Off to Mexico... OLE!

Hola and adios! Matt and I are off from Friday through Monday for Brian and Judy's wedding in Mexico. So, I'll "see" you when I return. Until then... have a great weekend and stay tuned for what I know will be a fantastic wedding. ;)

Alice and George: Married at Verandas!

Recently, I photographed Alice and George's wedding at Verandas in Manhattan Beach. It was sooooo much fun! Loved the wedding, loved the dancing, loved Alice, George, and their friends and families! Enjoy a few of my favorite images below and the slideshow. Have fun guys... there are many more on their way!

The couple below are Judy and Brian... you might remember their e-session from a few posts ago... they're getting married this weekend in Mexico... we're (Matt and I) off to shoot it tomorrow!

Meet the Spivey Fam!

Meet the oh so cool, crazy striped, Christmas pajama'd... Spivey family! Sarah and Eric and the kids are close friends and I was oh so happy that they wanted me to take their family pictures. We had such a great time hanging out at the park... licking lolly pops, playing with Sully's Dinaco car, and spinning around in circles until Sawyer tumbled over in dizziness... I almost didn't want to leave. Only a few of my favorites are below (there were just so many of them!). If you want more (you know you do... trust me!)... check out this fun slideshow! It moves pretty quickly but you can check the gallery out and take as much time as you like when it's over.

I can't wait to design the holiday card for these!!! FUN!

BTW- Everybody always asks what they should wear for their session... I think this disproves the philosophy that you have to wear the same "portrait" outfits, white shirts (not that they're bad), no stripes/patterns, yada yada... Instead, be BRIGHT, be BOLD, be YOURSELVES, have FUN!!! And, that is what will come out in your pictures! Enjoy!

Meet the Martin Family!

Meet the Martins. Aren't they adorable? ;)


Jill bid on and won this photo session a while back at a silent auction for the Education Foundation for Orange County Schools. It's my pleasure to donate my services to local organizations that I believe in and this is one of those organizations. The Foundation awards grants to teachers chosen through a grant-application process. These grants enable local teachers to purchase or create materials for programs that inspire students’ desires to excel in core subjects.

Back to the Martins...beautiful family, amazing red hair on the boys that the girls out there would die for, and a lot of fun to shoot... Enjoy some of my favorites... there are more on the way!

Tasha and Glenn: Married at the Disneyland Hotel Rose Garden

I had the great pleasure of photographing a fantastic couple's wedding a few weeks ago at the Disneyland Hotel Rose Garden and the Grand Californian Hotel. This couple found me online quite a while back... they both live in Florida where Tasha is a TV news reporter and Glenn is a TV weatherman for NBC. If you're thinking that that means these two have big personalities... you'd be right! They were great and so was their wedding. Thank you both for choosing me to be a part of your day. I had a great time and I can't wait to get out to Florida to visit you two. I hope you enjoy some of my favorite images below and in your slideshow. Talk soon... Happy Thanksgiving!

The little girls below... couldn't get enough of the bride/princess... they were so cute and all dressed up like Disney princesses themselves.

Loved the cake topper...

The fantastic band was www.partyquake.com. They were awesome!

All Disney parks, attractions, characters, titles, etc. are registered trademarks of The Walt Disney Company.

Judy and Brian are engaged!

...This one is part of my "blog burst" today! ;)

Let me start by saying I LOVE these two! They are more than clients though, they are also great friends. I've actually known Judy for something like 10 years... WOW... time flies. She is a totally incredible girl... funny, exuberant, adorable... I could go on and on... And, she met THE best guy in Brian. I'm so happy for them and that I get to shoot their wedding in Mexico in a few weeks. Arriba!!!

We toured around Long Beach recently for their engagement session and had soooo much fun in the process. They laughed the whole time... I love that! One of our stops was the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. This is where where Brian asked Judy to marry him in a very creative way. If you want to check out the proposal (think "will you marry me" sign in large aquarium tank)... it's on YouTube... here...

Moving on to the pictures!... Here are some of my favorite images... there were so many great ones of you two to pick one... thanks for making it so hard for me to pick! Love you guys and I can't wait for your wedding! Best- Natalie

Cherstin and Ryan got married! - Arroyo Trabucco Golf Club

Recently, I had the honor of photographing Cherstin and Ryan's wedding at Arroyo Trabucco Golf Club. You might remember their fun engagement session down in Corona Del Mar. These two are so lovely... really, really sweet, and so in love. And, their families are fantastic, too. There were many tears flowing that day as Cherstin and Ryan said their "I do's". The day couldn't have been any more beautiful. Thanks you two for allowing me to capture it. I hope you enjoy some of my favorites below and the slideshow here. All my best!!!- Natalie

Carameros Family: Texas and New Mexico Fun!

