Gavin and I had an Traditional Vietnamese Wedding  in Vietnam this past December.  Many people have asked us why we decided to have a wedding in Vietnam… and the answer is because I want my Grandma and the rest of my Dad’s side of the family to attend.  Although I left Vietnam when I was little, I still have a very close relationship with everyone there.  It’s probably because I go back to visit them every 2 to 3 years.  I feel very blessed to have such an understanding fiance who was more than happy to travel over to Vietnam for me and my family!  I’m also very thankful that my Mom’s side of the family (who lives in the states) all flew there to attend.  There were 30 of us on that ridiculously looooong flight to Vietnam.  It took 13 hours to fly from Los Angeles to Narata , Japan.  From there, we had to switch planes and flew another 7 hours from Japan to Saigon, Vietnam.  Aside from the flight, everything else was a blast!!  Check back soon for pictures from the trip!

For the wedding day, my parents hired a traditional Vietnamese photographer and videographer.  Knowing that this wedding was mainly for my family, Gavin and I pretty much let my parents took over with the wedding planning.  However, Gavin and I still wanted artistic wedding pictures so we found another photographer (Aidan Dockery), to do the day-after session.  Aidan is an English photographer who shares our passion for photography and has a similar style to ours.  He has lived and worked in Vietnam for about 6 years.  We were so lucky to have him agree to photograph our session.  Thank you so much Aidan for the beautiful photos!  It was truly a pleasure meeting and working with you!

You can see more of his work here:

http://www.abdphoto.net/weddings.html

http://blog.abdphoto.net/2010/01/binh-duong-wedding.html

Here are some of our favorites from the day!  Enjoy…

On our way to Dai Nam Park, we saw this beautiful rubber tree orchard!  As wedding photographers, we can’t let the photo opp slip by…

With 3 professional wedding photographers, this was a piece of cake!  LOL…  The only downside was… it was blistering HOT and there were humongous red ants crawling everywhere!  They were at our feet and were not very happy that Gavin and I stepped on their homes and killed family members… so they decided to take revenge!  Not fun… but I thought it was so worth it for the pictures!  =D

I especially love the following two pictures!  It looks so dreamy!

We finally made our way into Dai Nam Park.  It’s a huge theme park that was build a few years ago.  The park has a zoo, a water park, a Buddhist temple, a movie theater, coaster rides, etc…

Love the reflection off the floor!

Gavin has a blue belt in Brazilian Ju-Jit-Su… so every now and then he has the itch to put me in a choke-hold!

We ended our shoot with a beautiful sunset!

One wedding down… one more to go!  I can’t wait to start planning for our American Wedding this coming December!  It’s actually the same date (Dec. 26) as our Vietnamese wedding, just exactly one year apart!!

On November 16, 2009 Gavin and I warmly welcome two new family members to our Tran-Holt family.  Hi everyone… meet our adorable baby kittens:  Button and Powder.  On our way into PetSmart to grab some food for our bunnies, we stumbled upon these two in a cage.   Heather, who is with a non-profit organization, was adopting them out.  I instantly feel in love with the both of them as soon as I laid eyes on them.  I’m so glad that larger pet store chains (such as PetSmart and PetCo) have stop selling cats and dogs and are now beginning to switch over to being adoption centers.  There are many cats and dogs out there who are in desperate need of a home… so please please please adopt (instead of buying new ones).  I am so happy that Gavin and I are able to welcome Button and Powder into our lives.

After donating a $100 adoption fee per a cat (which includes two sets of vaccines for each cat, de-worming and flea treatment, and spraying and neutering service), we were able to bring them home.  I asked Heather about their history and was sicken by where these poor cats have been (before they were rescued).  One was found in a dumpster and the other was found wandering behind some bush in a vacant home.  Sad isn’t it?!?!

So… let’s meet them shall we?

This is Button at six weeks old.  We decided to name her Button because she is cute as a button! =)  Button has a very friendly and playful personality.  Here and there she will just sit there staring right back at us mischievously.  I sometime wonder what goes through her tiny little head! =)

This is Powder at 8 weeks old.  She got her name because she white and soft like baby powder.  She’s somewhat prissy and looooves to cuddle.  Her nickname is “motor-boat” because when she cuddles with us, her purring is super loud.  It’s really cool that Powder has one green eye and one blue eye!

My two babies sleep, eat, and play together all the time!  They seem to be pretty independent for their age!

This is just toooo adorable to not take a picture of.  Powder is sleeping on Button’s tummy as Button is completely passed out with her hand hanging over the side of their bed.

Look at this mischievous little one!

How can you not love that face!?!?!?

Well…  actually…let me take that back….  LOL!!!

And the evil side of this cute little kitten comes out when you piss her off… I’m joking!  This picture was taken in the middle of her yawn!

