Please allow me to introduce Marissa & Dong, a couple of San Diego’s coolest and easy-going people. Marissa, who grew up in Louisiana, has that Southern hospitality and relaxed attitude that pairs well quite nicely with Dong’s casual Orange County personality. Currently working and residing in San Diego, they both have made the plunge to share the rest of their lives together, which is always inspiring.

Doug and I made the short trip from Los Angeles to photograph their engagement session at Balboa Park in San Diego, a place we’ve been to a handful of times to shoot engagement sessions and weddings before. We were a little worried about the weather because the forecast said there was a high chances of rain, but we lucked out and avoided the showers. Check out some of the photos we pulled off in not-so-sunny San Diego.

After spending a couple of hours shooting inside Balboa Park, they wanted something a little more urban in San Diego. We remembered a few crazy hills in Downtown when we drove by earlier that morning and thought it would suit them just nicely.

So there we have Marissa and Dong and San Diego weather that didn’t rain on their parade. I hope you enjoyed and we’ll see you again soon!

Cheers,

Danny

Palos Verdes in Los Angeles County is full of gorgeous venues, like The La Venta Inn, Los Verdes Golf Course, Wayfarer’s Chapel, and Abalone Cove. Abalone Cove Shoreline Park is one of the top spots to shoot engagement photos in that area because there are two small and intimate beaches along with a beautiful bluff area that gives a great view of the Pacific Ocean. It’s also a cool spot to take wedding party portraits if your couple wants something a little different or simply another place to take photos. Doug and I passed by Abalone Cove on the way to the Los Verdes Golf Course where the wedding we were shooting was at, which reminded me of Janie & Thomas, one of the last couples Doug and I shot here.

Janie & Thomas are super down-to-Earth and so easy-going that you can’t help but to be very comfortable around them. They are also foodies who also live in the San Gabriel Valley, so we had plenty of restaurants to chat about and foodies stories to share with each other. But once it was time to get down to business and start taking photos, they were ready to rock.

It’s a good thing those two were pretty healthy and active people because we needed to hike down and back up a short trail to get from the bluffs to the beach area.

After we hiked back up the trail to get to the parking lot, we still managed to loiter and chit chat more about food trucks and some of Thomas’ stories at Disney in Burbank. We managed to not go through too many stories and called it a day. And what a fun day it was for all of us.

That’s all for today, but look forward to more blog posts in the near future! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Danny

Finally, there is a little time for me to start blogging again! This summer has seen so many great wedding moments and gorgeous wedding venues, such as the Los Verdes Golf Course and Wafarer’s Chapel in Palos Verdes, The Fairmont in San Jose, and The London West Hollywood, but that’s not even all because we still have several more weddings to go to wrap up wedding season. Doug and I still have venues such as Turnip Rose and a destination wedding in Waikiki to look forward to, and looking forward to we definitely are. I’ve been telling Doug about how much fun and how delicious Hawaii is and he’s been bragging about some kind of chocolate dessert that they are known for. All that talk about my first trip to Hawaii reminded me of why I was able to go there in the first place- all thanks to Sandra and Josh!

Sandra & Josh are two of the most endearing people I have the pleasure of being friends with and they were kind enough to invite me to the Big Island and to Oahu to photograph their engagement session. I’ve known Josh for about 10 years through a college organization we were in years ago. He’s a great guy with a huge sense of humor and I was thrilled that he had met someone who was able to capture his heart the way that she has by the way he was describing her to me. It’s a really cute story how they were friends at first and how they ran into each other again 10 years later to learn how great they are together. I was quite excited when they invited me to go with them because I had never been there before and thought what great company they’d be in on my first trip. They were totally cool with me bringing Doug along to join in on the fun, but unfortunately, Doug was busy and couldn’t make it.

I flew in a little late, so we had to start the engagement session the next day. We started our day on the Big Island at the Fairmont Orchid Resort, which wasn’t too far away from the Hilton Waikoloa Village where we were staying at.

What an amazing beach for visitors to the Fairmont Orchid Resort on the Big Island.

After a wardrobe change and a quick trip back to the Hilton Waikoloa Village, we continued the engagement shoot.

The next day we hopped islands and were in Waikiki on the island of Oahu! This place was very sentimental to the two because this was Josh proposed to Sandra.

Remember how I mentioned his sense of humor?

I owe those two big time for being such great tour guides! I felt like a local when I was with them because they took me to all the great spots to snorkel, sight see and especially to eat! I can’t wait to show Doug these places when we visit Oahu in November for a destination wedding. It was an amazing first-trip to the Big Island and Oahu with Sandra and Josh and nothing but love goes out to those two. I can’t thank them enough!

Many more blog posts to come, so we’ll see you soon!

Cheers,

Danny

Howdy!

After countless hours behind the camera photographing and behind the monitors editing, it’s about darn time to blog again.

It’s finally Cynthia and Joel’s big day at Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, California! If you remember correctly, Doug and I shot  Cynthia & Joel’s engagement session at LAX and UCLA several months ago. Unfortunately, Doug was not able to join us for the wedding, but the talented Christina Cho was able to assist me during this fabulous day in Malibu.

Here we have Cynthia starting her preparations and getting her hair sprayed.

The ecstatic uncle hanging out with the ladies for a bit while they get all dolled up.

The girls had a little situation when one of the lovely bridesmaids had a zipper malfunction as she was trying to zip it up. She asked me to not photograph this embarrassing situation, but then gave in after about 10 seconds and just went with it. She was a real good sport and Cynthia’s mother was able to remedy the problem with a needle and thread.

That’s the face that Cynthia has grown to love from her man Joel. What a stud.

Some of the boys getting serious about looking sharp

What more could Joel’s parents want in their sons big wedding day?

Cynthia and her father as they prepare to walk across the bridge and down the aisle at the beautiful Calamigos Ranch.

The reception was definitely where the party was at!

The newlyweds first formal introduction as Mr. and Mrs. Joel Roque!

Their friends and family were crazy during the reception!

Joel’s a hot commodity with all those hands all over him.

I was quite surprised when Joel and Cynthia broke out into a choreographed dance after a few slow moments on the dance floor. Even the bridesmaids got into the action as back up dancers!

Just as I thought there couldn’t be anymore surprises during the couples toast to all the friends and family who made their day memorable, Joel starts to serenade Cynthia! My jaw dropped because I had no idea he had such a voice!

Cynthia was surprised as well and was quite moved by his performance. She knew he could sing, but she didn’t know he had planned on this, which made it extra special.

It was an amazing wedding day out in Malibu and an absolute pleasure to be invited to photograph their big day. Doug definitely missed out on this one, but Christina was a great second-shooter that day. This isn’t the last we’ll see of this couple because we did a day-after session with them at Calamigos Ranch and got to explore the ranch some more. Look forward to pictures with the Ferris wheel and merry-go-round that Calamigos has on the premises, so check back again soon!

Cheers,

Danny