Oh the Griffith Observatory – one of the few places where you can get that perfect combination of twinkling city lights + dreamy watercolor sunsets. Add in a couple as fun and laidback and Jamie & Greg and you have a seriously lovely session! They brought their pups along as well, so we took time to wander around the park a bit before heading up to the observatory to catch those perfect views :)

So excited for their spring wedding next year!

The streets were still empty at the time I was driving, the sky was a shade of dark grey. When we all congregated at the observatory around 6am, it was still quiet, the sidewalks vacant if not for the occasional runner. We walked to the lawn, and as the sun peeked over the Hollywood hills, surrounded by just their closest family & friends, Ashley & Erika exchanged vows.

I had someone ask me once about the future success of my wedding photography business – based upon the kind of fancy venues I could hope to shoot at, or the kind of high-end expensive weddings I could “grow” to shoot. And I was confused about their question at first, and then surprisingly overjoyed as I realized I consider myself immensely successful already, because I get to shoot weddings like this, this very one you see below. That somehow in the past few years I’ve been drawn to and gotten to be a part of these types of days – the ones that have their sights constantly set on the right thing, the ones that are all about the love. These days have been both big and small, short and long, filled with details ranging from just a bouquet to quite a bit of lovely decor – but they are all the same in that the couples are warm, and the emotions are open and real, and there is just so much love in every corner.

I teared up more than a few times while editing these photos, and I feel very very fortunate to have been able to document this day.

Courtney is a friend of mine from UCLA, and Maz I met shortly afterwards. I knew them separately, and I knew them together, and they are seriously so the perfect match. Courtney is down to earth and real in every situation, she radiantly lights up any room she walks into, and has by far the biggest & best laugh I have ever seen. And Maz? He understands & embraces (and perhaps even teases her for? :) her unique attributes, and brings that laugh out of her time and time again. Every single time we hang out, I can see how their relationship is founded on a deep friendship, on the ability to always have fun together, and really, isn’t that the way it should always be? I won’t be photographing their wedding as I get to be a bridesmaid (woo hoo!) but I’m so happy they asked me to take these photos, in the very place where Maz proposed :)