When I try to begin writing this post about Tanya & Marcus’s wedding, the first thoughts that come to mind are thankful, thankful, thankful. Thankful that Uyen introduced us months ago. Thankful to have photographed their engagement session. Thankful to have been a part of their beautiful brunch time wedding. But most of all thankful to have met such amazing people. I don’t know if you can see it in these pictures, but Tanya and Marcus are some of the kindest, warmest people I’ve ever met – not as clients, or through my work, or this job – but EVER, IN LIFE.

I often express on this blog how much I do love pretty details and gorgeous locations, but this wedding really reminded me; nevermind that their venue was in fact beautiful, or that their flowers were the prettiest shades of purple, or their dessert bar was just the right balance of lovely and delicious – in the end, it’s all about the people. And with people as amazing as Tanya and Marcus, I could have shot any level-of-fancy wedding of theirs, anywhere on earth, and it’d be the most awesome thing ever.

This is one of those weddings {there are more than a few of them}, where I’m sitting there editing the images late in the evening, the computer monitor glowing brightly, with maybe a snack (aka THIRD DINNER) on my desk, and I find that suddenly, I’m misty-eyed. Because how crazy beautiful are these moments? The moment of joy as Christina sees her aunts walk in to congratulate her as she’s getting ready, or the excitement Mark has when he presents Christina with a wedding gift (a ukelele, and she gave him a surfboard!) Or the significance of a rose placed gently on a chair saved for Mark’s mother, who had passed away earlier that year.

Christina and Mark are both the kinds of people who will greet you with the warmest hugs, and laugh unabashedly, and constantly radiate love in every which-what direction, and the fact that they found each other & ended up together is something pretty wonderful. Their wedding day was a string of beautiful and joyous moments and it was such an honor to be there to capture them!

I remember meeting Hanaya at Susina Bakery last summer, and immediately feeling like we had known each other for years. There is a chance that the berry white chocolate cake {aka heaven on a plate} was somehow contributing to my happy mood, but I’m pretty sure most of it was just because Hanaya was so sweet, awesome & down-to-earth. When a meeting just feels like a coffee date with a friend, you can bet that I always leave with all my fingers & toes crossed that they will book :)

And… they did! :) I feel so blessed to have been able to capture Hanaya & Darren’s gorgeous wedding at Wayfarers Chapel and the La Venta Inn. It was also my first time working with the girls of live.love.create events, a fantastic team of coordinators. They pulled everything together beautifully & also created some of the sweetest handmade details!

P.S. The balloon! From their engagement session! You can see it make a repeat appearance at the wedding at the end of the post :)