Finally, we have the stunning Erica.  She is beautiful, smart, model-y (yes… I just made that up! LOL!) – and super sweet!

Erica – you and your hubby rocked it out!!! You’re awesome!

Next we have the beautiful Natalya.  Seriously… check out her amazing eyes!!! Isn’t she just stunning! 

Thanks for being such a great sport Natalya – you’re awesome!!

Continuing on to the next beautiful bride… Here is Kristen.  She had these amazing fierce eyes!!  Not only is she so pretty she was incredibly nice …  AND she was the amazing hair stylist for our models!!!

Check out her website:  http://hairbykristen.blogspot.com/

Thanks Kristen… You rock!!

Next we have the beautiful Emily and her hubby!  When we first saw Emily… all of us literrally gasped at her gorgeous hair!!! She has this great Old-Hollywood Glamour about her…  You rock Emily

So a few weeks ago, my good friend Elizabeth Luna organized an amazing shoot out event in Lake Arrowhead.  The scenario – 5 gorgeous brides/models set against the beautiful backdrop of the snow/trees/mountains of Lake Arrowhead being photographed by 30 amazing photographers!!! Talk about an amazing Trash The Dress snow bridal session and a wonderufl learning experience for all of us!!! 

Let’s introduce our amazing models/brides:

Thank you to our wonderful Brides/Models:

Amy Clarke – who was also our amazing Make up Artist
Natalya Roa
Emily Bos
Kristen Camacho Enriquez also our super talented hairdresser
Erica Arispuro

All of you girls were amazing!!! Seriously!!! You all absolutely rocked out the shoot! Even though it was a super LOOOOONG photo shoot… and I’m sure all of you girls were freezing your butts off… you were all so great… so graceful… and simply amazing! Thank you!!!

I also wanted to give a big thank you to the amazing team that helped us achieve the model’s overall rockin’ looks!!

http://www.rachellarraine.com/ <– Awesome Designer Hairpieces

http://www.amyclarkesfaces.blogspot.com/ <– Make up Artist

http://www.lavendersflowersandgifts.com/ <– Florist

http://hairbykristen.blogspot.com/ <—- Hair dresser

I had way too many favorite pics to choose from… so I think the best way to showcase these beautiful brides would be to give each of them their own post

Now first… let me introduce Amy and her sweet hubby! Amy, like I mentioned, was the awesome makeup artist!!! 

Amy - our gorgeous makeup artist -

In previous years, I haven’t focused too much on my senior portrait sessions… but this year I decided to showcase my amazing model seniors a lot more – afterall… they truly are as bright as their futures (I know… it sounds super cheesy, but they’re such sweet kids… they deserve some cheesy love ).  I actually never call these sessions “senior portrait sessions” – I like to think as them as Senior Model Sessions – and let me tell you… I think they love feeling like models for a few hours! I love how much fun they have… they are so excited and definitely like to show their personalities.  I remember when I liked having my picture taken… back when I was in high school… now- not so much! LOL! 

Anyways… that was enough babbling… Brianda is such a sweet girl.  She is shy and sweet, yet she is so spunky that she even likes to climb on trees!! (and she did so TWICE during our fun session! LOL!).  You’re so awesome, Brianda!!!  

She was so awesome for climbing on that tree!!! LOL!

I loved the next set of pictures!! We found this really cool concrete divider blocking off a road… it had graffiti all over it – so awesome!

Tom and May had an absolutely amazing wedding… the ceremony was beautiful (of course … but their reception was absolutely STUNNING!  They chose to have their reception at The Vineyards in Simi Valley - which has amazing views!!!  Tom and May did a fantastic job with the receptin decor… absolutely stunning – from the lighting to the linens… everything was stunning!!

Ceremony:  Saint Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church
Reception:  The Vineyards in Simi Valley, CA
A big THANK YOU to Elizabeth… who was my awesome second shooter for this wedding… thank you Elizabeth! You did great!!

Getting Ready at the Church - May... you are seriously stunning!!!

Ceremony took place at the beautiful St. Bellarmine church in Burbank California

 We took SOOO many pictures of the beautiful couple at The Vineyards! I have never had so many bride and groom portraits to go through!  It took me hours to narrow it down to my favorite 100!!!  – which reminds me… the more time you have for your bride and groom pictures… the better!  We had close to an hour alone with Tom and May.  I realize that this can be difficult (if not nearly impossible) to accomodate in some cases… but if you can have more than 20 minutes of you guys by your selves… you will have amazing images to treasure for a lifetime!!! 

Check out this amazing wedding Reception decor!!!! – did Tom and May rock it out or what?!?!?! 

LOVE the blue lighting!!!

So New Year… New Look.  I finally updated my website, as well as the look of my blog (which I know it was definitely needed! lol!).  Not a major re-design, but just a new color palette, and a bunch of new galleries to look at.  I love showcasing my favorite weddings from the previous year on my site… I wish I could showcase all of them.  Let me tell you – it took like over  week to get this minor re-design done! LOL!  As some of you might know – I do all of my own design work (from marketing materials, to albums, to my own website) – I can tell you I don’t update my site too often (maybe twice a year) – and I always get stuck somewhere.  This time I got stuck in the galleries… why did it take me 3 days just to update them?!?!? I seriously can’t tell you why… they were so simple, yet I kept making silly little mistakes and having to start all over again! LOL!  Next time I’ll give myself a month to do minor web updates! ha! ha! 

