I am so excited to finally share Courtney and Ryan’s Wedding here on the blog.  Just a few days ago, I shared some of their formal family portraits, but now I get to post my favorite images from their wedding day – all the fun portraits!

Ryan and Courtney it seems have always known each other.  Growing up, their families knew each other and did things together.  In high school they dated.  But it wasn’t until now that they got serious and decided to spend eternity together.  Ryan and Courtney were sealed in the Los Angeles LDS Temple on March 20th, which is two days before our anniversary.  It was a nice way to start to celebrate our 7 years together to shoot this wonderful wedding side by side.  I think that describes how Brian and I are – always side by side.  And I can see the same quality in Ryan and Courtney.  They were so comfortable together and just loved being together.  I think that’s the most important thing – to be your spouse’s best friend.  I know they will love married life because now they won’t have to say “goodbye” at the end of the night.

Here is the Mormon Temple.

Everyone waiting for them to exit.  I loved the bidesmaids’ dresses – so cute!

And….. Courtney and Ryan – husband and wife!

After we spent some time taking the family portraits (which you can view HERE), we walked around the temple grounds and took some casual wedding portraits of the two of them.  This series perfectly shows how sweet and loving and…. simply happy they were.  I loved their laughter – it was contagious!

Of course we needed some portraits in front of the LDS temple.  Courtney was stunning in her beautiful bridal dress.

I don’t remember what I said to get these awesome expressions, but I LOVE it!  So fun and full of personality.

Here is my favorite series from the day.  I loved them so much I couldn’t narrow down which ones to share, so here are three sweet, loving portraits of Courtney and Ryan.

After we took the temple portraits, we quickly stopped at a nearby location to get a little different portraits.  I loved the tall grass in this field, and here is my favorite from the spot.

We headed to the reception, which was held at a private residence in La Verne.

Courtney and Ryan chose to have a ring ceremony for their family and friends, and I’m glad they did.  It was beautiful!

Here is Ryan watching his beautiful bride come down the aisle.

And Courtney and her dad.

The bishop gave some  nice words.

And they exchanged rings.  I loved their laughter and personality.

The rings.

As I mentioned, Courtney and Ryan grew up together.  I love that Courtney was dressing up as a bride in the picture.  And I love even more that Ryan was an Indian.  Hehe – what does that say about boys and girls?!  So cute and funny.  What wonderful memories to cherish.  And I know you truly will live “Happily Ever After”.

Courtney and Ryan created many beautiful details for their wedding day.  I loved it!  Especially the colorful candy station.  Yum!

And their lovely cake.

I’ll leave you with this first dance picture from their reception.

Just Married!  That says it all.

I looove shooting creative, loving, unique, candid portraits of a couple on their wedding day.  That’s my passion.  I want to attract clients that share this passion.  So that’s what I show on my website and blog.  But….

That doesn’t mean I don’t shoot some posed, formal portraits during the day.  Quite the opposite.  It’s important to have photographic record of the special people that come to your wedding.  So, I thought it was time I share my philosophy on group formals.

I encourage my clients to allow at least 30-45 minutes for group photos, depending on how many you want/need.  That’s IN ADDITION to the shooting time you want for bride and groom portraits.  It takes time to gather everyone together, make sure kids are smiling, etc.  But I try to move things along quickly, so people aren’t standing around forever.  My friend just went to a wedding where it took 3 HOURS for group pictures.  That’s way way way too long.

So, we usually start with a group photo of everyone at your ceremony.  It’s often done on the church steps, as quickly as we can arrange everyone.

These pictures are from a Mormon wedding at the Los Angeles LDS Temple, which I am getting ready to post.

Then we move to a more attractive location that has great lighting for the rest of the portraits.  I like to work off a list that the bride and groom prepare ahead of time, so my husband and I can facilitate the groupings quickly and efficiently.

Some people wonder what family pictures to take.  I try to start with the largest groupings and work down – bride’s family and then groom’s family.  Then a sibling’s shot.  And finally parents.  Usually together and then bride with her mom and groom with his dad.  By peeling away layers of family, we can allow them to go enjoy the reception as soon as possible.

Here is the groom with dad and mom, and then a shot of bride and her mom.  You’ll notice that I keep the posing traditional and casual, so as not to take too much time.

After all the family shots are done, we are left with just the bridal party, and we have a little time to get creative.  My favorite.  :)

Here is the bridal party together.

oh la la.

Groom with groomsmen.

And several of the bride and her bride’s maids.

So now you don’t have to wonder whether or not I take the formal group portraits.  ;)

Due to weeks and weeks of consecutive problems and repairs on my computer, I have had this wedding in the queue to share with you for a while.  But my current clients needed to get their photo shoots first, so editing has been my priority.  I hope you’ll forgive my absence of posts.

I just love Mihaela and Sterling (see their engagement session HERE), so I was just bursting waiting for their wedding.  The week leading up to their wedding it was pouring, and I mean POURING cats and dogs.  Thats such an odd saying, isn’t it?  I’m sure they were very worried it would be stormy that day, but it wasn’t.  It cleared up the day before and Mihaela and Sterling had a beautiful wedding at the Los Angeles LDS Temple in Santa Monica.

A quick boutonniere shot of the father of the bride.  He is so proud.

Mihaela and Sterling exiting the Mormon temple.

I love the vibrant blue sky.

I don’t have words for how fabulous you guys are.

Sterling has a future as a suave model I think.

And Mihaela, I can’t get over your delicious smile.  It makes me happy.

I rented a wide angle lens for this wedding, and I’m glad I did.  I’m just loving the different perspective.

