I worked and worked until I seriously dropped!! LOL!!! And in October I took a much needed break… which I’ve kind of still been on ever since… hahahaha!  Well.. not really – but kind of.

I’ve been asked to shoot some weddings abroad recently (international wedding photographer, anyone? lol!) – so since I was going to be shooting a wedding in Guanajuato, Mexico in November – I decided to take a break from October until my November wedding.  I took my laptop, my hard drives, and my cameras to Mexico and here I am… relaxing and working .   I have been finally focusing on post production of all of the weddings I was so far behind on (trust me… that kept me busy for months!!!!!!).   I’ve shot some engagement sessions out here and I’ll be posting those fabulous images in the next few months (after I catch up on posting all the weddings that I fell so far behind on! LOL!).  I have a few weddings coming up here in Guadalajara… then I’m back in California in March, then back in Jalisco (Mexico) for a few more weddings … and it turns out that 2011 is looking like a year that I’ll be doing a lot of traveling all over!! YAY!!!!!  Just thinking about the whirlwind that the year is about to bring is a little scary… but exciting.  

In the mean time, I’m still enjoying my break, still breathing in, still trying to catch up..  still trying to take in the calm before the storm! hahaha! 

So, while I can… I’m going to try to finally catch up on posting all of the fabulous weddings that I did from August ’till October

In the mean time… I leave you with this image… this was the view from my hotel room when I shot the wedding in Guanajuato, Mexico in November: 

Their wedding day was filled with so much love, so much joy, and even a couple of tears here and there.   The Lindley-Scott House was such a pretty setting for their beautiful day!  I personally thought that Lisa was just glowing with happiness – it was so amazing to witness the love that Lisa and Joshua have for each other!!! You guys are so amazing… thank you for allowing me to share this special day in your lives!

I knew their wedding would be beautiful… they got married at the gorgeous  Kerckhoff Grand Salon in UCLA and  had their reception at the gorgeous Coffee House Patio.  I am thrilled to say, that their wedding was actually FABULOUS to the tenth degree!!!!!!!! Seriously.  F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S.  What made it so fabulous?  They did.  Jacy and Carlos.  I mean the venue was amazing, their decorations were beautiful, their carefully planned details were gorgeous … but what truly made this wedding fabulous was them and their fabulous personalities that just radiate happiness and love.  They knew they wanted amazing images and they truly trusted me.

Jacy and Carlos – you guys absolutely rock! you guys are simply fabulous. I am so honored to have been your wedding photographer and I’m honored just to have met you both!!!!! Thank you for sharing your special day with me and allowing me to capture it for you… and most of all, thank you for trusting me as much as you did!!!!!

Ok… So those handfull of people that follow my blog know that I’m alwasy posting tooo many images…. haha! I just have a hard time narrowing it down to my favorite images.  So I’m just going to warn you all that this is about to become one LONG post of images… I just couldn’t even decide! I so sowy…

One of my favorite parts of this already fabulous event was their first dance… they started out with this fabulous and romantic dance….

Then they broke out their ‘moves’ and had a TON OF FUN dancing to a medley of funky songs!!! It was so amazing and so much fun. I had to keep reminding myself that I was there to shoot and document the dance… I was just on the ground laughing my butt off!!!! LOL!!! Seriously, I had such a hard time keeping my camera in focus while laughing!!! haha!!! LOVE IT!!!!

These two are sooo laid back and so easy going… I love that about them.  When I arrived at their engagement session in Laguna Beach, they had already spent quite some time with their videographer… so I was honestly a little nervous.  I was just really worried that they would be tired and ‘fed up’ of the camera by the time I got there… I was so pleasantly surprised that they are such great troopers!!! they didn’t even seem tired at all… they were smiling and as sweet as ever!  

They have this sweet shy-ness about them that is just endearing.  But, as most of my couples, that quickly faded away as the sun started setting… check out their ultra steamy and fabulous sunset shots!!!  Maybe it was that sultry and romantic sunset, or the fact that it was getting dark, or that the beach wasn’t as crowded by thend – I don’t know what it was, but boy did things get nince and steamy by the end of our session!! haha!

Nancy was actually the bridesmaid at a wedding I did just last week! and she looked absolutely stunning as a bridesmaid… so I can only imagine how gorgeous she’ll  be as the bride!!!  Junior looked really handsome too! lol!  I’m soooo excited for their upcoming wedding!!!!

