I first met Mai over the sweetest email.. she wrote that she had been following my blog for awhile and as it would soon be her turn to tie the knot, she was excited to chat about wedding photography. She also wrote how she had recently started a floral business, Bunch Studio, and upon first glance at her website I was speechless. She created some of the most lush & creative designs I had ever seen, especially for someone who was only months (MONTHS!) into ever picking up a flower to arrange.

As the year before her wedding unfolded, I hung out with Mai (and Nick!) at various events & through mutual friends, we worked together on shoots and weddings, and by the time their own wedding (at the beautiful Strawberry Farms) came around, I felt I was definitely shooting the wedding of not clients, but dear friends. Which makes writing this entry almost more difficult.. because how to even describe such a day? A wedding where the bride is one of the most talented floral designers I’ve ever met? A ceremony arch of air plants; homegrown, picked, and potted succulents as favors; bouquets {each one unique!} that Mai handcrafted herself; every rustic & organic detail infused with Mai & Nick and their story..

But even moreso, how to describe the beautiful intangible side of things? A ceremony, officiated by a friend {my favorite type!}, that brought everyone present to tears, music & dance performances by friends at the reception, all the fathers/daughters & mothers/sons being invited out to dance during those respective moments & seeing all the various generations.. And a love between Mai and Nick that is all the right things – warm, silly, confident, and filled with that undeniable feeling of “home”.

A million thank yous to Mai & Nick for giving me the opportunity to document all of this!

This wedding is featured on one of my most favorite wedding blogs today… Green Wedding Shoes! Thank you Jen for the feature! Be sure to head over to GWS to see the post and a lovely description of the details of the wedding by Mai herself!

My favorite kinds of bouquets – whimsical, eclectic, and filled with unique not-your-typical-floral finds…

Nick asked all his groomsmen to grow out their mustaches for the wedding… love it!!

A shave ice truck was on hand providing endless refreshment, such a genius (and delicious) idea!

The most perfect photobooth setup…

And the cake! Laurie of I Believe It’s Cake! is a true artist and quite possibly outdid herself on this one… so elegant and beautiful…

Venue, Catering, Coordination: Strawberry Farms
Florals: Bunch Studio & Floral Elements
Cake: I Believe Its Cake
Shave Ice Truck: Tropical Shave Ice
DJ & MC: Playtime Attractions, Andy & Daphne Felicitas

Thao & Dinh were married at the beautiful Rancho Las Lomas, a rustic property tucked away in south Orange County, dotted with lush gardens, a small zoo (with tigers, zebras, & macaws!), cute cottages, and orange orchards… Thao & Dinh put so much thought into every detail of the wedding, which included amazing florals from Linda of LV Floral Events (who just happens to be Dinh’s cousin!) – I always love working with her! The day was also filled with so many beautiful emotional moments.. my favorite was probably their personally written vows, which they shared through tears of joy at the ceremony.

Enjoy this peek into their day!

I love this moment during the first dance, as Thao sweetly wipes away Dinh’s tears :)

I started the year with a handful of big goals – to work with couples I felt I really connected with, to collaborate with other vendors on some beautiful stylized shoots {here, here & here}, and to sneak in a couple destination weddings {one here and another one coming soon!}. My last (and loftiest?) goal was to get some work published in print. So you can imagine I was more than a wee bit excited when the girls of Southern Weddings Magazine contacted me asking for some bouquet shots for their upcoming issue! I sent over a handful of faves & they ended up including two of them in their latest fall edition. Southern Weddings is IMO one of the most stylish & creative wedding mags out there, each & every page is truly a work of art! It is an honor to be included in their visually stunning third issue!

Also a big thank you to the amaaazing florists who put together these beauties!

Linda’s bouquet of lush pink peonies & sweet peas just left of the shot with the black dress, created by Cindy of Floral Elements. I also noticed there was an editor’s note by Emily naming it as her fave! :)

And below, a whimsical red & black bouquet along the left from the Queen of Hearts shoot, created by Mai of Bunch Studio:

A big big thank you to Emily & all the girls at Southern Weddings for including my work in their amazing publication! Their V3 is seriously one of the most inspirational magazines I’ve perused in a long time… go out and get your copy now!

I’ve also been meaning to mention just a few of our recent blog features… I follow so many of these blogs religiously for daily inspiration & it’s an honor to be included within their posts. I believe wedding blogs are one of THE greatest planning tools out there and it’s such a treat to peek into the massively creative ideas couples come up with for their day, the unique ways they weave their story into the details, the way each wedding speaks directly to who the couple is. I am a firm believer that it does not take oodles of cash to make a visually stunning wedding – all it takes is a little brainstorming, style, imagination, & DIY goodness, and I love that these wedding blogs promote these ideas in each & every one of their posts!

Thank you so much to the following blogs for featuring a bit of my work!

Style Me Pretty

Grey Likes Weddings {newly redesigned & oh-so-beautiful!}

Ever Ours

Project Wedding