When I first pulled up to the engagement session and saw Kristy & Harnnull’s huge smiles, I thought, okay this session is going to be awesome. And then they showed me their killer outfits (how perfect are the beach ones??) and I thought, oh yes, definitely awesome. And then they were like, well here’s our ridiculously cute dog, and we also brought this beautiful vintage bike, and we’re just going to laugh a lot in our photos, and be all super duper in love, and totally trust you, and by the way, in case that wasn’t enough, as a parting gift, here are some MACARONS, oh, just because we know you like them.

Um, dear Kristy & Harnnull, you are the very type of people that made me want to start doing this whole wedding photography thing in the first place. Your love and your smiles inspire me. You session made me want to get home as fast as possible so I could look at these photos on the computer. You make me feel so lucky that I get to meet amazing people like you, through this thing I call “work”. I had so much fun with you both – to say I’m excited for your wedding this summer is an understatement! :)

Melody and Caleb brought along the most lovely picnic for their engagement session! I also fell in love with Melody’s bike, which she rides around her hometown of Big Bear, looking for cute vintage finds like some of the ones they gathered below!

Melody & Caleb are so sweet and in love, and just light up around each other – so excited for their wedding this June {also super excited to work with the amazing Esther of My Bride Story!}

Where to start? I always encourage couples to personalize their engagement session, think of something unique, bring a prop or two… but Dawn & Craig took it to an entirely different (and amazingly wonderful) level!

In our email exchanges, Dawn sent me the idea of a vintage picnic session that combined all of their favorite things, and we immediately took off on a mad brainstorming session. The result had me giddy with excitement – the perfect sun-kissed location, a picnic basket (complete with a baguette!), vintage sodas, books, cupcakes from Frostings (links to a wonderfully written review by Dawn), and a bouquet of bright yellow flowers. The finishing touch was their custom-made bicycles – Craig goes biking daily and they have over 15 (fifteen!) at their home (as Dawn puts it, the bikes multiply like rabbits).

From our very first meeting, where Dawn and I chatted about folding cranes (she’s folding 1000 for the wedding!), our shared hapa roots, travel, music, and food (Dawn & Craig met working at Roy’s – what a deliciously romantic way to meet!), I felt like they would be the perfect couple for us, and can’t WAIT for their wedding in December! It’s going to a beautiful and fresh wintery-wonderland affair!

Special thanks to Ruffled for featuring this session!