M&E Wedding

Today I am SO excited to bring you Edwin and Malinda's wedding day! I met Malinda about 2-3 years ago when a good friend of mine gave her my number to shoot at the Old Town Music Hall in downtown El Segundo. Ever since then we kept in touch a bit via facebook, and when I heard she was getting married I just HAD to be there! Malinda is an amazingly sweet and giving person, and so I wanted to make sure had as little to worry about on her big day as possible. Malinda and Ed both come from theatre background so together they are outgoing, funny and downright entertaining! After helping them plan and sharing our ideas the big day came and on March 29th Edwin and Malinda said I do!

How He Asked

After a long week, I was ready for a Friday night out. But before we had dinner, Edwin wanted to make a quick stop at the park.

Pt. Fermin park in San Pedro is a favorite spot, mostly because of the beautiful view from the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Our first non-date (you know, hanging out before anyone says "boyfriend" or "girlfriend") happened there. That evening, we strolled along. I was chatting about various work-related nonsense when Edwin asked me to take off my sunglasses. He wanted to see my eyes as he led me over to a picnic table strewn with roses. It was there that he asked the most beautiful question, and of course I said yes! After some pictures with Edwin's sneaky cousin and sister (they were quite the stealthy accomplices) and some time gazing into the sunset over the water, we celebrated with a sushi dinner!

Congratulations Malinda and Edwin, you are are amazing!

Photographers- Kylea Tigner & Brian Byrd

Cake- Jina Inn

Venue- Angelus Mountain Center

A&A Superhero Wedding

Last month I had the great pleasure to photograph one of the most creative and fun weddings I have ever seen! Amanda and Andrew had a fun, completely DIY Superhero themed wedding! 

Everything down to the bodice of her dress and their paper flowers made of comics was superhero themed. Even their guests dressed up! With the help of family and friends these two had an unforgettable and unique day that no one will forget anytime soon. 

The Proposal!

I was coaching, and we had extremely long beaks in between my games. So for what I thought was my birthday Andrew kept leaving me clues to follow that would lead me to places like Starbucks ( for coffee after my 8 am game) and lunch (after the 12) game. Then he gave me another clue that lead to Costco for a birthday dinner where my family and friends showed up to surprise me! After we ate dinner at Costco, which is a family tradition for birthdays, the next clue lead to a bowling alley. I thought how cool Andrew went through all this trouble to give me an awesome birthday party. Little did I know there was still another clue waiting for me after bowling was completed. The night was almost over and everyone was having a good time, I walked over to Andrew and thanked him when I saw another envelope with the number 8 on it. I was like oh another clue how cool do I get like ice cream or something? I begged him to open it before he was ready to let me, and he did. This one was different though, it was written in HIS handwriting; it said " I know this year hasn't been the best for you, but I still want to end it on a positive note. So here is the question of the day...Will you marry me?" I looked up all my friends and family around us, and he was on his knee with a ring! Best birthday party/ present ever!!!

 

So how'd you pull it all off? 

We put a lot of work into the details that went into the wedding. Most of the superhero/comic book themed things in our wedding were hand made. We started making things about one year before our wedding, starting with homemade shadow boxes for each of the bridesmaids and groomsmen. Each box had a comic book of their super hero, a hand written note asking them to be in our wedding, and for the girls a piece of jewelry that represented their character. The boxes were made by my dad and Andrew then were decoupaged and painted by me. We made wood cut outs that were on the pillars lining the aisles( these were also used as props in the photo booth) Andrew cut them out and I painted them. They represented all the characters of the people in the wedding party. Around the same time we were doing this, my dad's girlfriend Rhonda, who is fantastic, started to make the groomsmen's vests. Each vest was made of fabric that matched their character. She worked on the vests for about 9 months, between fabric shopping, trial runs, and the final products. My mom designed, printed, and hand colored our save the dates( I helped a little, but I don't color within the lines) this took about two months of coloring, then she spent another two months designing our actual wedding invitations! They looked fantastic. I bought my dress from Maria Miranda bridal studios in May 2013. When I bought it, I had the idea of adding Spider-Man fabric to my dress and the designer was all for it! Then I bought some decoupaged heels and my maid of honor decided it looked easy enough and together we decoupaged all the bridesmaids shoes to match their characters. Soon after Andrew and I moved out of state and had to finish planning from Arizona. We decided we didn't want real flowers, so we made our flowers out of card stock and comic books. This was a real team effort! Not only did we have new friends in Arizona that would come over and fold flowers, but my parents were making flowers in California as well. It took 6 months to make the flowers. It felt like we would never finish them, but we did. The last little bit that we did ourselves was the centerpieces, we decided each table was going to represent a different comic book wedding, it took about 9 months of going to different comic shops, and searching the internet, but we found 17 wedding covers and turned them into the centerpieces. My mom's girlfriend put the finishing touches on the tables by cutting out sheets of superhero tattoos and scattered them on the table. Andrews sister designed the guest books.Our wedding was a total team effort, we couldn't have done it with out the help of our families and extended family.

  

                          

Venue-  Coyote Hill Golf Course
Cake- Frost My Cake
Photographer- Kylea Tigner Photography
Videography- Agent Chill Entertainment

J&J Engagement

Happy Valentines Day everybody! Today I give you my first blog of many! 

This month I had the privilege of shooting an engagement with this amazingly adorable couple. I have shot with the bride to be, Julia, in the past, and was SO excited when she asked me to shoot her engagement. Her and Josh are always fun and entertaining to be around, their love and lightheartedness is infectious to everyone who crosses their path. 

Josh and Julia met in November 2012, and it was pretty much love at first sight. After a failed attempt at watching a meteor shower in Palos Verdes, they spent the entire night laughing and bonding. That same night they knew they were meant for each other. Like a scene from a movie, accompanied by La Vie en Rose by Louie Armstrong they shared the first of many kisses. 

A little less than a than a year later on July 28th 2013, Josh made it official. He asked Julia to marry him on a camping trip they went on for his birthday. 

However, like their first date the day did not go quite as originally planned. After getting lost on a hike, and fighting off bugs and Julia having only a few panic attacks, they found their way to a beautiful secluded beach. There Josh pulled out Julia's great-great-great-grandmothers ring, got down on one knee and proposed; but instead of saying yes the first words out of her mouth were "and after I yelled at you?!" 

And the rest my friends, is history.

Josh and Julia are the perfect mix between best friends and lovers. Throughout the entire time we were together on this shoot we were laughing at everything. When I asked Julia what her favorite thing to do with Josh is her response was

"Laugh. No matter what we are doing, we always laugh. Whether it's a disastrous camping trip, a hike, or a day of thrift store shopping, or sitting at home doing absolutely nothing, we always have a great laugh. That's one of the reasons I fell in love with him; he brings out my silliness and embraces my weirdness and I've never had someone make me laugh like he does."

The theme of their wedding is rustic and vintage, a perfect fit for their venue The Loft on Pine. 

Although Julia is most excited for the ceremony, her groom is most excited for the FOOD! 

   

The End