One year later...

Well, Seth & Skylana are about a little over one year into their marriage and just about to hatch! Problem is, I am on vacation this week in Oregon and might miss the birth. Because I might miss it, we did a last minute pregnancy shoot at Avila Beach before I left town. Keep your fingers crossed that the baby holds up for another week!



I've been friends with Seth since childhood and been in a homegroup with them on and off again since I met Skylana 6 years ago. They love me so much that instead of asking me to shoot their wedding last year they asked me to marry them. It was an amazing wedding in Seth's parents beautiful backyard. The Amazing Jeff Newsom shot their wedding and this is a magical image from the day. I know that I look good as an officiant and all, with the sunlight illuminating my golden locks, but trust me, it's not as easy as it looks! I will stick to taking wedding pictures thank you very much. There is way too much preparation and pressure. I guess some people say that about the photography.... But photography is a heck of a lot more fun!

I really love Seth and Skylana and I am excited that they are young, in love and new parents. So many changes in the past year for them with marriage and everything, I guess they just wanted to get the biggest changes out of the way early so that they could get into good marriage stride.

3 Years Later.....

Marriage is still cool! I stood by Chris and Emery 3 years ago on their wedding day and wept like a baby. Since then they have brought new life into this world and moved to Oklahoma City. They just celebrated 3 years together and I thought it might be cool to show a bit of an AFTER wedding report. They have faced their share of trials and questioned their life, their love for one another, God's plan.... the usual. Through it all LOVE has prevailed. God's blessing has remained.


Chris was out of town for their 3 year anniversary a couple weeks ago. He couldn't figure out what to do for Emery that would make his absence up to her. Our friend Joel suggested flowers. Chris knew it had to be more than that. He decided to rewrite his vows yet with the matured perspective and love that these 3 passing years have afforded him. Here is his anniversary gift to his wife. This video card was simply made on his Macbook in the control room of a recording studio where he was on lock-down for the day. I am blown away by his love and dedication to his wife and family after all the infatuation and glitter have faded into daily routine. Way to go Chris. You just officially made every husband out there so less cool than you. What a great gift!



These pictures were a couple of my first engagement pictures ever when I started my business 4 years ago. My office consisted of a desk, computer, and scanner that fit squarely under Chris' bunk bed. It was tight in those days but I knew I was following my dream. Amazing to think where I have come and also where Chris and Emery have as well.

NYC Adventure Highlights

We had such an amazing time exploring and adventuring throughout the great city of NY! I brought my small digital camera to capture a lot of the random moments that I couldn't get with my biggie camera. This was the best work-cation I have taken in ages. It probably helped that I went out and got myself engaged.



On Saturday morning (the day after Scott & Esther's wedding) we all woke up at 5am to watch the sunrise at Battery Park, which was primo proposal location! Here are some videos and shots leading up to the magical moment. I really want to share my excitement about being engaged. I've been hanging out with pre-married couples and married couples for years now and I am just thrilled to be engaged myself. It's not because being engaged is trendy or cool. It's just that I am so excited to start spending the rest of my life with my best friend, Anna.





I really do feel different since I got engaged. My friends have been saying that my countenance has changed. I do feel really blessed and happy during this season because I am allowing myself to let go and begin to more fully give my heart away. This is a fun video. After we got engaged the first thing we did was huddle into a Starbucks to get a cup of tea. I don't know if it was that empty Starbucks, Frank Sinatra, NYC, or my ever-so-recent engagement, perhaps it was the combination, but here we are dancing our first dance as a newly-engaged couple!



And then a sobering walk around Ground Zero. I am amazed the potential humanity has for destruction, yet inspired by their ability to rebuild and choose to hope in the future. It looked like a remnant of an ant hill that some 8 year old smashed with his shoe. We stood at the glass watching the people like ants slowly continue to move the debris to prepare for the re-building.



We got a late afternoon nap and headed back out to the city for a little Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center. Truly an amazingly romantic way to tie up our very special day. I know that I'm making a big deal out of this whole 'engagement thing' but really guys for me THIS IS A BIG DEAL!






