Ouch, that one hurt. Guilty as charged. I desire lavish and I certainly adore hired help. But at the end of the day that’s not what it is really about, is it? It’s about a celebration honoring marrying your best friend. Marrying the one that will encourage you through life’s hard times, pull you through life’s tough times, and rejoice with you through every second of the good times.

There is a balance that the wedding industry encourages us to ignore. Ignore the ceremony and head straight to the reception…right? Ignore the reason we are here, and get the party started! As a photographer, we even struggle with that balance…

Capture every detail that so many late nights and tears went into deciding or capture the way he looks at her, like he can’t catch his breath and only wishes for this one moment to last forever. Do we jet out of the ceremony for a quick minute because the florist finished the flowers on the cake? Oh balance…

I’ve known Nikki since – oh – probably junior high…her older sister and I were completely inseparable. From high school, to college, to finishing our Master’s together, I knew Nikki had a sense of balance about her. She knew that the celebration was important, but what was more important was the man she was marrying. Looking around their wedding, everything was perfectly balanced.

Simple vs. lavish – balanced.
DIY vs. hired professionals – balanced.
…It was amazing…

None of this to say that their wedding was anything short of remarkable. It was beyond remarkable. It screamed L.O.V.E. louder than any thousand-dollar centerpiece I have ever seen.

We spent some time with her right before the holidays, capturing a sweet session before she -most likely- gets put on bed rest. Carrying twins is hard work – though she makes it look like a breeze!

-Enjoy!

The night before Thanksgiving I lay awake, wondering how different next Thanksgiving is going to be with Kara and Liliana here. I not-so-quickly- jerked myself back to reality and refocused on this year – this Thanksgiving – this day with family, that I would never be able to get back. While I treasured every kick and roll I felt from Liliana throughout the day, I secretly made it my mission to smother Kara with more kisses and hugs than she ever received in her life…and Nick too, for that matter!

I sat to write this post, featuring a few of our pre-Thanksgiving day photos from the amazing Diana Stoffel, and felt overwhelmingly thankful and grateful for my family. The list became too long to even begin as thoughts raced through my mind of how blessed I am. How blessed I am to have a husband who doesn’t just care for me, but cares about me. How thankful I am to have a husband that works twenty-four hours a day (literally at the fire station) to provide for his family. How fortunate I am to have a husband that loves me, cherishes me, challenges me and encourages me. How blessed I am to have him…never pulling from in front or pushing from behind, but holding…steadfastly…from my side. There isn’t this list of things he does or says, qualities he has, characteristics he possess, that I can create to say what I am thankful for…because I that implies that there could be a list of things that I am not thankful for; pieces of him that I would say, “Thanks but no thanks.” …and the simple truth is that there just isn’t a “Thanks but no thanks” list. He is my list. He IS everything I am thankful for.

Hmmmm… that made me think…

Kara? Surprisingly she fell into the same boat. I could ramble on for days about how much I love her personality, how I cherish every witty and hysterical things she says, how I am amazed at how she learns and picks up on hundreds of new things a week… I could create a list like that that is never ending. But the truth of the matter is that she, too, is exactly what I am thankful for. She is everything I am thankful for. And Liliana? Oh man. Every kick and turn brings a smile to my heart and I feel like I could burst into tears at any given second thinking about how incredibly blessed we are to have her almost here. Thankful? Words fall short of describing! She is everything I am thankful for.

I could continue with parents and siblings, grandparents and extended family – and the whole time I am thinking about how thankful I am for crazy family and my crazy life…I stop and realize that the One who we are all truly thankful for is God. Thankful that He knew us before we were born, laid out perfect and amazing plans for our lives, cherishes every freckle on our face, and loves us so much that He gave us His son. For Him, I am so, so thankful. For His love and grace, for His mercy and kindness. For His design and plan, for me and my family, and for creating for me a husband and daughters that ARE everything I could ever be thankful for.

Blessed… Fortunate… Lucky… whatever it is that you want to call it – its all because He first loved me… and I am truly Thankful.

So…to believe in a thing called love? To trust that love will overcome, conquer all, pick you up when you are down, get you through, bring happiness… wow… that’s a lot of trust in a thing called love. Can love really do all that? I believe it can…I trust it can. I see the way a husband and wife look at each other and I know it can.

There is something so remarkable about getting to photograph a husband and wife. We are photographing the love they believe in. A love they trust. A love they know. On their fifth, fifteenth and fiftieth wedding anniversaries they get to look at their wedding photos – see and feel all over again that love they believe in.

Yes, I am convinced. Believing in love is profound.

Matt & Heather are the purest demonstration of a belief in love. They know that their love will conquer all, will pick them up when they are down, will bring happiness and will show through in their photographs well beyond their fiftieth anniversary. The way they look at each other gives me butterflies (and no it’s not just the baby moving around). Their love is amazing. Their love is beautiful.

