Howdy, Friends!

Here we are in Sunny San Diego to celebrate the special union between Kristina and Grant, a unique military couple that Doug and I had the pleasure of working with again. The last time we all worked together, we were running around Balboa Park and the US Grant Hotel taking their engagement pictures.

Our morning started with a old-fashioned close razor shave at Vince’s. Boris, the barber, definitely took care of this goofy group of groomsman’s and was a great guy to chat with.

Playboy magazines in an old-fashioned barbershop is always a classy touch. It’s even more funny that it’s Grant’s younger brother checking out the center fold standing next to their dad.

Not too far down the street from Vince’s Barbershop, the girls were getting ready at Salon Tonic in the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego.

How awesome is this saber arch in front of the St. Joseph’s Cathedral?

What a grand dip after Kristina was “welcomed” to the Navy family at the end of the saber arch.

Just down the street from the St. Joseph’s Cathedral was the US Grant Hotel, where the reception was. Since we were short on time, so we decided to do the portrait session on the street right next to the hotel.

These were some of the most epic, moist, and flavorful cupcakes I have ever eaten in my life! And I know good cupcakes too! I’ve been to many bakeries in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Orange County, Long Beach, and New York City, and these are among the top 3 cupcakes I have ever eaten! I still need to ask those two where they got them from so I can bring some back home to share.

It was really refreshing seeing so many people crowd the dance floor to dance to The Macarena.

Excited, Kristina?

So that was Kristina and Grants’ magical day. What a pleasure and honor it was to be a part of it, running around San Diego and capturing the moments that made that day so memorable. They were an awesome couple to work with and are such a positive couple that it was contagious. Best wishes to the two of them on a happy and long-lasting life together!

More to come soon, everyone!

Cheers,

Danny

It’s about 5 minutes until midnight on this cool summer evening as I reflect on this past weekends happenings. Remembering that I am behind on blogging and since I forget how sensitive I am to caffeine, I am determined to share one event before I go to bed (I need to remember to not drink tea after 6 p.m).

Here we are at the historic Mission Inn in Downtown Riverside for our Asian hybrid wedding. For those who may not know what a Asian hybrid wedding is, it is when a Asian couples incorporate Eastern wedding traditions with Western traditions that we are very familiar with. This growing trend of hybrid weddings allow couples to honor the wishes and traditions that their families are more accustomed to and be able to walk down an aisle laced with flower pedals.

Honoring the privacy request from this couple, here are a few select images from their gorgeous event.

I was very fortunate to get this shot. This little human was shy at first and would keep on running away to show his backside to the camera. Little did he know that’s exactly what I was hoping for.

The stunning bride as she makes her way down the stairs towards the St. Francis of Assisi Chapel.

Straight-on shot of the St. Francis of Assisi Chapel before the wedding ceremony began. The Tiffany stained-glass windows and the Rayas Altar housed by the chapel are two of The Mission Inn’s most treasured artifacts according to their website.

I love asymmetrical cakes and I love the bokeh and depth of field you get when you shoot at f/2.0 with a 135mm prime equipped 5d mark II.

This game always makes me laugh at Asian receptions! The groom in this game is first blindfolded before the host asks random female guests to participate. All sitting down in a row, the bride is mixed in with the handful of volunteers and the blindfolded groom is supposed to be able to find his beautiful bride just by touching her knee. A lot of times, a groomsman or, as seen in this picture, a small child gets in the action to try and fool the groom. It rarely fools the groom, but definitely makes for a room full of faces that look like that little girl in the stripes.

This wedding was a lot of fun to shoot and I was privileged to be a part of it.  I wish I was able to share more pictures because there were so many epic moments photographed by Doug and me. I hope this is the first of many visits to the historic Mission Inn & Spa because the architecture and the colors here are so stimulating!

Congratulations once again to our happy, and anonymous, couple! Good luck on all of your future endeavors together! You two are awesome!

Cheers!

Danny

Greetings, Everyone!

