San Diego Zoo Wedding - San Diego, CA - Erika & Jason

Erika and Jason’s San Diego Zoo wedding was definitely one of my favorites of 2019! (I know, I’m posting late again. Sue me. Or don’t. Yeah, don’t please).

From the moment their inquiry made it’s way into my inbox, I couldn’t wait for their wedding day. My boyfriend Ben and I are San Diego Zoo fanatics and love visiting whenever we can (writing this is reminding me to renew our memberships, too), so when I saw that Erika and Jason were getting married at this sacred oasis disguised as a tourist attraction, I immediately replied with a “YAAAAAS!”.

Not only do these two have amazing taste in wedding venues, but they are also just genuinely amazing people. Erika and I met up before the wedding to do a venue walk through (aka us drinking Micheladas and taking a bus tour at 11am on a Tuesday, it’s fine), and we quickly became BFFs - screeching in unison about cute animals and our mutual love of sloths.

Jason and Erika were not only incredibly gracious and thankful to every amazing vendor working on their day, but they were so present with each other and their loved ones, which is the most important thing. From their first look atop a koi pond to their ceremony overlooking all of Balboa Park, followed by meeting some of the cutest animals I’ve ever seen (yes, we met a sloth, I still haven’t recovered from how cute she was), their day was nothing short of magical.

Vendors

Photography: Valerie Lendvay Photo www.valerielendvayphoto.com

Venue: San Diego Zoo https://weddings.sandiegozoo.org/

Coordination: VIP Events & Weddings https://vipeventsandweddings.com/

Florals: Tustin Florist http://tustinflorist.com/

Hair: Styled by Stephanie Wirkus https://www.stephaniewirkus.com/

MUA: Taylor Haupt Make Up https://taylorhauptmakeup.com/

Video: Jimmy Cheng http://www.jimmychengphotography.com/

DJ: Vox DJs https://voxdjs.com/

Cake/Desserts: Jenny Wenny Cakes https://jennywennycakes.com/

Yosemite Engagement Session - Yosemite National Park, California - Casey & Mikey

There really aren’t enough words in the English language to properly describe how I feel about this couple and Yosemite. But I’ll give it a shot because… well this is a blog and that’s the point of a blog.

Casey and I grew up together - she was my next door neighbor growing up, and one of the only other girls in a cul-de-sac full of boys, so we not only bonded out of friendship, but survival - our brothers were always finding new ways to torment us hahaha. When I saw Casey’s name under my “New Inquiries” tab, I was so happy - we hadn’t seen each other in years, so I immediately called her and we set up a double date at Carruth Cellars in Little Italy, San Diego (if you haven’t gone, you need to!). We split a bottle of wine (ok, 3, whatever) and did a quick recap of the last 10 years of our lives, and talked everything wedding - this is when I learned about their proposal story. I truly can’t do the story justice by retelling it, so here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aiDRS-ErTI&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

After watching this, I was a blubbering mess, obviously. THEN! Then these two dropped another bomb on me: THEY WANTED TO DO THEIR ENGAGEMENT SHOOT IN YOSEMITE. I immediately said “YES, DUH”, especially because neither Ben or myself had ever been, and we got to planning.

We decided on meeting in Yosemite - Ben and I rented an SUV for the trek (my little car is too delicate for such an adventure hahaha), and we made the 7 hour journey, leaving San Diego at 5 AM. We met in Yosemite around 1 PM, and found our campsite and tent/cabin at Curry Village. A few hours after we arrived, ate, and got settled, we started our sunset shoot at Glacier Point! After the shoot, we got back to the cabin, ate some dinner, opened a bottle of wine, and Casey and Mikey let Ben and I ask them about their craziest work stories for at least 2 hours before we finally fell asleep.

The next morning, we woke up before sunrise (it was so cold omg) and headed to a much emptier Glacier Point again to get some incredible sunrise photos. We spent the better part of the day driving around, finding cool spots, and taking tonsss of photos before heading back to San Diego around 3.

I cannot wait for their wedding this spring, and I hope you guys enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them <3

Coronado Beach Engagement Session - Coronado, California - Anna & Mason

Anna and Mason stole my heart from the moment we met! Anna looked like she walked out of a Lana Del Rey music video, so as a psycho fan of Lana, I had to draw inspiration from her music videos for this shoot haha. We ran along sand dunes, played in the water, rolled in the sand next to the Hotel Del Coronado, and were exhausted by the end because walking in sand for an hour really gets your glutes. Hereeee are the photos from the day, enjoy!