When Alwyn & Alvin contacted me about an engagement session, they immediately started a fun dialogue about props. They really wanted the session to be vibrant and dynamic, colorful and sweet, and to most of all, show their personalities. We tossed around a few ideas and in one email, Alwyn suggested water balloons and a bat. Upon reading her suggestion, I did a little happy dance in my seat, and then started brainstorming other ways we could incorporate exploding balloons of awesomeness. On the morning before the session, I bought a sweet pink umbrella from Target (how I got out of Target without buying 571 other things is entirely beyond me), and as you’ll see below, it made for some fun photos {before it met its end at the hands of one especially overzealous water balloon}.

Alwyn & Alvin were SUCH troopers, not minding one bit that they were basically drenched by the end of the session – in fact they happily forged ahead into the second half of the session, where we skipped over to Chinatown for a romantic night shoot. Stay tuned!

Meghan and Jason live in Denver, Colorado. Since they booked me over email (after finding me via Green Wedding Shoes, one of my most favorite wedding blogs!), we didn’t get to meet until their engagement session last month. I was so ecstatic to find that we hit it off immediately – they are abundantly kind & laidback, fun & stylish (they did afterall meet while working at Urban Outfitters) and I could not be more excited for their wedding this fall at the Sonnenalp Resort in the snow-capped mountains of Vail, Colorado! From what they described, its going to be an amazing day filled with tons of great details – including all the guys in the wedding (read: including the dads!) sporting Vans.

Abbot Kinney, hands-down the cutest little street on the west side, felt like the perfect place to photograph such a hip & happy couple. At the end of the session, we headed down to the sea – we didn’t include the beach in our original plans, but in the end they expressed wanting to carry those beachy memories of LA back to Colorado with them :)

P.S. Meghan is an incredible fashion photographer & you can check out her work here. Her photography background resulted in a those fun moments where I would start describing a certain pose/shot, our photog brains magically connected, and Meghan knew exactly what I was talking about :) Her photography is stunning, but she clearly knows how to work it on the other side of the camera as well!

I had been itching for an opportunity to use these fantastic fabric flowers in a shoot, and loved that Meghan & Jason were so awesomely game for incorporating them :) They were created by the amazing Kim Sanders of Art with Nature Design for the Utterly Engaged Design Challenge we worked on together. She came up with the dreamiest tablescape and to my great joy, gifted these handemade beauties to me at the end!

Abbot Kinney never fails to deliver my favorite things – amazing color & gorgeous light…

Griffith Park is absolutely beautiful this time of year! Add in a super sweet and stylish couple, and the photos essentially take themselves :) I was totally bummed when Angela told me their wedding date and I realized I was booked (they’re having a beautiful vintage wedding in Oklahoma no less!) but was overjoyed when they set up an engagement session!

I adore the lovely hand-painted canvases they brought – so simple, unique and romantic – and enjoyed exploring the park with this super fun & creative couple. So much of the park was covered in beautiful springtime blossoms – just dreamy! Any couple I’ve worked with can attest to the fact that I physically canNOT walk past a collection of colorful flowers without stopping for some photos, and I was overjoyed to find that Angela totally shared my love for colorful blooms :)

Angela & BJ – thank you so much for the opportunity to be a tiny part of this exciting time in your lives! Will be sending happy vibes to you on your wedding day!