Reception Location: Malibu West Beach Club
Florist: Diana Petrusan
Cake: Cakes by Jeanine
Wedding Dress: Mikaella
Wedding Ring Design: Verragio @ Robbins Brothers

Even though I credit pregnancy hormones for most of my tear-filled moments, there was much more at play here than hormones. When we met with Mallory she warned us that she, along with others in her family, are criers… So am I, so I fit right in. [nick on the other hand, he boldly crosses his arms and declares he won't shed a tear...humpf!] We have talked before about how I cry at weddings, during almost every first dance, without-a-doubt during the toasts and if the grooms starts to tear up – oh forget it!

Never… n-e-v-e-r, have I cried because a bride looked so radiant when she was crying. I took one look at Mallory, with joyous tear filled eyes, and I suddenly found it hard to catch my breath. She.looked.beautiful. Tears of joy suit her… perfectly! As I settled in behind my camera I thought to myself, “Now this is why I take pictures of weddings. There is the love and joy and beauty that draws me back behind the lens.”

Mallory – your wedding was perfect.

Snobby, indeed.

When Nick and I got married, we were 19, one year out of high school, determined that we knew exactly what we wanted, and by golly we were gonna have it. Sadly, I had no idea how to plan a wedding, and with my do-it-alone attitude I settled for many of things that I shamefully hang my head at now. Two years into our business and we said – “Ummm….we want a do over!” Nick included, it wasn’t just me! The more weddings we shot, the more I longed for our first dance to have been under gigantic crystal chandeliers illuminated by candle light. On our third Christmas as a married couple, Nick re-purposed **can you even do that???** and told me to plan the wedding of my dreams, and we will do a vow renewal on our 5 year anniversary.

After starting to plan, we quickly realized that both of our dreams were now spoiled with all the weddings we had shot, and it would take years to create a budget large enough to satisfy our hungering…. So now we have said 10 years (which is only 3 years away – don’t ask how the budget is coming, I’ll start to cry).

Why the long back story, Liz, get to the pictures!!!?! Okay, okay. Here is what happened. I walked into the Grand Tradition on Adam and Alyssa’s wedding day and gasped. Like gasping to catch my breath after running a marathon. It was stunning. No… it was EXTRAVAGANT. It was everything I had ever dreamed a wedding should be. Throughout the day you could catch a glance at me tearing up as I wandered around photographing details. And no, it was NOT pregnancy hormones. I was so in love with every single aspect of the wedding, I could hardly contain myself!

Each moment was more emotional. Seeing the reception hall, Alyssa getting in her dress, the horse drawn carriage, Adam quietly wiping a tear as Alyssa walked towards him… I don’t know enough superlatives to describe the incredibleness. I can tell you, my dearest Alyssa, that in three more years, when we have our vow renewal ceremony, don’t be surprised if you feel de javu when you show up. I am still….weeks later…swooning over your wedding.

Rhinestone Dress – Check
Glitter Shoes – Check
Gems in the Bouquet – Check
Diamond Bracelet – Check
Diamond Ring – Double CHECK!

Beautiful doesn’t quite begin to describe, majestic barely scratches the surface. This wedding was… illuminatingly sparkly…

These are just a few of my favorite moments throughout the day, and some details for you to be blinded by!

A shout out to our fellow vendors who helped make the day AH-mazing!
Florist: Riverside Mission Florist
Dress & Bridal Accessories: Alfred Angelo
Rings: Cortez Jewelers
Venue: Indian Hills Golf Course

It’s hard to get in front of a camera and spill forth passion. Embarrassing, a little intimidating, a LOT uncomfortable. At first. And then after a few deep breaths you realize, you get to spend the next hour or two loving on the person you love the most in the world. You get to enjoy their company, whisper in their ear, turn an ordinary walk through a park into an unsurmountable display of love and adoration. That sounds better to me than intimidation and embarrassment.

It’s easy for a photographer from behind the lens to see what we want to see in the frame….to create for ourselves. It’s harder, and more rewarding, to inspire creation in the couple, and capture it as it happens. With moments fleeting and the whirlwind of our world flying by, it’s often difficult to take that time and simply enjoy. Simply love. Simply BE with each other. But that is exactly what we want you to do.

Life happens too fast, never goes as planned and has a tendency to create voids rather than fill them. Just ask the mom who is celebrating their child’s first birthday… or the mom whose child never made it to their first birthday. Ask the wife who kissed her husband goodbye for work, to get a dreaded phone call minutes later. Or the dad who is in prison, for a careless-stupid-biggest-regret-ever act and hasn’t held his child since they were three. Ask the husband and wife, celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary, just exactly how fast and unexpected life is.

A picture isn’t a posed expression of the photographers artistic ability. At least… it shouldn’t be.

A picture is an ever present reminder of the joy, desire, innocence, happiness, intrigue, love, and passion that you feel right now…at this very moment. This very blessed moment in time.

As you can see, Rozanne and Chris easily understood exactly what we told them. “Enjoy each other. Act like we aren’t here. What if this was your last evening together for a while…” And then…