It was a beautiful Wednesday afternoon that Melinda and Greg tied the knot at Pasadena City Hall.  They had a VERY quick and intimate wedding ceremony.  A friend of Greg’s officiated their wedding and the 4 most important people to them were there to witness their union.  Melinda and Greg have been together for 7 years and finally decided to make it official on July 14th, 2010.  They had told me that the wedding was not planned and that it was a last minute kinda deal.  I thought that it was quite romantic to have such a small and spontaneous wedding… don’t you think??

“You may now kissed your bride…”

After their wedding ceremony, we did quick photography session around Pasadena City Hall.

I can’t believe that I’ve been to the Pasadena City so many times now and have not discovered that there are staircase in each corner of the building… until recently!!! Silly me…

I LOVE spiral stairs!!  Would love to have one in my house. =)

I love how Melinda and Greg are ALWAYS laughing and smiling.  Anyone that see them can see right away that they are SO happy together.

Love the symmetry in this picture.

I love shooting at the Pasadena City Hall; it’s such a beautiful place.  The architectural structure of the building is just amazing for photography. Can’t wait to do more shoots here in the future…

Thanks Melinda and Greg, it was an honor to be a part of your intimate and special day!  Best wishes to you both…

It was such a pleasure to have photographed this lovely couple.  Michelle and Carlos are both beautiful people and have such great personalities.  Their wedding was full of emotions for myself and for their families. What a beautiful union these two posses!

Her beautiful ring…

After many years of being on her High School dance team, Michelle is a pro at applying make-up and decided to do it herself for her big day!! It was such a mellow morning hanging out with the girls at the Universal Sheraton.

I love her dress… it totally compliments her body!!

This pictures is so cute…

Michelle and Carlos’s wedding party was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!  They were such a cool crowd to be around… they were down for anything I suggested.

Jumping…

The human pyramid… can you believe it??!?!?!  And this is before the ceremony too!!!  LOL,  although after this human pyramid, one of the boys joking threatened to send me his chiropractor bill.

And tackle football too!!!  WOW….

After a nice round of football, the bridal party went to chill in the limo while I photographed Michelle and Carlos’s couple session around California State University, Northridge (CSUN) campus.  They make such a handsome couple!!

It is becoming more and more common now for couples to see each other prior to the wedding ceremony.  When couples choose to see each other prior to the ceremony, there is a magical moment known as “the first reveal” or “first glance”.  The good thing about this is, the first reveal offers an intimate moment shared between the couple as they see each other for the first time.  I was told by many brides that it’s an amazing and totally different type of emotion.  Another benefit of seeing each other before hand is time; there are now LOTS of time for pictures.  Bridal party pictures, family pictures, bride/groom pictures can all be taken care of ahead so that after the ceremony, the bride and groom have time to mingle and hang out with their guests.

The orange groves at CSUN gave great symmetry for pictures.

This picture was taken with a tilt shift lens and the blurs was actually in camera, not from post production.  It’s such a cool lens to play around with…

After the bride and groom portrait session at CSUN, we headed over their church for both their wedding ceremony and wedding reception.  Carlos is a Deacon at the church and is very actively involved with their youth group.

Their wedding vows were so heart-felt that A LOT of people were tearing up.  I didn’t tell them this, but I teared up myself!!

Michelle and Carlos — “A Pefect Match” indeed!!!  These two are perfect for each other in so many ways.

Michelle and Carlos’s wedding had a great group of dancers!! One by one, their friends took the spot light in the center of the circle.  I was super impressed with all the moves

I just LOVE it when there is a grand exit (aka grand send off)  at the end night!!  It’s a great way to “close” the night when friends and family gather all around to send the couple on their merry way.

Congratulations Michelle and Carlos… and thank you for being a joy to work with!!

To start, I want to apologize for the delay in updating my blog lately.  Since the start of wedding season, I’m happy to have been quite busy with LOTS of fun-filled weddings every weekend.  Although having cake at every wedding I photograph is not gonna be so fun when I have to get into my wedding dress for my OWN wedding this coming December.  It seems like only yesterday that I was planning my destination wedding in Vietnam… and now I’m running around planning for our “American” wedding.  I’ll have to admit… wedding planning is fun but it can be a bit stressful at times… especially when I keep getting new ideas from each and every wedding that I photograph.  My goal is finish everything by the end of October so that I can spend the last two months relaxing (at a spa… getting a massage), but more important spend a healthy holiday season with family and friends. What that said… I’ll try to have at least one posting per a week.  Oh… and not to mention, my website is gonna undergo a MAJOR change!!!  I can’t wait to launch the new website…and share the new layout.

I did forget to mention that time goes by sooooo fast!!! It was only a few blog entries ago that I posted Yajahira and Guillermo’s engagement pictures at the Huntington Library… and with a blink of an eye, their wedding is here!  This day has been totally overdue… for they have been together for almost a decade.

The nude-natural eye shadow color Yajahira picked out compliments her beautiful skin…

No false lashes either…

One of my favorite shots from Church…

After their wedding ceremony, we headed over to the Gamble House in Pasadena for their bride and groom portrait session.

Yajahira and Guillermo hosted their wedding reception at Almansor Court in Alhambra!!

This little girl is SO cute…

dancing… dancing… and more dancing….

Their wedding festivities wound down to the money dance…

Congratulations Yajahira and Guillermo!!!  It was a long time coming… Best wishes to you both!!

Also, thank you Steve Hoffmann for coming along as my second photographer.