 Can you see the common denominator year by year … CAKE.  As I have stated in my quirks page -  I absolutely love sweet carbs, and cake is on the TOP of my list of weaknesses… lol!  And even though I will pretty much eat ANY sweet carb that you put in front of me (yes. any. sweet. carb.) – I am super picky about cakes.  I actually did a ton of research for my son’s previous bday cakes – His first bday cake was a 3 tiered designed cake with the theme being stripes and cupcakes.  It was gorgeous!!! (like a wedding cake!!).  This 2nd bday cake was a topsy turvy cake – with 2 layers carved out to look like a road with cars driving on it and fields of mountains and trees decorated the cake – ultra fabulous!  This year I went much simpler – this year we had a Coldstone Creamery Strawberry Red Velvet Ice Cream Cake…. hmmmm.  you know you want some .  It was soooooooooooooo good.  Next year we’ll probably do another sculpted cake, but we’ll definitely do a smaller ice cream cake again, just because we loved it. 

So for his birthday, my son had his 3 favorite things: ice cream, cake, and pizza – he was in little boy heaven!

He wasn’t sure why everyone kept singing ‘happy birthday’ to him… he’s not old enough yet to realize what that means.  At first he would tell us to not sing, but by the end of the day he was singing along and even prompting us to keep singing to him while he did  his baby dance! I love my little guy. 

It was a day filled with Ice Cream Cake and Little Kisses!!! LOVE you Jovanni!!!

The sun was shining, the breeze was going… and Raquel was one of the most relaxed and laid-back brides I have EVER encountered in 5 years!!! LOL!!! I love you Raquel – so calm, so laid back, so care-free.  She truly decided to not stress out at all that day…. whatever she needed to stress about was already planned out – and nothing was going to ruin her magical day. I LOVE that about her!  I’m not kidding… weddings can be very stressful… and although I do meet brides that don’t stress too much – those are few and far between. It is sooooo much more common for a bride to suddenly break a sweat because of her flowers, or her hair, or the bridal party (or her family… lol!) – that’s common to me… I know how to handle that.  I’ve been told that I need to open up a wedding counceling hot line! LOL!! I’ve been called the ‘Bride Whisperer’ … Not kidding!!!  – but that’s an entirely new post all together (yes… I’m working on a post about stress-free weddings).  Anywho.  Raquel was so laid back that I felt a little strange not having to reassure her about anything at all that day.

I can see how Todd and Raquel make such an absolutely perfect couple. Todd is such a sweet and shy person… and Raquel is so energetic – love them together soooooo much!!!!  They totally balance each other out so perfectly. 

Raquel and Todd- you guys are so perfect … I loved sharing and capturing these moments for you!!! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your totally peaceful and magical day!

So what have I been up to… I mean, besides weddings… lol! ??!  Well… a little over a week ago was my son’s 3rd bday!!! yay!!! Those of you that know my little story about my family know how much I truly treasure birthdays.  Life is so fragile and so unpredictable, that I have learned to just treasure every moment… so when my little man turned 3 last week I did what I hardly do: I took several DAYS off!    yes… let’s all ghasp together!!!!  I NEVER EVER EVER take days off (even when I’m not on the computer I’m doing something studio-related) – but I spent those days with my little guy… just enjoying his life.  I love his life! 

I’m going to post more pictures today of several engagements and wedding(s), but I also wanna share my little guy… here’s a sneak peak of the pics i took on his BDAY!!

Last month I was honored to be a part of a fantabulous Alice in Wonderland inspired photoshoot that my great friend Elizabeth Luna organized  (yes…fantabulous is what the cool kids are saying these days… lol!). I met some amazing photographers, beautiful models, and best of all I had a fabulous time – what more could one ask for!!  Thank you everyone for making the day so fantastic, so fabulous, and so much fun!!!

Organized and Lead: Elizabeth Luna
Event Design, Coordination and Florals – Amador Events
Linens – BBJlinen.com
Rentals – persianoevents.com
Stationary Design – Lou Liebau + lou@scratchandsniff.com
Make Up Artist: Crystal Roberts
Hair Stylist: Jessica Hale
Hair accessories: Rachel Larraine
Gowns: Elyse Reuben
Guest Speaker: Ming Chien (Off Camera Lighting)
Thank you to all the awesome Leaders!
Harmony Ayala Ruiz
Rita Clifton
Duc Duong
Alicia Salcedo

I had the hardest time picking images to post… so this will be long – but if you’ve visited my blog before you know I always post tons of images – I just can’t bring myself to pick only a few pictures… lol!

Last month I had such a fun time shooting their gorgeous wedding at The Neighborhood Church in Redondo Beach.  Talk about an absolutely breath-taking wedding venue!!! seriously.  totally gorgeous. period.  And what made it even better? having an amazing and totally in-love bride and groom to photograph!  After their beautiful wedding… everyone rocked it out at Delzanos’ by the Sea for their reception. 

Ceremony Location: The Neighborhood Church
Reception Location:  Delzanos’ by the Sea
Fabulous Wedding Coordinator:  Jenny from At You Door Events - seriously one of the most fabulous and talented wedding planners EVER!!!