STOP!!!

Don’t go any further unless you’ve already checked out Part I of Robert and Joana’s San Diego wedding in Mission Bay! 

OK … now that we’ve got that out of the way … on to part II of Robert + Joana’s fantastic wedding!

After the ceremony, Joana and Robert’s families met them back in the chapel of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Bonita, California.  We then took them and their entire bridal party behind the church, where there’s a small garden area, but it photographs beautifully.  I had the opportunity to photograph a wedding here before, and although it doesn’t look like much, there’s really a lot of beautiful little nooks around the church that make great images.  Once we wrapped up with the bridal party, we still had nearly an hour before the cocktail hour was starting.  We took that opportunity to head back to the Mission Bay Hyatt to make some images with just Robert and Joana.  We met them in the lobby, and started on one of the cool couches.

Joana had told me at the beginning of the day that she hadn’t been able to sleep at all the night before their wedding, so when I asked her to lay down on the couch, I don’t think she could have been happier.  I was almost afraid she might take a nap right there!  Eder and I left Robert and Joana after making a few more images around the grounds of the Hyatt, and went over to Marina Village where they were holding their reception.  As the guests started to arrive, a mariachi band played and took requests until Robert and Joana got there.

The rest of the night was filled with emotion with toasts given by Joana’s sister and father and Robert’s brother, as well as Robert and of course … dancing.

Click on the large  image above, or any of the smaller thumbnails below to see photos from the second half of Joana and Roberts wedding in San Diego!

Friends and family members can register at Pictage to view all the images from their day by clicking here. 

Vendors:

Photographers: Evan Bishop Photography

Wedding Coordinator: Weddings by Lindsy

Church: Corpus Christi Catholic Church

Reception: Marina Village

Preparations and Accomodations: Hyatt Mission Bay

Florist: Flowers by Erin

DJ: Mike Farmer

Cake: Flour Power

Makeup and Hair: Making Faces

 I have been so looking forward to Robert and Joana’s wedding since we met up for drinks before their engagement shoot in Balboa Park.  We met initially through their wedding planner Lindsy Hines who did an amazing job helping them to organize their entire day.  When I arrived at the Mission Bay Hyatt, Joana was getting the final touches to her make-up done, while club music played on her iPad, and her ring bearer and flower girl watched cartoons.  Just like the Saturday mornings I remember as a kid!  While I was photographing with the girls, Eder who was second shooting with me, was with Robert and his guys getting ready. After everyone was dressed, we spent some time at the Hyatt taking pictures around the grounds.  There’s some great tropical landscaping at the Hyatt and we took advantage of that backdrop both before their ceremony as well as before their reception which happened right next door at the Marina Village.

After getting ready, and portraits at the Hyatt, we all drove over to Bonita to Corpus Christi Catholic Church for Robert and Joana’s wedding.  Arriving early before guests, Joana and her girls as well as Robert’s mother were able to spend some time in the bridal suite at the church for last minute touch ups, and for Joana, mostly just to sit quietly and relax while everyone whirred around her.  After the mothers had been walked down the aisle, and the bridesmaids and flower girls, Joana and her father stood in the hall just off of the sanctuary awaiting their cue.  It was a quiet moment where Joana and as they walked down the aisle together, and Robert stood smiling Joanna found it difficult not to shed a tear as her father gave her away.

This was such an amazing wedding to be a part of, and one that I had a very difficult time selecting images to share on the blog since there were so many to choose from.  To see a sample of some images from the first part of the day, click on the large image above, or any of the smaller thumbnails below.  I will be posting part 2 of Robert and Joana’s wedding tomorrow, so check back to see their portraits and photos from their reception.

Friends and family members can register at Pictage to view all the images from their day by clicking here. 

Vendors:

Photographers: Evan Bishop Photography

Wedding Coordinator: Weddings by Lindsy

Church: Corpus Christi Catholic Church

Reception: Marina Village

Preparations and Accomodations: Hyatt Mission Bay

Florist: Flowers by Erin

DJ: Mike Farmer

Cake: Flour Power

Makeup and Hair: Making Faces

I recently was introduced to Maureen Miller through a mutual friend while wine tasting in Temecula, California. I later contacted her and we got together since she was looking for a photographer that she could recommend to her clients at Alfred Angelo Bridal in Oceanside, California.

After meeting and talking I wanted to sit down again with Maureen to talk about Alfred Angelo Bridal and hopefully give some great tips to brides just starting to research wedding gowns and what to expect when searching for that perfect gown for their wedding day.

