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Vintage DIY Botanical Garden Wedding: Melissa and Justin

Melissa and Justin’s wedding was a reflection of Melissa and Justin themselves-sweet and peaceful. It started with the getting ready which is one of my favorite parts of the day. I love the excitement in the air and the preparation of the bride as she prepares to see her groom. Everyone had big smiles on their faces as Melissa donned a gorgeous tea-length lace dress and a few tears were shed as well. The weather prediction said to expect rain but everyone kept their hopes up that it wouldn’t happen. Although if it did everyone was sure to point out the fact that it was good luck. With everyone ready to go we headed over to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden where the ceremony was to take place.

During the ceremony I could not help but get choked up seeing the way Melissa and Justin looked at each other. You could see that they valued every word of the commitment they were making to each other. As we arrived at the reception and began watching Justin and Melissa’s first dance the first drops of rain began to fall. No one minded though and everyone seemed to be determined to stay put no matter how wet they got while they ate. Only once it became clear that the rain would not let up did everyone move inside to a little classroom for plan b. It was a sign of the amazing people that Melissa and Justin have in their life as they all banded together to bring in the cake and decorations to recreate the reception that had been outside. No one minded the rain. They were all there to have the best time ever and celebrate the fact that Justin and Melissa were now husband and wife!

Melissa and Justin, we think you guys are pretty spectacular. Thank you so much for choosing us to be your photographers. We hope you love the pictures! Here is a slideshow to see even more of the big day!

Melissa’s mother handmade her beautiful headpiece. Melissa sells antiques so it was only natural that she incorporated that into her wedding using antique vases to hold her florals and other vintage items in her decor. It was gorgeous!An adorable antique love bird cake topper. 

Comments

comments

TrinaApril 17, 2012 - 2:51 pm

Where did you get your dress??!?!?

Le MagnifiqueApril 17, 2012 - 12:09 am

I LOVE it!

Daniel CruzApril 14, 2012 - 9:33 am

After reading this, I’m officially growing my hair out. And Sarina shall deal with it. :) I love the shots where the bride is walking down, and also the B/W image of her feet! Well done.

Jessica RodriguezApril 12, 2012 - 9:12 pm

Thank you so much, Rita!

Mary CareyApril 12, 2012 - 9:00 pm

Absolutely fabulous – and the subject matter is even better! Tim and Jessica, you captured it all so beautifully!

Rita Jr EsquedaApril 12, 2012 - 9:00 pm

really nice photos you guy’s… good job…

Oh beautiful worldApril 12, 2012 - 8:46 pm

great shots! and her dress is perfect!

Kate FickertApril 12, 2012 - 8:13 pm

Omg. Love all of them!

Kathleen Carey PotterApril 12, 2012 - 7:42 pm

Beautiful!

Katie AnthonyApril 12, 2012 - 7:30 pm

I absolutely love these photos! You two did such a great job!

Lauren CrowstonApril 12, 2012 - 6:53 pm

Beautiful! Her dress is AMAZING!

DeAnnApril 12, 2012 - 6:09 pm

Beautiful………..the bride and groom, the wedding, the photos!

Sara LuceroApril 12, 2012 - 6:06 pm

That dress is seriously too good. LOVE THAT THING. And I love the photo of the chalkboard… so sweet that they played with the classroom. Wonderful job, Tim & Jess!

Rachelle ChaseApril 12, 2012 - 5:35 pm

these are gorgeous. love that last dancing one!

JulieApril 12, 2012 - 4:07 pm

beautiful.
looks like a wonderful day!

EmilyApril 12, 2012 - 11:49 am

This is such a cute wedding!!

Emilia JaneApril 12, 2012 - 11:41 am

OMY her dress is GORGEOUS!!!!! Love love love it.

caitlin elizabethApril 12, 2012 - 10:32 am

OHMYGOODNESS: the one of them kissing (it’s a vertical shot) with her boquet down by her side = SO CUTE.

and i love the black and white one of their feet/her dress in the wildflowers :)

and the ones of her and father(s) = PERFECT.

aaaand her dress is to die for!!

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Quitting

Oh wow. I’m really doing it. Quitting my day job that is. It has felt like a day that would never come at points but it has really, truly happened! It happened so suddenly and so unexpectedly I didn’t even have time to worry about it. I just woke up one day knowing without a doubt that today was the day I would take a huge leap of faith and leave the security of a clock in clock out day job. I have made some of my greatest friends at my day job and have learned some of the most profound things about people, life, and myself by working in customer service. I’m praying that I will continue to grow, never stagnating or feeling like I have arrived. I’m also praying that I don’t totally freak out. It’s scary knowing that you are the one that has to make it happen. Thank goodness Tim and I are in this together! He is the best husband and business partner I could have ever hoped for and I am so ecstatic that we get to do this. I am also so honored to have clients that trust us to document their wedding day and who are just rad people in general. Our clients inspire us! They are quirky, super smart, fun, easy-going, happy, awesome people and we wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s all very humbling. We have a long way to go and are in no way “there” but this milestone is a HUGE one for us. It means we’re all in. And that is exactly where we want to be.

Tim and I painted and “played” at the Bloom Workshop with Trevor Hoehne and Sarah Carter last weekend and here are our masterpieces: (more to come on that later)

Ps: mine is the one on the left and takes a spin on the saying found on j*’s blog and pinterest. tim’s is super sweet! I love the colors :)

Comments

comments

Sarah CarterApril 1, 2012 - 2:23 am

Yay! Love these and love that you are truly spilling and creating and living Bravely. XO

Melissa NilesMarch 29, 2012 - 6:26 am

So excited! Follow your heart!

