put so much thought into every detail of the wedding, which included amazing florals from Linda of LV Floral Events (who just happens to be Dinh’s cousin!) – I always love working with her! The day was also filled with so many beautiful emotional moments.. my favorite was probably their personally written vows, which they shared through tears of joy at the ceremony.

Enjoy this peek into their day!

I love this moment during the first dance, as Thao sweetly wipes away Dinh’s tears :)