New York Ninja was perhaps the coolest restaurant experience I have ever had! was incredible! Upon entering the unassuming restaurant we were immediately ushered into another world; the world of Ninjas! The cave walls were dimly lit with candle light. The hostess called an elevator that took us down a level and opened to reveal a pitch black room. The four of us stared into the darkness awaiting some direction. Suddenly a real-live-Ninja jumped out of nowhere in full Ninja stance and shouted, 'HUH!' We all screamed, and yes, I screamed like a girl. He took our coats and led us up a black corridor and scampered off disappearing into the thin hallway of darkness. Just as I started to get a bit nervous as to where our Ninja guide had run off to he dropped from the ceiling and 'HUH!!!' again provoking more girl-ish screaming. I decided then it wasn't necessary for me to follow directly behind the crafty little Ninja so I pushed Simon to the front and took to protecting our women from the rear.

We were seated in our very own Chinese hut that was nestled in a city of Ninja huts each filled with a dining table and private group of people enjoying their very own Ninja experience. Our Ninja waiter presented our menu on roll out scrolls. There were a few different 5 course meal options complete with Ninja art dishes.

A cooking-Ninja came to make soup right in front of us by dicing the ingredients and boiling the soup by dropping a fire-hot rock into the bamboo pot.


My Ninja art dish came with a samurai sword stabbing a smoking orange. It was WICKED-AWESOME! Anna asked if we could keep the swords. ;) They said 'no' so I took pictures. What would I do without a camera?!




The conch bomb-shell was by far the coolest dish on the menu! Our Ninja cook appeared out of the darkness and without a word (of English) dropped off this plate holding a clam sattay filled conch shell on a bed of sea-salt complete with a fuse which he promptly lit and began counting down (again, not in English). The flame raced across the fuse and blew up the when it reached the conch shell causing more girl-ish screams and then delighted applause. Our cook wrapped the burning fuse around the shell to heat it's contents.



The New York Ninja was such an amazing experience! Everyone needs to check it out. By the end of the evening I began to even adopt the characteristics of a Ninja. I even tried to pull some Ninja surprises on our waiter myself, but failed. I have a lot to learn about being a Ninja! I will practice and return one day to pursue my destiny.



Bowl More was an awesome celebrity acclaimed 2 story neon bowling alley and martini bar. We played about 4 games and by the third game I scored 4 strikes in a row! I don't know what it was... Perhaps the Ninja food began to kick in. Simon got a little carried away on the subway on our way home. We all had a lot of fun exploring New York's many creative and beautiful spots. I recommend everyone go there for a week's vacation. Bring comfortable walking shoes and be prepared to have the best food America has to offer.




And finally we ended our trip with a stroll through central park. After being in the hustle and bustle of the big city all weekend it was so refreshing to be surrounding by green grass, orange colored leaves, and the occasional squirrel running about his business. Fresh air can make you silly.

The Woman of my Dreams!

"An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the das of her life... Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the years to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her house hold and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 'Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.' Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates." ~Proverbs 31


Since childhood I have dreamt of marrying and starting a family. I was the kid who was sure that I would get married by the age 18. Many ex-girlfriends later and a broken and then re-broken heart, I decided I would be happier single. That was a couple years ago and about the same time that I began to hang out with Anna. At first I wasn't interested, just kinda fell into a casual friendship. We began hanging out and then hanging out more. Anna's the kind of woman who makes you feel like you are really something special and that you must do something really important. I found myself calling her or hanging out with her every day. We would go on bike rides down town, watch movies, hang out with friends and laugh all the time. I quickly realized that I had found a friend who was more random and crazy than I! Our friendship grew with the passing months slowly but surely. I was really 'girlfriend shy' and terrified of entering into another relationship. 6 months into our friendship and everyone was asking, 'So are you guys dating or what?!' I was able to stuff it for another 6 until I couldn't resist our developing friendship any longer. I asked Anna to begin dating me just before Christmas last year. I was still half-way terrified that dating would ruin our otherwise amazing friendship. Well, it hasn't been the case! Our friendship has just grown as it has been seasoned with deeper love and compassion for one another.