So along with the new look for the site and blog… I’m so excited to be able to start announcing some of the plans for the new year… so… here are my new year’s resolutions. 

1 – as always – loose 10 pounds (yeah… as most of us do – I have this in my list every year… but somehow I always end up gaining 5 lbs at the end of the year instead! LOL!) 

2 - eat better and stop being such a carb fanatic (yeah… I realize this is a direct link to #1…haha!) – I seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE cookies and breads and cakes.  I remember, when I was pregnant (as this is always my excuse! LOL!), I used to buy boxes of those oatmeal marshmallow cookies- and I used to eat an entire box in one sitting!!! NO JOKE!!! I haven’t done that since I had my son, but if you put me in front of a good movie with a box of cookies, I might just go through half a box without blinking! ha! ha! 

3 – Let the little things go but treasure what’s truly important - I have learned through my life’s ups and severe downs that some things are very important: family, friends, and love.  Everything else is seriously so little in comparison.  

4 – Love my two boys more and more each day – this is like a piece of cake for me (see… there I go… day dreaming about having a delicious piece of cake! lol!) – but I do want to love with more joy and less tears.  Josue knows I love him with all my soul… and I have to remind myself that my little angel wouldn’t want me to cry as much as I do sometimes.  

5 – Love my hubby for the soul mate and rock that he is to me.  Enough said  

6 – Enjoy each and every one of the weddings that I get the honor to be a part of! 

Those were all personal resolutions… 

Now for my business/work resolutions… 

1 – Remember that positive energy will bring positive clients … I’ve always believed that my easy-going and energetic personality is what brings to me such amazing brides and grooms.  

2 – Learn and grow more as a photographer… learn, be creative, and enjoy it!  

3 – Finally launch my new invitation services – this has been something I’ve been working on for a while now, but I tend to hesitate so much and to over-think everything that I really need to sit down and finalize the website and start offering this.  By the way  -thank you to all of my amazing clients that have encouraged me to branch out this part of my creativity!  Hopefully 2010 will be an great year for my custom-designed hand made invitations! 

4- network more- this is definitely something I need to do more of … as easy going as I am, I just can’t seem to know how to talk to ’strangers’ - LOL! Boy did I sound cheesy there or what! haha! 

and finally… 

5 - Be grateful for all of the amazing clients that I am blessed to work with … be thankful that I have the honor of being a part of so many wonderful moments in their lives!!! 

So just because it’s a photo blog – here’s a pretty picture to look at ;-) 

Here is to more smiles, more happiness, and more love in our lives!!!

So I totally know I keep slacking off with my blog - I keep telling myself I need to post as I finish a wedding.  I seriously even have an alarm on my cell phone that rings every Sunday at 6 pm saying: “WRITE ON BLOG TONIGHT!!!” And you know what I do every time I see that alarm?!?!  – you guessed it… I hit the ‘ignore’ button! LOL!  My husband keeps asking me what the point of the alarm is… and I keep insisting it’s the only way I’ll remember! I’m such a dork! ha! ha!

So here’s a wedding I did recently that I loved shooting!!!

First… the beautiful bride and handsome groom are the totally sweet Maria and Alfonso.  When I did their engagement session they seemed a little nervous and a little shy… so I was expecting a very shy Maria again.  Boy was I ever wrong!!! I absolutely loved both of them! They were so willing to anything we asked them to do and they totally rocked my world!! LOL!

Their wedding was in the San Fernando area… so we took their formals at the San Fernando Mission.  It was awesome!!!!  We started off taking care of the family and bridal party formals – then we had over 2 hours to shoot with Maria and Alfonso – all alone!! I loved it!!!  One thing I always tell my couples is that when we do the bride and groom portion of the day – I recommend doing it alone… away from family and friends.  The reason for this is that most people tend to get nervous if they have a crowd, and they may feel too ’silly’ to do something just because mom and dad are watching.  What does this mean for me as the photographer:  a bride and groom that might look stiff and a little too traditional.  If I can get them alone for a while… I know I can get them to laugh and giggle and just have tons of fun – and if we have more than 30 minutes to work with, that’s even better!! LOL!  To make things even better… the videographers we worked with were awesome too – we worked really well together and bounced ideas off of each other… which Maria and Alfonso were more than happy to try out for us :-).   So I was in photographer heaven: a beautiful mission, a super happy and excited bride and groom, and 2 full hours of alone time with them!!!  Awesomeness to the 10th degree!!!!!

So… without further delay – Maria and Alfonso!

We started the day with Maria in her home... I loved her wedding jewelry!!

Look at Maria just rocking it at the San Fernando Mission!!!

We then headed over to the reception… which was held at the beautiful St. Nicholas Ballroom in Northridge

I did my 2nd model shoot at the UCR Botanical Gardens with Dorothy, a super fun UCR student…. it was her first time modeling! I think she did awesome!  Dorothy is such a pretty and smart girl.  I loved that she was willing to do anything and go anywhere… even if it meant getting all scratched up (I hope your arm and hand are a little better now, Dorothy )  – she would have climbed to the top of any rock if I asked her to – how sweet is that!  I think we both had a blast… and I hope to work with her in the future!

Model photo shoot at UCR Botanical Gardens

Nature inspired model photo shoot