I’m also thrilled to be included as one of the select vendors for the Alfred Angelo quarterly ‘Girls Night Out’ in the Oceanside, California store on October 13th, 2010. Get in touch with Maureen to schedule your appointment.  Whether you’re an Alfred Angelo bride or not, this is a great opportunity to meet some fantastic wedding professionals in Southern California.

Find out why Maureen feels customer service is so important, and likens Alfred Angelo Blue Box stores to Nordstrom.

What makes Alfred Angelo a unique bridal salon.

How many people you should bring with you when trying on your gown.

And why relationships are so important in finding the perfect gown.

Interview: Alfred Angelo Bridal Salon in Oceanside California

Maureen’s nervous about being recorded! Outtake: This is going to be in writing right?

After the interview: Outtake: That was easy!

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet with and interview Brenda Swann, wedding planner extraordinaire of Swann Soirees for my second vendor interview.

I found out about Brenda via her frequent twitter updates at the weddings she plans and I had the amazing opportunity to photograph Brad & Josel’s to see her in action.  She has such an attention to detail, and really knows how to manage a wedding to keep the day on schedule without stressing out anyone, most importantly the bride and groom then second of course, the photographers!   In talking to her before, but especially in this interview, Brenda has a truly infectious energy and gets really excited anytime you get her talking about weddings. I know this translates to her couples, and regardless of the type or size of wedding she’s helping plan, she can envision what the couple wants, and not only how to make that happen, but how amazing it can be.

Want to hear Brenda talk about Swann Soirees, wedding planning, why she loves being involved in weddings, San Diego, the Navy, and my shoes? Check out the audio clips below:

San Diego’s Brenda Swann Wedding Planner

Some of my favorite out takes from the day!

Introduction Outtake

Pretty Cool Kicks

Wow! OK, I just finished my first vendor interview and it was fantastic.  I met with Evelyn Peelle of Bamboo Star Studios over a cup of coffee and an off the diet pumpkin muffin from ‘Do Drop In Cafe’ in La Jolla.  There’s a ton of information in the interview and something, I think, for everyone whether you’re planning your wedding and considering custom invitations, or if you’re anyone involved in the wedding industry.  I won’t blather on too much as there’s so much to share from our interview.  Check it out below, or if you’re busy with other tasks, play the audio file in the background while you research vendors, surf for that perfect bridesmaids dress or maybe even … work!

Below are some excerpts from my favorite parts of the interview.  There’s definitely a lot more, so check out the audio file for the complete inteview! (

Enjoy!!!

Audio interview with Bamboo Star Studios

note: The audio quality is terrible, but the interview is fantastic! We had to choose between competing against the sounds of the cafe inside and the street outside.  I’ll be looking for quieter locals for future interviews!

EBP: For my first official vendor interview I have the pleasure of sitting down with Evelyn Peelle from Bamboo Star Studios based out of San Diego, California.  So we’ve been talking a little bit before but why don’t you tell me a little bit more about Bamboo Star Studios.

BSS: Basically, I started the company about a year and a half ago officially and got into weddings, doing custom invitations and announcements as well as corporate graphic design, but I definitely have to say I have been enjoying the wedding industry profusely.  A lot of our clients come to us with an idea of what they’d like for their special day, be that wedding, or otherwise. We take that and create something that really works for them. Whether a thank you card, stationary set, or again with the invitations it really works well and becomes a reflection of them instead of something that comes straight out of a box that you could buy say at a Target or stationary store.

EBP: Bamboo Star Studios is kind of a unique name … how did you come up with that and what’s the import … when you started thinking about your business, why Bamboo Star?

BSS: When I was originally starting to think about a company my sister and I were brainstorming and she had actually come up with this because I’m Chinese American, I grew up in Michigan before moving to California.  We were always a little bit different in a way and the term Bamboo Star is a direct translation from the Cantonese term that means ‘stuck in the middle’ or ‘between the notches of a bamboo stick’.  It’s kind of a slang that identifies people like myself that are stuck between traditional Chinese and American cultures.  It’s a way to poke fun at ourselves as well as to pay respect to our background and to have fun with it at the same time.

EBP: So do you find with your design work that your background, your cultural identity influences the majority of your design?

BSS: I wouldn’t say the majority, but it’s definitely something that helps a lot.  Especially when Chinese, or Asian brides come to us with an idea, because we grew up with all of those cultural expectations, I have the knowledge that would help direct, what would make a better decision, what would allow for us to explore creating something completely custom and personal but not so far fetched that it would create problems with families.

