When I photographed Huong and Thien’s engagement session in Catalina about a month ago, they decided to upgrade their session to include some Bride & Groom portraits. It’s a great idea especially when you have limited time to do portraits on your wedding day. And what’s more fitting than to shoot their bridal at one of the most memorable places for them: The Avalon Hotel in Catalina! Below are just a few of my favorites from the day.

Huong and Thien’s wedding is coming up in just a few days! I can’t wait :)

I’m sooo excited to finally post part two of Anh and Tuan’s session! When they came back to meet me after they changed to their formals, I was in awe of her beautiful, flowy gown… but also worried about the high 50’s weather in La Jolla at the time. Anh and Tuan were such troopers, I tell ya. We picked areas at the beach that would make great spots for wide-ranged portraits but were challenging to get to. And yet they were cool with everything. My type of clients!

My trusty light assistant picked a basketball game over work so I traveled to SD by myself. I will forever be grateful to Michael Buble for keeping me company when my husband can’t :)

P.S. For this blog post, I decided to show my favorite pitch for a canvas enlargement. What’s your pick? :)

I didn’t bring a light stand due to the winds, so I had one of their friends hold my off-camera flash for me. I think she did very well!

I see a lot of photog friends post single vertical photos this way; and I thought I’d give it a try! I like…

I had to travel light climbing these rocks so there were no diffusers used on this flash, so I had to think fast and pose them in a way that will not cast a hard ugly shadow. I think this works!

And lastly, the hottest photo in the collection :) Can I get a wowza?!

Many thanks to Anh and Tuan for trusting me and of course, to their amazing friends who made for great assistants that day. This, by far, is one of the most fun times I’ve had in a long time!

Last Thursday I had the honor of joining the rest of the Socal Photog Shootout team on its 1st year anniversary! And boy was it a huge celebration. The event was held in a gorgeous venue in Pasadena and included the best of the best in the wedding industry! The theme for the shootout was Romeo and Juliet, and the rotations were: Engagement Session, Getting Ready, Details, The Ceremony, The Bridal, and the Reception. I was excited to be picked to lead the Bridal Session and worked with the beautiful Jenn King.

A special Thank You goes to Hanssie Trainor & Matthew Saville for a job well done!

Because I was leading a group and had to make way for photographers to get their shot, I didn’t get to shoot much. But I’m posting some of my favorites from the day…