Trish and Tarik’s wedding was at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Pasadena, California. They started their day getting ready for the wedding at The Langham Hotel (also in Pasadena) and that’s also where they finished their evening with a wonderful reception. If you’re a friend or family member, please click here to access the complete gallery of photos.

Dress by Monique Lhuillier

Shoes by Jimmy Choo

Trish had a subtle butterfly theme going on which I didn’t realize until I was processing their wedding photographs.

The Bouquet

Trish has her makeup applied while her mom supervises.

Trish’s sister, nephew, and nieces check out the flowers.

Donning the dress is a bridesmaid project! And a little help from mom never hurts!

Last minute instructions.

Very Nice!

Yes, you look madhotsexy® in that dress.

Tarik looks so serious!

Groom’s shoes by Gucci

 

This is my favorite photo from the wedding day. Trish’s mom’s reflection is seen in the passenger side window.

Trish and her father begin their walk down the aisle at St. Andrews Catholic Church

St. Andrews Catholic Church wedding in Pasadena, California

 

There was madness all around when I grabbed this romantic wedding
photograph in front of St. Andrews Catholic Church in Pasadena.

The Rolls Royce company (and particularly the driver) was the best transportation vendor I’ve ever worked with at a wedding.

The Langham Hotel in Pasadena, California

The legendary picture bridge at The Langham Hotel. And yes, that’s really the bridge’s name!

Lovely bride with bouquet.

Pasadena Fierce!

Quentin Tarantino would be proud.

I ended up all itchy after lying in the grass to get this shot. But it was worth it.

The Card Table

Trish’s butterfly theme continues …

The reception was held in the Viennese Terrace of the Langham Hotel

 

More pretty flowers …

The Cake

First Dance

Father-Daughter Dance

The Groom’s father takes a photo of the bride and groom. His camera later stops working.

The father of the bride gives his toast.

The bride’s sister gives her toast while her father, and two brothers stand nearby. There isn’t a dry eye among them.

The bride’s brother begins his toast but his father grabs the microphone
to announce to the guests that his son is a physician and also single.

Cutting the cake.

She tossed the bouquet so high it looks like a few of the single girls lost track of it!

Naughty!

As usual, most guys stand with their hands in the pockets when the
garter is thrown. Except for the kids. But they don’t know any better.

Katie and Evan came into town from Chicago a few weeks ago just in time for our Monsoon-like weather. Rather than reschedule their one hour engagement session (because of the rain), I suggested that we hide from the weather under the beautiful covered arches around the courtyard of Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena, California. I’m really looking forward to being their wedding photographer later this year!

Katie and Evan deserve mad props for bringing props.

Katie’s informal flower bouquet was just awesome.

They brought flip flops from Chicago thinking  it would be warm and sunny. Woops!

Those of you who know me know that I’m not terribly fond of tilted photos. And
although that’s still true 99.9% of the time, I liked this image quite a bit.

He happened to tell her something naughty. Of course I didn’t ask for details.

Although I’ve photographed folks dozens of times at Pasadena
City Hall, this particular location at City Hall is a new one for me.

And as you can see here, I kinda liked it.

One jump. And she nailed it.

Evan braved the rain to grab some props and while she waited,
I took this super cute photo of Katie. I can’t wait work as their
wedding photographer in Malibu later this year!

I have to start this post by admitting that this was the first surprise wedding. Amanda and Jeff decided that they didn’t want to make a big deal of their wedding so they had a New Year’s Eve party at their home in South Pasadena, invited their closest friends and family, and then in the middle of the party announced that they were getting married–right then and there. Except for those few folks who knew about it, everyone was blown away when it happened. After the wedding and then celebrating the new year at midnight at their South Pasadena home, everyone took a limo ride to Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena to view the floats lining up for the Rose Parade. You’ll note that we started the day at the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena and then moved to downtown Los Angeles for some photographs at the Disney Concert Hall. Click here to see all of the wedding photographs from Amanda and Jeff’s awesome evening!