Which brings me to this weekend in New York City! We flew out to shoot my web-designer's wedding on Friday. Anna and Brooke came out as well to play in the city. I did my best to be secretive and didn't even tell Simon I was planning on proposing until Friday's wedding was coming to a close. The next morning we all woke up at the crack of dawn for a morning trip to Battery Park to watch the sunrise and get engaged! Anna pretended her best to not know what was going on. We sat down on a bench and I told her my heart for her and told her that she is the woman of my dreams. Anna is my best friend in the whole world and a true Proverbs 31 woman. I gave her a New York City scarf and wrapped inside was a little red box with a cream colored ribbon. She opened the box and I asked her to marry me! She said something like, 'Ahhhh..... You're asking me to marry you?!' And then she handed the box back to me and told me that I'm supposed to get down on one knee. Oops! I was so worked up... I kinda forgot about the rules! We have been having an amazing time being engaged and hanging out in the city since Saturday. We are flying home tomorrow and looking forward to seeing family and friends. Everybody is excited and some people are surprised, but mostly everybody agrees that it is just the right time and that we are right for each other.









I am so much looking forward to discovering and knowing Anna more over the coming years. We have some awesome adventures ahead that we don't even know about yet. I am excited to start a family, continue our friendship, and learn more deeply the way of love.

Brooklyn Wedding at The Palm House

I love traveling! I love meeting new people and families! I love that I get flown places and introduced to little pockets of real people in their native environments! New Yorkers are definitely a different breed from us laid back Californians; a bit more abrupt, a bit more no-nonsense. I really like learning and adapting in foreign environments, even if it's just across the country.

Scott and Esther's wedding was gorgeous! I know that I overuse the words, 'amazing' and 'awesome' so today it's 'GORGEOUS!' What else can I say?! They got married in a botanical garden in Brooklyn, New York. The fall colors have turned the trees a fiery orange red and the glass house was an amazing canopy covering their intimate ceremony. They met up prior to the wedding for pictures with their bridal party in the Japanese garden. The air was crisp and cool and there was an excitement and relief that the day was actually beginning to unfold.




Here are a few shots I got of the bride on the way to the Palm House from the Hotel. We were talking about pictures before the wedding and I told Esther how I wanted to get some shots of her on some genuine NYC streets. She admitted that she felt like she still needed to let go and really live it up. I encouraged her to embrace the day and experience all of the moments and to just allow herself to be the princess she has dreamed about since childhood. She agreed and we got some fun shots of her as soon as the limo parked on a Brooklyn neighborhood street. Simon went ahead with the guys to the Palm house and got this killer shot of the groomsmen looking awesome!








I caught this little girl shaking her Polaroid picture before the ceremony. I told her, 'Zoie, you will ruin the picture by shaking it in the air. It's best and fastest if you just blow on it.' Matter of factly she replied, 'Not-ah! You are s-pposed to shake it. My daddy told me so.' It was impossible to argue with her, which I ashamedly tried, I was reminded of what childlike faith was in her simple words, 'My Daddy told me so.'

"The kingdom of heaven belongs to five year olds." -Tozer



Thanks so much Scott and Esther for having me and thanks to your family and friends for making me feel welcome and loved. I am having such an amazing time with my friends here in the city for our little after-wedding-vacation! What a way to end such a busy busy wedding year!

Going to New York City!

On Thursday I will be taking flight on yet another Wedding Adventure to the BIG APPLE! I am really excited because I'm shooting my webdesigner Scott Clauson's wedding. Scott and Esther will be married at The Palm House which is a botanical garden in Brooklyn. The wedding is going to be nothing short of amazing and beautiful and lots of fun! Here is a shot from The Palm House's website.


I met Scott when he was going to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, sometime last year. I contracted him to do my website because he was the perfect blend of technical and artistic. He did an amazing job capturing my vision for my online presentation. His fiance Esther's family is from New York and that is why they are flying me and my assistant over for their wedding. Simon's wife and my girlfriend are coming along for the ride... And the shopping! We shoot on Friday and will have the weekend for exploring and adventuring.

I am so honored to be taken around the world to shoot weddings and become a greater part of people's lives. I really do have the best job ever! I never imagined when God told me to start all of this four years ago that it would take me to the places I have been just in the last year. It makes me excited at the mystery of the future years that are only going to take me to other distant lands and all of the different amazing couples that I have yet to meet and photograph! It's funny when we think we understand the dreams God has for us. We become elated at this new revelation of our purpose or destiny and then years into it we realize we never really understood what it was that He was really dreaming all along.... And then we realize how much better it is! I look forward to contantly being amazed and humbled as his purposes shine through.

Thanks God for being God. For being so much more creative than me! For always believing the best for me and teaching me to do the same.

Here are a couple of shots of Scott and Esther from their engagement session that we did behind the Home Depot next to my apartment in SLO, California.