Planning a wedding is sooo exciting, but it also can be super confusing. Luckily, I convinced one one of the coolest wedding planners in Los Angeles to fill me with her wedding wisdom and give me a bunch of helpful tips to help you navigate this crazy world of wedding planning!

Jessica of Art & Soul Events has been planning weddings since 2013, and she knows how to turn your wedding dreams into a freakin' awesome party that will have your guests raving for weeks. Creating unique wedding experiences for newly engaged couples is her love language, and her goal is for your guests to think “THIS IS SO THEM” when they step into your wedding. She was gracious enough to sit down with me for a blog interview, and by the end of our conversation, I realized just how much work planning a wedding is. I left her office with a ton of advice that I'd love to pass on to you all! So… Let’s just consider this your wedding planning crash course.

If you’re lost or have no idea where to start, read these six tips from my conversation from Art and Soul Events to get you one step closer to matrimonial bliss!

2018 was all about the desert, skyline views of Los Angeles, dogs at weddings, and small elopements. I had so much fun photographing all over California, from Big Sur to Palm Springs..and a bunch of beautiful beaches and mountains in between. :) Here's a few of my favorite moments!

Give me all the desert weddings please! I was so excited when Kayleen & Scott reached out to me to photograph their destination wedding at La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Desert. The resort is their happy place, and where they often vacationed together. And, it just happens to be where Scott proposed to Kayleen! 

I've been dreaming of photographing a Big Sur elopement since I moved to California years ago, so I was SUPER stoked when Elizabeth & Brian reached out to me to photograph their intimate elopement amongst the Red Woods and along that unstoppable Pacific Coast. Their wedding, without a doubt, was one of the most humbling experiences of my photography career yet. I know that's a bold statement, but y'all... Big Sur is freakin' magical. Sharing your vows in a place this private and serene is incredibly personal, untraditional, and simply stunning. This was my first time visiting Big Sur, and I very quickly learned that what Big Sur lacks in modern day communication (aka no cell service), it makes up in seriously jaw dropping views and real human connections. This is where you go to get away from it ALL. This is where you go to spend uninterrupted days with your absolute favorite person in the whole world. And... that's exactly what Elizabeth & Brian did. 

A wedding at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs? Yes, please. This place has been very high up on my list of places I've been dying to photograph at, so I was pretty excited when Sarah & George reached out to me to photograph their wedding here! Their day was filled with tons of fun AND cute puppies. Seriously, this wedding is an overload of cute puppy pics; and I'm not mad about it. Scroll down to check it out!

In an increasingly digital world, it's sooooo important to know how to properly care for all your photographs... Especially photographs of those irreplaceable, once-in-a-lifetime moments like your wedding day. Luckily, caring for your wedding photographs is pretty easy. Follow these steps to increase the longevity of your photographs, so when your hard drive crashes (it will, trust me); you're not left with just your memories.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m always trying to hang out with dogs 24/7, so when I found out Ema & Ray planned on bringing their cute pup Pepper to their wedding, I knew it was going to be an awesome day. Plus Triunfo Creek Vineyards is one of my favorite venues to photograph at in Malibu area! This wedding day was truly unforgettable, with gorgeous details & a crazy fun dance floor. Besides their adorable dog, my other favorite part of this day was when Ray surprised Ema with an incredibly choreographed dance with his groomsmen. Check it out below!

Aaah! So you're getting photos professionally taken together for the first time, and you want to make sure you look super cute, right?! While choosing the right outfits for your engagement session might sound like a daunting task, it's actually pretty simple! To help get the ideas flowing, I'm sharing my top 5 tips on what to wear, what to avoid, and how to dress in a way that makes you feel like a rockstar!

This wedding was 8.5 years in the making, y'all! And holy moly, it was super emotional. We started off the day at the STUNNING Terranea Resort, where Joel also proposed to Heather! I absolutely love their proposal story! Joel surprised Heather with a spa day at Terranea and had her friends pretend they were taking her out for dinner afterwards. He suggested that they should get a drink before she headed out for dinner; and on their way to get a drink, he dropped down on one knee on a bluff over looking the ocean in Palos Verdes!

Featured on the Perfect Palette!

First things first, y'all.... LOOK AT THAT BOUQUET.  No really... Look! Never in my life did I think I expect to see an ARTICHOKE in a bouquet... but, then again, I haven't worked with the sheer floral brilliance that is Tabitha of Winston & Main. It's definitely one of my favorite bouquet designs to date, and it fit so perfectly in with this intimate winery wedding inspiration at the beautiful Triunfo Creek Vineyards in Agoura Hills!

When Velvet Alley Events and I started dreaming up this shoot, we were sure on a couple of things:

1.) We had to have it at Triunfo Creek Vineyards

2.) Wedding details that rocked Pantone's color of the year, ultra violet, were a must.

Triunfo Creek's property is massive, but we chose to use their gorgeous fireplace inside their winery as a focal point for many of our ideas. The slightly unfinished look of the brick fireplace adored with colorful florals created a scenery that was intimate, yet bold. View some of my favorite images below, and scroll to the bottom to see all the amazing vendors involved!