EBP: You said you have been doing custom stationary designs for weddings for the past year and a half, in that time what have you found to be the most rewarding aspect that maybe surprised you or you didn’t expect?

BSS: I don’t know if this is something that I didn’t expect, but one of the things that I found that I absolutely love about being a part of the wedding industry is just having the honor of being a part of someone’s wedding day.  In talking to my clients, my couples are in that phase of planning, some of them just recently engaged, I mean, you are dealing with people who are loving life, loving each other and it’s so rewarding to be able to contribute to that and make it even better. … It’s such an honor to get to work with couples who are making these huge decisions for their one big wedding day and I absolutely love it. It’s something I hope to be able to be a part of for a long time.

EBP: What inspires you? When you’re looking at designs, are you working mostly off of ideas that your couples have given you or how does that process typically play out?

BSS: Generally couples do come with an idea or inspiration and I do work from where they’re coming from in that perspective.  But what I absolutely love to do is just to talk to my couples. Talk to them, get to know them, get to know their story, how did they meet, how did they get engaged, where do they spend a lot of time, what are their hobbies? And from those simple conversations you get a lot of ideas springing out that sometimes even the bride and groom don’t even know were there.

EBP: What’s the one thing that you wish everyone knew about what you do in your business?

BSS: One of the things that really inspired me to start doing this, even for myself was that I just didn’t want to be the same as everyone else.  I wanted my wedding day to feel absolutely unique because it was mine. Because it was something that would truly represent me.  I guess then the one thing is that is the important thing; when you are planning an amazing day like your wedding, being able to have that front to back to have every part of it truly reflect who you are as a couple and I love being able to provide that for my clients.

EBP: I think the way we met was over twitter.  I don’t remember exactly who it was that connected us, but I notice on your website you have your twitter link and facebook page as well as your blog which is great and it gives your clients as well as potential clients an opportunity to learn more about you throughout the process.  As far as social media goes, have you noticed any direct benefits so far to your business? Have you received clients directly because of it? How does that play out for your business model?

BSS: It’s funny that you ask that because I was talking with someone very recently about how incredible social networking has become and how important of a tool it has become to the wedding industry, or any service industry in general.  In terms of reaching brides and grooms directly, it’s definitely a tool.  But one of the more effective results of social media has been getting in touch with other vendors in the wedding industry, and the connections I have been able to make out of that have been absolutely incredible.

EBP: Let’s talk a little bit about budgets.  Everyone has them, all couples have budgets.  When couples are coming to you do you find that they have a good understanding of what’s involved in the design process, printing process and the final deliverables or is there a lot of education that you find that you’re doing when a couple initially contacts you?

BSS: I think due to the ‘do it yourself’ movement there’s a lot of education involved. With scrap booking gaining popularity and everyone being budget concious due to the recession it’s very easy for people to head to Michael’s and pick up a magazine and think “I can easily do this myself, it doesn’t take that long, it’s not that difficult”. So, yes, trying to explain the importance of the design process, the time involved, but also explaining the value of being able to have a professional help out with their project is invaluable but it’s a matter of making them understand that and going through all the details of why it truly is important to allow a professional to get involved.  The last year or so has been a little difficult because money is tight for everyone, but it’s nice to be able to delegate those things when you have a bigger picture to think about.

EBP: I think that’s great, and a couple of the things you said are really key, primarily the idea of time.  You know how much work goes into, for a bride and groom, planning, getting all of their i’s dotted and their t’s crossed and the idea of spending so many additional hours on designing and printing.  I’ve known couples who have told me they spent their last night before their wedding at Kinko’s trying to get the programs printed.  Anything that can be done to take the stress off of the couple in that planning process and come up with an amazing and beautiful product that they more than likely wouldn’t be able to come up with themselves is a huge value.  And coming obviously from the photographer’s point of view, being able to describe the value of what you’re providing as opposed to just simply the cost is huge.

EBP: We talked just briefly about the time and value that clients get when you’re involved with the design process.  That is they’re not spending hours or weeks on their own design and how much value that has to them in the planning process.  In addition to that, is there any piece of advice that you can provide to couples who are considering working with you as opposed to going with a design out of a box, or ordering out of a catalog?

