Oh, the internet is an interesting thing. It is of course the way many couples find me, but I’ve found recently that it’s played a big part in the way our relationship unfolds after as well. There is of course email, but like in the case of Susan and Ken, we’re facebook friends and follow each other’s photo adventures on Instagram as well. And throughout the months between our initial meeting and their wedding day, I got to follow their love for food, their playdates with their two amazing beagles, their awesome bachelor/bachelorette parties (think New York and Hawaii!), their wedding planning, their memories together.

Because as much as I wish I could grab coffee and hang out with my couples all the time, getting to know them this way – through updates on events, snippets of daily life, comments of encouragement – is maybe the next best thing. And by the time their wedding day rolled around, I really felt I had gotten to know Susan and Ken. That we had learned that much more about each other. That perhaps I could appreciate the details they thoughtfully incorporated into their day that much more. That when they saw each other for the first time, or said their tearful vows, or watched their slideshow, I found myself in tears along with them – that in two amazing, kind, and fun-loving people like this, I had found not clients, but friends.

Susan & Ken – I can’t express how much your support and trust in my work means to me, and how much I appreciate you letting me capture this day. It was perfect :)

You might have been able to tell through this blog, but I photograph quite a few mixed race couples. I don’t market towards it or anything, it just happened to be this way, maybe because I come from a biracial background and they can sense my hapa vibes through the interwebs? :) I love it though, and I feel like in certain ways my upbringing has made me extra sensitive to these things – to merging cultural traditions, to celebrating this diversity in your household, to the feeling that when two backgrounds come together, the result is not half of each, but double.

And so, one of my favorite aspects of Sara & Tri‘s wedding was the way they wove their cultural traditions elegantly into the day. A cozy Vietnamese tea ceremony, a sunset Jewish ceremony under the chuppah, signing of the ketubah, multiple-course banquet meal, and tons of dancing (which is basically wonderful tradition in every culture :) It made me overjoyed to see how their families from both sides completely embraced and enthusiastically participated in every cultural aspect of the day, whether it was their own or otherwise.

And to tie this all together, Sara & Tri chose a beautiful venue and filled it up with the loveliest details. How yummy are those bouquets? Kim of Art with Nature somehow gathered all the prettiest, petaliest flowers in the world (peonies! ranunculus! dahlias! garden roses!) and put them together beautifully…

Cake from Susina Bakery!

I love when all the components of a wedding come together just perfectly!

It maybe begins with an intimate seaside venue {the Long Beach Museum of Art}. It includes a darling first look, the kind with lots of smiles and perhaps a few tears. There is a ton of time for fun portraits. There might be pretty diffuse light, and definitely a warm & relaxed atmosphere. Overjoyed family and friends abound, laughter fills every corner of the venue. Maybe a fantastic sweets bar, filled with treats from Sweet and Saucy? :) And of course, a couple that shares a deeply-rooted love, the kind of people that are warm & sweet & beautiful on their own, but, even better together.

Before the crazy photo barrage ensues {there are something like 50 of them!}, I would like to give a special shoutout to Mai of Bunch Studio, who not only created the florals for this wedding, but designed this wedding in its entirety. She took Deena’s visions of bold pinks, black & white, damask, and added her own Bunch Studio flair (the peonies! the feathers! I die!) that is immensely creative, full of style, and always unmatched. If you don’t yet have a florist, you really do need to give this girl a ring :)

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