Well… Thank you for visiting and hope you will come back again soon for more updates on my work (wedding photography) and personal life!  If you are interested in adopting or would like to foster, please let me know and I’ll be more than happy to refer you over to Heather.

Cheers,

Judy

Hi Everyone!

Exciting news!!!  Not long after doing Denise and Dennis’s wedding in August, Susie Chhuor Professional Hair & Make up Team (Denise’s Make up and Hair Stylist) contacted me with the happy news that Heather,  the coordinator of LA Style Unveiled would like to feature me as a photographer on their website!  At LAStyleUnveiled.com couples can find vendors as well as many helpful tips on planning for a wedding.  I am stoked to be “published” on such a website!  You can check out the article on my photography at the link below:

http://lastyleunveiled.com/deniseanddennis/

xoxo,

Judy

Gavin and I are happy to announce that we are now ENGAGED!!!  He officially proposed on June 27, 2009.  We will be having two weddings:  a traditional Vietnamese/Chinese wedding in Vietnam (for my family) and an American/Western wedding in the States.  Yay… I’m so excited!!!

I want to take this opportunity to thank our good friends, Vivian Tran (owner and lead make up artist of AllMadeUpTeam)  and Doug of Furious Photographers for everything!

Gavin and I had the pleasure of working with Vivian and her girls a number of times now and each time, her team does an absolutely amazing job.  She is highly recommended on my list for make-up and hair.  As for Doug… he never ceases to amaze me with his photographs.  Not only is he an awesome wedding photographer, but he’s also an excellent fashion photographer!  We are honored to have him as a close friend and as our wedding photographer.  I can’t wait till our big day!  Thank you sooooo much guys for doing such a kick-ass job!!!

For our engagement shoot, Gavin and I decided that we’re going to wear our actual wedding attires.  Here are pictures of me getting ready for the shoot.  Hehehe… after taking pictures of so many brides getting ready, it feels kinda weird being on the other end of the camera and seeing pictures of me getting ready.

While Vivian was doing my make up, Gavin and Doug were playing around and taking silly pictures of each other. Looks like they are having lots of fun with all the hats!  Looks good on you boys!!!

Doug is constantly on automatic pose for the camera.

We started our engagement shoot at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

After the Performing Arts Center, we headed over to Table Rock in Laguna Beach for some sunset pictures!  Here are some of my favorites.

Check out the waves on this one:

It was so romantic! I had such a great time hanging out with my life-long best friend.  I love you Gavin!!!

We now finally have professional pictures of us where we can actually see our whole body and the background at once (without Gavin’s arm being in every single shot).  Gavin and I have so many picture of just our heads!

I love this picture of us! We look like happy little kids…so happy to be sitting on the life guard stand.  Look at Gavin…

Click here to see our entire engagement shoot here.

To all my brides out there… “I am in the same boat as all of you.  I feel the excitement and stress that comes with planning for a wedding.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any question at all regarding photography or wedding plannings in general.  Having been in the industry for 2 years now, I am more than happy to spread the knowledge.”

Cheers!!!

-judy

Hello All,

Our venture starts off at Monterey’s Fish House in Carmel where Gavin and I stuffed ourselves with excellent seafood for Lunch!  We started with 3 dozens of oysters (raw and grilled), and a bowl of shrimp bisque.  For the main course, I had the best crab cake and crab ravoli ever.  Gavin had grill Sea Bass which was also very yummy.  We left that place with our stomachs ready to explode!  I highly recommend those who like seafood to try Monterey’s Fish House if they are ever in Carmel.

This was our first stop through the beautiful 17-Mile Drive.  Once again… I strike-a-pose for the camera.  Every since I was little, I love to be in front of the camera.  As an adult, I just love love love being a photographer and being behind the camera photographying others!

This is pebble beach.

oh… and if you’re wondering, that’s me playing dead from falling off one of the cliffs.

Silly Gavin… what are you doing???  Are you imitating a crab again? 

LOL… I love this picture!

Here is the famous Lone Cypress Tree!!!  The view is just gorgeous… I can’t even find the words to describe how beautiful everything looks!

We made many frequent stops as we drove through the 17-Mile Drive.  Here are some of my favorite spots where we stopped for photos.  Isn’t it breathtakingly beautiful???  The one on the upper left hand corner is called the “ghost tree”.  The one the lower left hand corner is the Bixby Bridge.  The two right images are coastal scenes that were just too good to pass up while driving through.  I love it there!!!

Finally, we stopped by Pismo Beach in time for the romantic sunset.

We then had dinner at Mo’s Smokehouse BBQ.  After having so much seafood, Gavin knew I would totally appreciate meat!  I am a total carnivore and can’t be too long without meat!  Here we had excellent ribs and pull-pork!  This place is also very highly recommended on my list!

Thank you everyone for taking your time to look through my blog and get to know me and my photojournalistic style as a photographer.  I’ll try my best to keep you all posted with the latest and greatest of all my life ventures.