BSS: I don’t have the most succinct of answers for that but I think the one big tip or piece of advice that I would give is by going the custom route you are choosing to do something that will reflect who you are and the relationship that you have.  Knowing what that is or having a general idea of what that is before talking to someone even a designer such as myself or even a photographer being able to identify what really makes you tick is important.  Otherwise I think we’re all just shooting blind.

EBP: I definitely agree as far as photography goes.  I know that for me what’s most important to me is that I’m connecting to my clients and understanding what they’re looking for in their photography when their looking back on their wedding day and what’s most important to them.  And in my initial meetings with my clients I’m asking, oftentimes, a lot of questions as I’m sure you are things that they don’t have answers to as far as what they’ve thought about for their day.  But it gets their mind going and also informs me about the things that they do already know.  So they’re telling me things whether knowingly or not that they’ve considered that are of the utmost importance to them when they’re reflecting on the day when they’re looking at the images and I can take that with me and really consider that in the coverage of the event.

EBP: Thank you so much again for sitting down and chatting a bit about your studio.  Any last thoughts or comments?

BSS: Laughs … no … I think we’ve covered everything pretty well.

But then there are those rare occasions when the stars align and I have the perfect weekend. Our trip to Temecula was just that weekend.  We started out with beautiful weather, which I guess isn’t a stretch here in San Diego, but coming from Baltimore, 75 degrees and clear is not easy to come by, especially in August!  I was with wonderful company; Evan, and two friends from work, Mark and Kim, who love wine and love life!

We started our tasting at Maurice Car´rie where, the wine is good, don’t get me wrong, but the wheel of brie embedded in a buttery garlicky toasty bread boule is RI-DIC-U-LOUS!!! A must try, and don’t even say you don’t like brie, because if you say it… well we’re just not friends anymore!  We then made our way over to the sister winery, La Cereza.  Evan’s favorite was the Viognier. It’s award winning, and when you taste it, you’ll know why.  We sat in big comfy chairs at La Cereza and drank wine, listened to live music, and really had a chance to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Wiens Family Cellars was next, and all I can say is W-O-W! Holy cow! and Like, Oh my God!  The sparkling Amour De L’Orange is a must try! It’s true I’m a sucker for the bubbly, and most champagnes/ sparkling wines have this effect on me, but I just felt giddy when I was drinking it! So giddy in fact, that, well, since I am a member of Wiens anyway… anyway, I took advantage of the case for 30% off deal! I mean, who wouldn’t? Really?  Okay, I’m getting side tracked I know but, I can’t help it, it’s just so good!

Next stop, and the final wine tasting for the day was Masia de Yabar. This is one of Mark’s favorites. He loves Malbecs and this lovely, picturesque winery just so happens to have a delicious Malbec. We headed to check in at Temecula Creek Inn, where we had an awesome dinner and a great night’s stay. I even got to hear coyotes yipping in the distance.  I’m an East Coast city girl so hearing coyotes for the first time was a pretty major event for me!

Day two started off with mimosas, and then off for more wine tasting.  I loved Leonesse Cellars! The port served with a dark chocolate truffle was heavenly! We all loved it there… so we became wine club members! Our last stop as a group was Keyways. Kim’s membership there allowed us to have a really unique wine tasting experience. We sat in the members room and enjoyed, well, I’m going to be honest, pretty much every wine on the list.  It was great fun.

Mark and Kim headed back to San Diego, and Evan and I decided to grab a bite to eat before getting on the road full of wine!  We went back to Leonesse Cellars, and had delicious “small bytes”.  We watched the sun start to dip behind the mountains, bringing our perfect weekend to a close. For those of you who enjoy wine, and just want to escape for a day or two, go to Temecula. You won’t be disappointed! And who knows, maybe we’ll run into you there!

“If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul” ~Clifton Fadiman

Great wineries to check out and if you’re looking for a beautiful place to have your wedding or reception I’ll run down the list of our favorites from this visit! (Don’t worry we’re heading back soon to do some more … ummm … scouting with a ton more great locations to check out!)

La Cereza: Great location with open air reception area and great indoor/outdoor seating area for mingling

Leonesse Cellars: Outstanding location, beautiful scenery and great food to boot! You can’t go wrong holding both your wedding and reception at this place!

Wilson Creek: This place was made for weddings!  Beautiful grounds, incredible architecture! Inside and out it’s an outstanding location

Wiens Family Cellars: This is an awesome place for a smaller reception.  There’s definitely room for a large event here, but the barrel room is beautiful a great location for a smaller more intimate gathering of friends and family members!