Melahat + Kwame : Irvine Lakeside Wedding

You know you're at a cool wedding when the bridal party romps through a field for portraits, the bride and groom fist bump after their vows, and a pop star shows up for a surprise performance at the reception. Melahat and Kwame shared a beautiful day by getting ready separately, followed by their first look meeting by themselves in the dry hills of Laguna Canyon. Then off to a beautiful ceremony inside the island room at the Lakeside Lagoon (tropical venue neatly tucked away behind wild rivers waterpark!) ... which housed the gorgeous sofreh, aforementioned fist bump after the vows, and Kwame's accidental kiss he gave Melahat upon seeing enter the room (he couldn't wait for the end :).

The cocktail hour and reception took place in the courtyard along side the lake. MMelahat is a consultant and fundraiser for many elected officials in Orange County and beyond ... so there were plenty of notable guests in attendance. The dancing kicked off with a live set by singer Farshid Amin. He set the dance floor on fire (!). Details included a tea area with server, extravagant sofreh, and table numbers cards (CD's with the "price tag" label as everyones name and seat!) by the extremely talented Sayeh Studios ... oh and did I mention her shoes!

Thanks Melahat and Kwame for letting us document the beautiful uniting of two cultures on your wedding day.

Thanks also to

Flowers : Azar Florist

Hair: Paula Poppa of Indulgence Hair & Beauty Salon

Make-up: Ana Cruzalegui

Invitations and Table cards : Sayeh Koetsier

Megan + Jonathan : San Juan Capistrano Mission Engagement

We had a lot of fun with these two ... Megan knew right from the start that she wanted her photo session to take place at the mission. And who can disagree, with light and color bouncing off of meticulously maintained gardens and purposefully crumbling walls, one can't go wrong. We're now on the SJC mission's photographers list, so we'll be shooting there more in the future for sure. After the mission closed (way early I might add, 5pm during summer!) we jumped up the coast a bit to change looks and walk along the bluff at crystal cove. It was kinda windy and stormy ... so that made it challenging ... but the light coming off the water was simply brilliant.

Congratulations Megan and Jonathan, we can't wait for your wedding at Pelican Hill this fall! Oh and you're both off limits from procreating in the future ... for fear your child will be so beautiful the world won't be able to handle it ;)

-Paul

New Blog coming soon

We are very pleased to announce a new (wordpress powered) blog to host our current photography and musings. It will match our website better, easy to leave comments, and will be social network connected. Stay tuned .... we hope to get this up and running very soon!

Paul + Leanne

Griffith Park : Engagement Preview

Too much awesomeness to post it all right now. Very soon though ;).

Leslie + Daniel : An Engagement off the beaten path

Leslie and Daniel knew the day they got engaged that they wanted something special for their photos. Lovers like these two come along as often as a blue moon, so we pulled out all the stops for them. Since they are incorporating a lot of their found vintage objects into their wedding, they decided to bring a few things along to the shoot (and our little yellow table :).

We originally intended to rent a row boat over at corona lake, but after conversing briefly with the entry attendant, we weren't that impressed (he also warned us quote "the 80 mile an hour winds will blow you over and you might be attacked by a mountain lion"). Needless to say he must not have wanted us there. No worries though, Leslie brought some beautiful items for a vintage picnic, we just needed an open spot.

After about 20 (kinda stressful ;) minutes of searching, we found the Lake Eslinore Military Academy. Built in the 1920's and abandoned since the 70's, the magnificent building hides behind two sets of barbed fencing, a massively over grown landscape, and its own faded and cracked facade. We knew we had to get in, but thought sneaking in would be tough, so we (luckily) befriended the caretaker and spent the raddest hour of our career wandering around taking pictures.

-Paul