First off, my apologies for lack of updates in the last couple of months. It has been a busy wedding season and updating my blog has not been on top of my priority list. I assure everyone that the blogs in the near future will be totally awesome! There will be engagement pictures from San Juan Capistrano, the Palm Springs Air Museum, LAX, and also Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and wedding photos from all over Los Angeles, Orange County, and Cancun to name a few. There’s a growing folder of pictures that I’ve been eager to share with everyone and I promise that once things start slowing down in about a month, I’ll flood my website with really cool pictures from all my engagement sessions and weddings.

Today’s wedding features Tracy and Danny, a very sweet couple who are head-over-heels for each other. This wedding included a Chinese wedding tea ceremony AND a Thai water ceremony, both very traditional wedding customs in their respective cultures. Check out what their big day looked like!

The couple started the day off in traditional Chinese style with a tea ceremony. Before a groom is able to enter the bride’s parent’s house, her bridesmaids have to test his will and love for the bride with really funny games. In this challenge, Danny had to take a healthy bite out of the bitter melon fruit to prove that he will eat anything that Tracy would cook for him.

After the traditional Chinese wedding tea ceremony at Tracy’s parents house in Alhambra, everybody headed to the Groom’s house in Pasadena to start the Thai water ceremony.

After a nice, long lunch break, we were ready to take some pictures with the whole wedding party. We made a stop in Old Town Pasadena and San Marino to snap these photos of our fun wedding party.

I thought it was one of the coolest ideas that they wanted a rock band shot. I’ve clocked in many hours on the drums and on the guitar playing that game and I love how that game is such a crowd pleaser. Rock on, guys!

It’s always inspiring to me when people from different cultures can come together to celebrate love.

This wedding was filled with a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. The funniest moment I remember about this day was during the portrait session. Doug was directing this shot and asked Tracy to look at Danny. Confused, she asked which Danny and Doug yelled out, “Photo Danny!” We ended up getting the shot we wanted plus endearing shots of them genuinely laughing. To Tracy and Danny, I am known as “Photo Danny.”

I have no doubts that these two are going to share a great life together. They are an awesome couple and I wish the best for them!

Over and out!

Danny

1:49 pm

Music is the other form of art that I am absolutely in love with. I always like to start my day by letting my media player shuffle the thousands of songs I have in my library and surprise me with whatever it randomly selects. As I was organizing and picking a few highlights from Susana and Lydell’s intimate wedding in Yorba Linda, “Collide” by Howie Day started to play on my speakers. I was stopped dead in my tracks with all these feelings that I associate with this song, and I wondered if it was just a coincidence that song started to play or if my computer was smarter than I give credit.

The way that these two opposite individuals collide is definitely love inspiring. She’s quiet and shy and he’s outgoing with metro-sexual tendency’s (I learned the latter from his groomsmen.)  They both are from different Asian ethnicities, have different religious beliefs, and yet they’ve collided with each other and have this beautiful energy that you can see and feel when you’re around them.

This set of pictures will give you a quick glimpse in to their big day. If you have “Collide” in your music library, blast it!

The Bride walking down the aisle with her mom at the St. Denis Church in Diamond Bar.

I’m used to seeing the Groom do a fist-pump exiting the church, but I was more than happy to see the way he held her hand with both of his.

The friendly coordinators at the Black Gold Golf Course in Yorba Linda arranged for us to use the 11th hole on the course, which is their most scenic, for a quick portrait session before the reception.

I don’t know what Lydell whispered to Susana, but that smile is as genuine as it gets, folks.

This is the most endearing shot of the day. Just before this moment, Doug had told Susana that she had a little something between her teeth, and without hesitation, Lydell dove right in to try and fish it out for her. Instead of being disgusted that his fingers were in her mouth, she almost cried from laughing so hard. A beautiful moment in my books.

Asymmetrical cakes are awesome!

Lydell serenading Susana so softly and gently.

Winner, winner! She won top honors for having the best impression of Susana.

This gentleman won top honors for his impression of Lydell. Apparently, Lydell often asks his buddies to check if they think his pants are too tight or not. It made me laugh out loud.

Reactions to their slideshow.

Laughter was definitely a constant theme throughout the entire day. Lydell really knows how to make his wife laugh and those two share a very special connection. It was a simple, beautiful wedding and I was very honored to be invited and be a part of it. Congratulations, once again, to Susana and Lydell!

Cheers,

Danny