If you read Mia's senior post then you already know about the Carameros family. They were incredible! I mentioned previously that they live in Texas but had found me at a wedding out here in California. Well... I was very blessed to meet up with them... Continuing on from Mia's post...

That's Gina, Mia's mom, and me at the UTEP tailgate party... my first tailgate!!! They couldn't believe it! ;)
And, yes... I'm wearing a shirt... it's strapless... geez.

After Mia's session on Saturday, Gina, Mia's mom, picked me up from the hair salon where Mia was getting primped for the Homecoming Dance. We went straight from there to my very first tail gate party!!! That's right... not being the biggest sports enthusiast this was a big deal for me! The tailgate party was great... lots of fantastic people and great food. Then, we were off to the UTEP game. I had a great time... I'll admit it could have been about 3 seconds shorter (then we would have won) but everybody made it a blast for me. Afterwards, we went home... I slept (ahhhh... much needed sleep).

Ahhh... the best peach dessert cobbler thingy I've ever had... no... I didn't eat it all... but I wanted to!

The next morning I had a meeting with a prospective client (another relative of the Carameros) for their wedding in July. Then, the fam and I were off to White Sands, New Mexico. If you haven't been there before... I highly recommend it... it's beautiful. We only got to spend about 30 minutes there and then we were off to the airport and I was off back to LA. That was the end of a long and very rewarding weekend. Thanks for all your hospitality Carameros family... I hope to be able to reciprocate some time in the future! All my best ;)... enjoy some favorites from your session below.

This is Tyson. ;) We had to...

The furry friend in the pic is Lola... she's a great old girl and wanted her picture taken, too.

MIA: One Stunning Senior!!!

I'm so excited to finally blog Mia's amazing senior/grad session. We had such an amazing time!!!

So here's the brief story about how I came to know Mia and the amazing Carameros family (whose family session will be blogged next!). You might remember AJ and Mena's beautiful and modern wedding at MOLAA back in August. Well, Gina (Mia's mom and AJ's cousin) loved the images of AJ and Mena so much that she decided she wanted me to take not only Mia's senior session but also their family session (it was her 20th anniversary present... no pressure or anything). Oh... one thing I forgot to mention, the Carameros family lives in Texas! So, we worked it all out and they flew me out to Texas early Saturday morning we shot part 1 of Mia's session upon my arrival and the rest of my fantastic trip I'll save for the Carameros family blog post.

Meanwhile, back to Mia... This girl is seriously going places. She and I hit it off right away... I swear it was like having a cool little sister. Mia is super talented and studies fashion and design. In fact, she headed off to New York the following week after our session to check out design schools out there. And, she even designed and "re-worked" her homecoming dress... TALENT!

What a trooper! I whisked her away in between having her makeup and hair done for her homecoming dance that night and took her to an old mill/homeless mission. Most people might really be wondering if this girl from California was nuts at that point... but not Mia... she just rolled with it. And, we had a blast!!! This place was an awesome location and Mia was a fantabulous model! So, after part 1 of our shoot, Mia did the whole homecoming thing... got home at ???... will just call it late... and then went with me and her fit mannequin for some more shots in a cool alfalfa field by their house (we don't have these at home) on Sunday morning. Then it was off to the fam session (which we shot at White Sands in New Mexico) and the airport and home by Sunday night. Phew... long and rewarding weekend... amazing family... I have THE BEST JOB!!

Well, enough jibber-jabbering... here is the lovely Mia's slideshow and some of my favorite shots of Mia below. The ones with the text are a sample of what we can do with these grad shots... graduation announcements, rep cards, the sky is the limit!!! I think we need to put a book together for you girly... there are just too many fun shots! Enjoy!

PS- All seniors (and all of you who know one)- be on the lookout for a chance to win a grad session... it's part of the kick off for my 2008 : CELEBRATE grad sessions... BELIEVE.DREAM.HOPE... stay tuned!!!

Michelle and Emory: Married in San Diego!

Michelle and Emory were recently married down in beautiful San Diego. I had the great pleasure of capturing their wedding. They were so much fun, had lots of character and shared so much joy with each other, family and friends.

Thanks for choosing me to be a part of this important day in your lives! Enjoy the slideshow and a few favorites below. (Note- you might notice a few too many shoe or below the waist shots... I just couldn't help myself... I LOVE red shoes!)

I said there were a lot of shoe shots, didn't I? ;)

How about that wig and glasses??? ;)

Emory and Michelle: Engagement Session in HB

Hi all! ;) Still getting caught up...

I had a great time in Huntington Beach with Michelle and Emory a few weeks ago... take a look below to check out some of my favorites. And, be on the look out for their wedding shortly...