I'm a Mrs!

Wow.  What a crazy month its been.  The biggest emotion I've felt over these past few weeks is gratitude.  Tony and I are so lucky to have had such generous support not just from family and friends, but from our vendors as well.  Our wedding is an experience that we will remember forever, and I can honestly say that it holds some of the best moments of our lives.  Sure we had hiccups... who doesn't... but they were small and went unnoticed; and the most important parts - our love and the love of our family and friends - were the focus.  Not much more you can ask for.

Yet we were lucky to have so much more.  I have very heartfelt thank yous for all of our vendors.  They worked SO hard, at a venue that was definitely not an easy one, with a bridal party of TWENTY PEOPLE (All You Need is Love = Cat Wrangler), and a bride in the industry who wanted everything perfect.

Tony and I are in the process of packing up and moving, so I'm going to keep this entry short and point you in the direction of Christine Chang.  She and her second shooter, Carla Choy, captured moments I had no idea they noticed.  I have been a fan of Christine's for quite a while (I stalked her blog before I was officially engaged and claimed I was doing business research), so I knew what she shot would be beautiful, but she still managed to blow me away.  Here is a link to her blog, and below is the slide show preview she put together for us.



Talented, eh?

I'll end it there, but I'll be back soon to give each vendor their due praises.  Back to packing!

I love Christine Chang.

Our wedding photographer is awesome. Christine drove down to take some photos of me and Tony on Thursday afternoon for our engagement. Neither of us is particularly comfortable in front of the camera, but within a few minutes (with Christine's coaching) we were able to loosen up and just be ourselves. We plan on using one of the photos from the shoot for our Save-the-Date, so both of us were happy to see that she didn't capture us looking like tools.





See? She's pretty awesome. She shot into the light for a few of them; and told us that according to photography "rules" you're not supposed to do that, but they wound up being the ones that are everyone's favorites. If you visit her blog, you can view the full preview there.

I seriously CAN'T WAIT to see what she captures from our wedding. If any of you are looking for a photographer, wedding or otherwise, I can't speak highly enough of her. Call her. Seriously.

My Vendors. Part 1.

Originally I wanted to do a post on what I've been up to with other people's weddings - but, I managed to lose my camera somewhere between San Francisco and Laguna Beach along with all of the photos from the past couple month's work.  Oh well - I'll just have to wait for the professional photos.  Instead, I thought I'd share my planning process.  Being in the industry allows me to have a little more insight than most on what makes a good vendor.  Our wedding is still a little under a year away - but trust me, the good ones get booked up quick.  So if you find a vendor you absolutely love, book them.  That's what we did with Christine Chang (our photographer) and FortyOneTwenty (our videographer).  

Why am I not using one of the photographers listed on the "Friends" page of my website, you ask?  Because those ladies are all good friends (one of which is a bridesmaid) and I don't want to have my friends work a wedding where they should be guests.  I'm always looking through wedding blogs for inspiration, to see what other brides are seeing, and to stay on top of trends in the wedding industry.  I came across Christine in one of Style Me Pretty's blog entries before I was even engaged and immediately fell in love with her photography.  I stored her away in my head for when I was actually in need of a photographer, and emailed her as soon as I knew my date.  Well, technically I emailed her before we had a date just to let her know that I had a vendor crush on her.  Here are some of my favorite photos of hers:

 I love how she's not afraid to just get up in there and get a good shot.  She really seems to bring out an honest portrayal of her couples.  And she's pretty funny too.


For our videographer I turned to the trusty Little Black Book and found FortyOneTwenty.  They have their sh*t down.  They're pretty affordable too, compared to a lot of other wedding videographers offering a similar cinematic style.  Plus, the guys just seem pretty cool.  Tony went with me to this meeting and really liked Matt, one of the three shooters, who took time out of his evening to meet with us as it was the only time that worked for T.  Oh!  And they use digital SLR cameras which are the same size as the photographer's cameras.  That means no intrusive humongoid cameras in the guests' faces while they're trying to enjoy the evening.  Which, just like Christine's style, helps give a really honest, organic portrayal of the day.  Here are three of my favorite shorts the guys at FortyOneTwenty have done.  They even strapped on wet-suits on got in the water to get shots of the groom surfing in the first one.  Talk about dedicated.


Paul & Andrea // La Jolla, CA from FortyOneTwenty on Vimeo.



Drew & An from FortyOneTwenty on Vimeo.



Tyler & Jenny // Middletown, CT from FortyOneTwenty on Vimeo.


I just want to note that none of my vendors have asked me to write about them, nor are they cutting me a deal for my wedding to do so.  I just have lot of faith in them and in their work, and am so thrilled to have them play a role in our wedding day.

P.S.  One of my clients has asked me to post a picture of me and Tony.  This is for you Stephanie!