Jess is a friend of mine from oh, maybe the 1st grade? We used to make “green tea” with mint leaves (plus a bunch of other questionable stuff) from my backyard and try to feed it to our younger sisters. She always had the most epic birthday parties and perhaps even let me copy her geometry homework once or twice (SCREW YOU PROOFS). I would like to compare Jess to Mary Poppins, in that she’s practically perfect in every way. She is ridiculously smart, horribly sweet, fabulously silly, abundantly kind, and a great friend.

So when she first told me about Rich, I may have been a bit skeptical. Because who could be so perfect for such a perfect person? But upon hearing about him and meeting him I realized that he somehow also is smart, and sweet, and silly, and kind, and most of all makes Jess endlessly happy. The proof (NOT THE GEOMETRY KIND) is in the photos. In the way he’s gazing at her in this one. The way she’s laughing in that one. Their whole engagement session was so joyful, so personal, so real.

It may have helped that we shot in a wonderful little Italian restaurant {La Sosta Enoteca – oh the light! the rustic chairs! those billowy curtains!} in Hermosa Beach, where they had many of their first dates and first memories. Or that Rich brought along his two awesome daughters (be sure to scroll down!) for the second half of the session on the beach.

As I always hope for in engagement sessions, this one did seem so them – practically perfect in every way :)

It was super windy that day and frigid cold, but upon seconds of meeting Xinlei and Matt {we had previously “met” via only Skype, oh technology!}, I knew they were the type of people to let go and have fun in almost any kind of situation. They seriously were in amazing spirits the entire shoot and embraced the sunny side of it all – that the wind lent beautiful movement to the photos, that the cold made them snuggle that much closer :) I had so much fun with them both and was a little sad when it came time for them to drop me back off at the airport, although they did send me off with a cupcake! Did I ever tell you about that one time, where I always get to work with the coolest couples ever? True story.

I’m seriously counting my lucky stars that I was introducted to Tanya & Marcus by my friend & coordinator extraordinaire Uyen! Tanya & Marcus are currently living on the east coast, so they booked both of us without having yet met us in person. Uyen got to meet them first a few days before our session, and she excitedly told me afterwards how fun and sweet they are and how we’d have such a blast working together – she was totally spot on! So excited for when we all get to rendezvous again for their wedding this fall! :)