I was so excited when Kelie contacted me for their engagement session! They had not yet set a date or location for their wedding, but wanted to do a session around the colorful Santa Monica Pier. I have shot at the pier quite a few times (this was in fact the first of 2 in 2 weeks!) but I loved the challenge of finding new spots and putting new spins on old ones. And of course, Kelie & Kaare’s personalities and love created a session that was so uniquely them. I adore when a location reflects who a couple is, and I really think the bright pier and the calm beach was THE perfect backdrop for their chill yet ridiculously fun personalities!

My favorite shots of the day? The ones with the cotton candy! In all our SM pier shoots, this was the first where we incorporated this delightful (yet sticky) treat.

Angela and John met at a taekwondo studio. Angela’s very first impression of John was that he was cute, but also incredibly intimidating. Intimidating despite the fact that she was the teacher and he was the student. And despite the fact that she had conquered 3 degrees of blackbelt and had competed in national and world championships. Her sparring record and perfect form was all no match for the tall and intimidating student in her class, and Angela decided she would have nothing to do with approching him anytime soon.

And then one fateful day, Angela was working in the studio office and in entered a slightly disgruntled John. An accidental $700 overcharge on a class is hardly ever a good thing, but in this case, it was the very thing that sparked their first conversation, their relationship, and then their love. The studio’s little error brought together two people who are ridiculously perfect together and will be marrying this May at San Juan Capistrano Mission!

They love the entire area, so we decided to do their engagement session in San Juan Capistrano as well, spending time at the train depot and the little colorful houses that line the road behind it. I love the light, the colors, and all the little spots we found!

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!