After their portraits at the Los Angeles LDS Temple, we headed to their reception at Caltech’s Athenaeum in Pasadena.  Mihaela’s attention to detail made her reception and ring ceremony simply stunning.

I loved the Athenaeum’s vaulted ceiling and architectural detail.  When we got there, we decided to take a few portraits before their reception began.  Here they are practicing their first dance.

And again.  They seemed to think they needed practice, but they danced just lovely.

I had to show this little series because I always get questions about my second shooter and what he does.  Well, here is my shot.  I think it’s nice.

But while I took that picture, my husband and second shooter, Brian, took this shot, which I think is just stunning.  These are the artistic, candid moments he captures.  I love that I get to work with my husband to capture other people’s love on their wedding day.  It is so much fun.  And he is so good at it.

Right before the reception started, the room just glowed.  The Athenaeum is a beautiful place for a wedding.

While we waiting for all the guests to get situated, Mihaela and Sterling took a moment for themselves.

We headed back down to their reception.

I’ll leave you with this photo of their reception.  Mihaela and Sterling had a great program lined up.  They started off their fun evening with this amazingly choreographed first dance.  Their ring bearer and flower girls accompanied them during the dance.  It was so cute!

I’m still behind on blogging all my family sessions before Christmas.  I will try to go back and post those sometimes soon, but in the meantime, I couldn’t resist posting my first wedding of 2010.  Hayley and Andrew were married at the LDS Temple in San Diego on January 2, 2010.  What a wonderful start to a new year!

This wedding in a way mirrors how my 2010 has been going so far.  It started off a little rough.  There were many MANY weddings at the temple on this day so their sealing was running a bit late.  By the time they exited the temple, we had to fight with over 6 other wedding parties for a spot on the small grounds for portraits!  Once we finally got through with the group photos, we only had 15 minutes for individual portraits!!  Just so you know how crazy fast that is, we typically plan 60-90 minutes just for individual portraits!!  Well, we may have had some challenges on the day of their wedding, but in the end, we got beautiful portraits–some of my all time favorite!

That is about how I have felt the first few weeks of 2010 – lots of challenges, but they turn out to be huge blessings in our life.  Like our car being totalled!  Which enabled us to buy a newer, bigger car because of it.  Sometimes it’s hard to see the blessings through the trials, but I have faith that Heavenly Father blesses us – whether it is on our wedding day or just life in general.

Hayley and Andrew exiting the temple.  These shots are always some of my favorite because they are just so happy and filled with love and emotion.

So many people that love them, there to celebrate their wedding.

We took a few portraits in front of the gorgeous San Diego LDS Temple.  This temple is so beautiful that people travel there just to get married.  Hayley and Andrew live in Philadelphia, but they love this temple so much, they decided to go to San Diego to get married.

But the light directly in front of the temple is always harsh, especially at mid-day.  So we walked around the grounds and found a nice spot for some more portraits.

They are so in love.  Even though we were pressed for time, their portraits just oozed love and laughter.  I had so many to choose from.

The light here was so lovely and golden – it just glowed!

Hayley, you are stunning.

When the car rental company heard they were getting married, they gave Hayley and Andrew a free upgraded to a convertible.

At their reception, Hayley and Andrew asked guests to sign “The Giving Tree”, which I thought was a sweet idea.  I had to feature their rings on it.

Hayley and Andrew had a small, simple luncheon with their family.  They did, however, have a first dance.  While I captured these two shots:

My second shooter and husband, Brian, captured this.  I love it!

Finally, their getaway car.  I love the motion!  Thank you for asking me to be a part of your special day, Hayley and Andrew.  I wish you all the best in your new married life.

On October 17th, Kelli and Todd White were sealed in the Newport Beach LDS Temple.  I was so honored when they asked my husband and I to photograph their wedding day.  And interestingly once we started talking, we realized that I was in the same ward as Todd’s dad and the reception was going to be in a fellow ward member’s home.  I couldn’t believe it.  And as I later found out at the reception, that meant that I knew nearly half the people there, which is very odd for us to know anyone at a wedding (other than the bride and groom of course).

The “front” view of the Newport Beach LDS Temple.  I was quite impressed with how lovely the grounds were.  There was so much variety to photograph, which is uncommon with many smaller temples.

Kelli and Todd, exiting the temple as husband and wife.

They were quite overwhelmed with emotion and seeing everyone there for them.

A quick one on temple steps before all the group photos.

I don’t show many group photos normally because they are so straightforward, but I couldn’t resist showing their lovely bridal party.

Of course, we needed a few in front of the temple.

Kelli totally worked it out with her orange shoes.  I loved it!  What a cute detail that shows her personality.

Then we got a few portraits of Kelli and Todd.  These are my favorite types of pictures to take.  I love the closeness and love you can feel between them.  It helps that they are a gorgeous couple.

Very very quickly before the reception, we headed over to Balboa Island for a few shots getting a Balboa Bar.  This place is special to them, as it is where they went on many dates and where Todd proposed.  I couldn’t believe that Kelli was up for eating ice cream (chocolate no less) in her wedding dress.  I am so glad she did.

Everyone was walking by congratulating them and giving well wishes, it was hard to get a photograph!

Just had to note that this wasn’t their trash, they didn’t litter.  But it makes for a good photograph anyway.  :)

A quick kiss in the alley while we waited for the car.

And then we made it to the reception.

They had a lovely band.

First dance.

And then everyone else joined in.

A little later, Todd surprised Kelli with a song he wrote and performed for her

My hubby Brian got these last few shots of the groomsmen decorating their getaway car.  They were so fun, I had to share.

Congratulations, Kelli and Todd!  Thank you for asking us to be a part of your wedding day.  We were grateful to share in your love and memories.