Marissa RodriguezMarch 23, 2012 - 1:43 pm

Oh my gosh how exciting!!!!! congratulations!!!! you guys are going to rock it out! and you are way adorable with your short hair, LOVE it! Been thinking about chopping mine off too! :)

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Fun Times with Old Friends: Sara and Peter!

Oh, how we love Sara and Peter! I’ve known Sara since high school and she is just one of those people who I know i’ll be friends with for a very long time. And her husband, Peter, is rad as well. They were out here for a few days from Indiana so Tim and I had them over for some Phase 10. These guys are so much fun to be around-I so wish we lived closer together. But, its always nice to have friends in different places and they will be in a much different place later this year. Lets just say we might just have to go on a Safari when we visit them ;)

After a ruthless game of Phase 10 with many tears shed, Sara emerged the victor much to Peter’s chagrin. We had a blast talking and catching up! We decided to jump in the photo booth for some glamour shots before Sara and Peter headed out. I’m particularly fond of Tim and Peter’s “Backstreet’s Back” session. 

Comments

comments

SaraMarch 21, 2012 - 9:55 am

Yep I really stomped all of you guys at Phase 10! That photobooth is awesome, it even makes Peter and I look halfway presentable, which is hard to do (we are not very photogenic). It was so fun to hang out with you guys – I wish we could do it more often!! My parents are pushing for us to come out there again for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so hopefully it won’t be too long.

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Creative Live & A day off outside

I can not tell you how needed yesterday was for me. Tim and I woke up early and took our dog, Dexter, to a park near where we live for some relaxation in the sun. I am a person who needs to be active and needs to be outside on a regular basis. Both of these things refuel me and make me feel more alive. I am so happy to share my life with someone like Tim who wholeheartedly feels the same way. When we are outside we feel closer to God. We can see his handiwork and creativity and it amazes us all the time. We love to take little mini adventures on the trails in our surrounding area. This park happens to be called Horseman’s Center so we got to see some pretty horses as well. It was so nice to be able to lay on a blanket with a good book and just take in the fresh air. Tim played catch with Dexter as I read. These simple things make me the happiest girl in the world.

Tim and I had the pleasure of watching Sue Bryce on Creative Live this weekend. She is an amazing glamour portrait photographer. If you don’t know who she is, go check her out! She is absolutely mesmerizing and has such wisdom for any type of photographer or small business owner. (Note: she does glamour/boudoir so if this is something you do not want to see don’t check her out ;) Both of our minds were blown along with all of the thousands of people watching as Sue spoke lightbulb moment after lightbulb moment to us. We were so inspired that we brought our cameras along to have a little practice on Sue’s posing techniques. As you can see in the photo on the right Tim totally nailed it. Ha!Tim directed me as well. How do my ballet hands look?? Don’t you just love that we practiced glamourous posing in our grubby exercise clothes? I do!Even Dexter loves Sue Bryce! Look at him connecting with the camera! Those eyes. 

It was a great day.

Comments

comments

Sara LuceroMarch 5, 2012 - 1:20 pm

Dexter looks soooo cute in Tim’s lap like that!! :) Awwww such a cuddly puppy! And i’m glad you had such a good day yesterday!!

JennaMarch 5, 2012 - 10:14 am

You look so pretty! Dexter is huge!

Jaime PattersonMarch 5, 2012 - 10:14 am

Tee hee hee! I can totally see the twinkle in his eye!! :)

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Vintage Trailer Desert Engagement: Melissa & Justin

Words do not do justice to how excited we are about this shoot. It combines so many of our favorite things: the desert, a gorgeous couple madly in love, beautiful light, vintage Americana, fun-the list goes on. The bride is a geologist turned antiques retailer so this shoot was a reflection of that. Her step-dad was so kind to lend us his vintage trailer for the day as well. It was amazing! He had completely refinished the interior and it was all decked out with our most famous Apple Valley residents, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans! Oh, and Trigger of course!

Melissa and Justin, we just love you guys! Y’all have such sweet hearts and such a genuine love. It was such a pleasure getting to hang out with you in the desert with nothing but Joshua trees, the desert sky, and crazed Russian men?? to chase us off their property ;) It was quite an adventure but I hope you will think it was all worth it once you see your pictures. Thanks for being a part of creating our favorite engagement shoot to date! We can’t wait til your wedding!

Wow. Who doesn’t like having their picture taken here? I call your bluffs! Talk about hot!Aren’t these guys the sweetest? Melissa found this adorable flag banner on Etsy. I loved what it added to the setting!See, the desert really is beautiful! If you have never been I recommend taking a little trip our here. And, Melissa and Justin, you guys are the best! We are so grateful to have clients like you who know how to have a good time and enjoy life. Thank you!!!

Comments

comments

Daniel CruzMarch 1, 2012 - 11:55 am

Beautiful job as always my friends. I dig the whole setup. :)

SaraFebruary 9, 2012 - 10:22 am

I love how these bring out the beauty of the desert – not the easiest thing to do. I already thought you guys were so good, but you just keep getting better at this =)

Sara LucerooooooFebruary 8, 2012 - 12:59 pm

So sweet and colorful!!! You guys should print that 2nd to last one for your house :) It’s tight!
Also- looooove that banner! What a great little scene!

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