We chose the beach for Ashley & Zach's playful engagement session, because, let's be real... The beach is one of the BEST parts about living in California! These Illinois natives are all about warmth and fun in the sun, so the Santa Monica Beach felt like the perfect choice for their engagement photos. After a pretty cold spring (for SoCal, at least), basically everyone in Los Angeles was out on the beach on this perfectly warm day... So we claimed one of the only open spots on the beach and milked it for all its worth. Choosing just one spot for an engagement photos allowed us to just really focus on the good stuff: their totally adorable chemistry together. Ashley & Zach held their destination wedding just two weeks after these photos were taken. Congratulations, newly weds!

Featured on Wedding Chicks!

Want to know how to make a wedding photographer extremely happy? Plan a crazy fun wedding at a unique venue and hire a bunch of incredible vendors to help create the most amazing atmosphere. Cara & Dan did just that, and their wedding at the Alcazar Palm Springs was definitely one of my favorites of 2017! Their poolside wedding felt like a vacation. Seriously, I felt like I walked into a pool party while on a tropical getaway. They served coconuts to drink, had a delicious donut bar, and even jumped into the pool at the end of the night... wedding attire and all! I absolutely LOVED their floral design (I'm lowkey obsessed with monstera deliciosa.. it's all over my apartment!); and the pops of green, pink, and coral made their day feel like a breath of fresh air. Ready to get away?! Relive some of my favorite moments and details of their day below!

Planning Kristen & Keith's engagement session was tons of fun because they both love all the things I do: Downtown LA, colorful murals, gorgeous walls of bougainvillea, and lots of laughs! To say I'm excited for their wedding at the quirky Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo is DEFINITELY an understatement. 

For their engagement photos, we decided on the Walt Disney Concert Hall first, and then we hit the Arts District to check out some amazing murals. Another one of my favorite things about the Arts District is that it has the most beautiful view of downtown Los Angeles, so getting some sunset photos with the cityscape in the background was a must. Luckily for us, we had access to an amazing rooftop! Photographing some final photos there while the sun went down was the perfect way to end this fun engagement session!

If you want to dance on a rooftop in the middle of downtown Los Angeles on your wedding day, the Los Angeles Athletic Club is the place for you. It's right in the middle of it all, and its rooftop views will definitely make you fall in love with LA (or in my case, all over again). Samantha & Jon selected this venue because, and I quote, "We thought it would be cool to get married on rooftop in downtown LA." Yup. I totally agreed! Double bonus: The AC in this venue was super clutch... It was so hot that day! Their wedding was fun AND elegant, with lots of dancing and stylish details. Enjoy!

You know what I absolutely LOVE about engagement sessions? It gives you the opportunity to dress up really, really cute and take photographs in gorgeous locations that may have a special meaning to your relationship. In my opinion, we just don't document ourselves quite enough. Photography makes time stand still. It is my greatest hope to always transport you back to that moment, that feeling, and that super ridiculous time I asked you to dance in the middle of the street for your engagement photos. CoCo & Jonathan did just that during their super cuddly engagement session in DTLA, and they looked SO GOOD while doing it. Seriously, their outfit choices nailed the whole "Night Out in the City" look! I love the pale pink heels CoCo paired with her white dress, and how it complimented Jonathan's blue suit perfectly. They chose downtown LA for their engagement pictures because of all the good times they shared there throughout their relationship. We thought the Walt Disney Concert Hall would be a fun place to photograph at, and I LOVED the way the steel walls took on a golden hue around sunset. These two rocked their engagement session, and I'm sure their wedding at the Fig House will be just as fun!

Let's just go ahead and get this out of the way: Kandyce's wedding style is out of this world. Seriously, just look at these dresses! And those sparkly Louboutin's?! Game over. This bride set the bar so high, and the Club at Ruby Hill was the absolute perfect choice for her elegant, yet fun wedding! I travel up to the San Francisco area to photograph weddings a couple times a year, and this wedding just made me super eager to get back there ASAP. Kandyce & Daniel have such a natural chemistry and fun energy that made just so happy to be a wedding photographer! Their elegant venue was so perfect for their style choices! Congrats Kandyce & Daniel! Thanks for having me!

Featured on 100 Layer Cake!

What you're about to see an overload of gorgeous wedding inspiration! Eden Gardens in Moorpark is one of my favorite garden themed wedding venues, and I really wanted to create a whimsical wedding experience with some serious tea party vibes. For this inspiration shoot, I collaborated with a ton of awesome Los Angeles based wedding vendors to create some seriously dreamy photographs. Blush tones and olive vines ruled this photo shoot. We went for gold accents, gorgeous lacy details, and hard torn paper goods. Thanks to all the vendors that helped to make this styled shoot a dream come true!

This wedding is straight magic. Seriously. I'm already pretty obsessed with Palm Springs weddings, because, let's face it, Palm Springs is where you go to party and get away from LA... How can you NOT have an amazing wedding experience there?! But this wedding was something else completely. This wedding was vibrant, colorful, and... RAINY. When I talk about a wedding being magical, I'm definitely talking about well timed rain. Southern California definitely needs rain whenever it can get it, but on your wedding day?! And in Palm Springs??? That just doesn't happen. For better or worse, it rained on and off throughout Dane & Bryanna's wedding day, but these two just simply did not care. They were getting married, and that's all the really mattered. It was perfect. The colors at Colony 29 were even more vibrant. The rain held off for their outdoor ceremony, and their desert backdrop looked surprisingly lush. The rain brought a mood to the photographs and made their desert wedding so unique. Here's some of my favorite moments and details from this rainy wedding day!

Oh. my. GOSH!! I don't even know where to begin when I sit down and think about all the AMAZING weddings I got to document over this past year! Seriously. It was crazy. I spent almost every weekend from the end of April to the beginning of November traveling all over California photographing the most gorgeous weddings in the most incredible places. It would be impossible to pinpoint a favorite photograph from this past year, but I really wanted to kick off 2018 with some of my most loved moments and details from all the weddings I got to experience this past year. I photographed so many perfect sunsets in the mountains and watched many a bride risk her wedding dress for an unforgettable photograph on the beach. My 2017 couples were fearless and crazy fun, and I feel pretty lucky to have met so many cool people. As January rolls in, I am reminded of my anniversary of moving to LA in January 2015 to chase this little photo dream... and I'm just completely blown away on how much my business has grown in a few short years. So to all the couples that trusted me to photograph their wedding in 2017, THANK YOU! It's been a dream, seriously. And to my 2018 couples.... Pop that Champagne. Your year is here. Let's do this!

If you were thinking about doing a First Look for your wedding, let Stephanie & Vlad convince you. Their First Look was definitely one my favorites from this year, and their intimate wedding at the Portofino Hotel was such a dream to photograph. They skipped the bridal party and a lot of wedding day traditions, and honestly you all... Going rogue is the way to do it. They did adhere to a Romanian tradition of "stealing the bride", which involved Stephanie being whisked away to a nearby bar, a pretty amazing ransom note, and Vlad confessing his undying love. I now firmly believe that should be a tradition at all weddings.

Congratulations Stephanie & Vlad! Thanks so much for having me as your wedding photographer!