Jeff and Amanda wanted to see each other before the wedding so I arranged this
"first look" where Jeff saw Amanda in her wedding dress for the first time.

Amanda rented the marquee at the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena to announce
to the world that the were getting married. And of course it made for a nice photo as well.

After taking just a few photos at the Rialto in South Pasadena, we headed over to
the Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles for more wedding photographs.

I really liked how the dissipating jet contrail in the sky drew a line down to Jeff and Amanda.

The sunset light was really working for us at Disney Hall.

Nice dress. Nice suit. Nice flowers.

As you can see here, sometimes I appreciate more subtle reflections.

My signature wedding bouquet photograph.

Just because …

Smoochy Smoochy

Jeff’s office building wasn’t in sight of Disney Hall so I used some other skyscrapers instead.

Jeff and Amanda’s home in South Pasadena, California

"Hey. Don’t tell anyone but Amanda and Jeff are getting married tonight!"

"Ok folks. This is more than just a swinging New Year’s Eve party. Amanda and I are getting married. Right now."

Some people were more surprised than others …

Jeff’s grandfather, a retired minister, performed the ceremony.

Then Amanda and Jeff enjoyed their cupcakes. Please note that no cupcake smashing was involved.

Happy New Year!

On the way to the floats, we stopped the limo at the Rialto Theatre in
South Pasadena for a few night photographs under the marquee.

The organizers of the Rose Parade set up these HUGE lights above the street that lit up everything
almost bright as day. I used those lights to backlight Jeff and Amanda as they walked up
Orange Grove Boulevard on their way to view the Rose Parade floats.

Amanda and Jeff in silhouette. One of my favorite photos from their wedding day.

Last weekend I photographed a brief engagement with Amanda and Jeff at the The Gamble House by Greene & Greene in Pasadena, California. As their wedding photographer, I was surprised at their initiative in gaining access to this location (along with getting the appropriate permissions) but the location made perfect sense given their love of American Arts and Crafts style architecture.

I felt that including the combination of poinsettias and the signature
door to the Gable House established the location and time of year quite nicely.

I found the textures and patterns of the shingles to be quite amazing.
And Amanda and Jeff really liked kissing each other at every opportunity.

They also had a penchant for spontaneously strolling down the driveway.

As a Pasadena wedding photographer, I sometimes offer suggestions that elicit funny
expressions or actions … but this was all them. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

As my jumping photos have now become world famous (at least in my own mind),
few wedding photography clients can resist a jump shot during their engagement session.

When a client selects me as their wedding photographer, the process typically starts with the bride finding me through a search engine, a wedding directory, or through a referral. For this couple, it was the other way around! Back in November 2008 I was approached by CBS. They wanted to film an episode of CSI: Miami in my studio. And that filming eventually lead me to Lindsay. You see, Lindsay has a blog called iamnotastalker.com. On that blog she shares adventure stories about film and TV locations in and around Los Angeles (including Pasadena). Anyway, after my CSI episode aired, my studio was featured on one of her blog posts. A few months later, I was surfing the Internet and came across her blog again. This time I noticed she was looking at wedding venues. After reading about her search, I sent her an e-mail offering my services as a wedding photographer–and the rest is history!

For this engagement session Lindsay and Bret met me in Old Town Pasadena. We were hoping to take advantage of the billboard in front of the old movie theater (we were going to Photoshop in some save the date message) but that didn’t work out because of holiday decorations in the square. So we moved on to other locations around Old Town Pasadena. Finally, near the end of our time together, we took a quick drive over to Pasadena City Hall to finish off the morning. Here are a few of my favorite engagement photos from our session.

 

This is the second time I’ve used animation
sequences on my blog. I think I’m kind of liking it!

Lindsay and Bret were super fun. They REALLY got into their jumping at Pasadena City Hall.

The traditional (obligatory) portrait.

They were benched.

 

Smoochy smoochy!

Alleyways in Pasadena are fun!

Look at Bret! He’s so big and strong!

I’d make another bench joke here, but the first one was so lame …

Hey! Watch those hands!