None of our crew had ever been to Connecticut before, so when Tyler and Jenny asked us to fly out, we were more than happy to make the trip! Along with their family and guests, we all stayed at a cool little brick hotel on Main Street  in Middletown. This was definitely the quintessential American “Main Street” with a distinctly East Coast vibe. Unlike our home town of San Diego, Middletown is embedded in a beautiful, green countryside rich with forests full of trees…or maybe it just seems that way in comparison to our nice desert climate here in SD

The day before the wedding, we were invited to tube down the Farmington River with Tyler and all his guys. Needless to say, it was amazing. We floated peacefully down the river for two hours, staring lazily up through the trees that towered over us on both sides, soaking in the warmth of the sun. Yeah…it was a much needed change of pace. Very rejuvenating.

Alright, moving on to the actual day of the wedding. We started the morning by rolling out of bed, showering, and walking two feet down the hallway to Jenny’s room where all the girls where getting their hair and makeup done. If only the start of every wedding day we film was that easy! The rest of the morning went pretty quickly as it usually does, and before we knew it, we were off to the Wadsworth Mansion where the photographers waited to capture alongside us Jenny putting on her dress.

After that, we left her side to explore the estate with cameras in hand and found no shortage of inspiration. If you haven’t already, go watch Tyler and Jenny’s wedding trailer and let us know what you think of our first East Coast wedding!

The bride, Michelle, and her girls started off the big day at Hyde Edward Salon in Little Italy for some hair styling. Then it was off to their spacious suite at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Carlsbad to continue with makeup. From there the day just flew by, from Michelle and Teejay’s first sighting of each other to the romantic ceremony in the Park Hyatt’s central courtyard. All in all, it was a wonderful wedding that we were thrilled to be a part of! Congratulations Teejay & Michelle!

Well, we had a great time filming these two! They are amazing people inside and out. The location for the wedding wasn’t too bad either…Barona Resort and Casino is surrounded by mountains and lakes, and made for a beautiful spot for these two to get married. Everything from the getting ready, the first look, the ceremony, and the reception took place at Barona. That made our lives so much easier! It really was a blessing to have everything close by and made the day go a lot smoother. You’ll see at the beginning of the film that Jayson sings to Abigail…there were a lot of special moments throughout the day, but that one just took the prize.

Congratulations Jayson and Abigail!

This was another 3 day extravaganza and what a cool wedding it was!  We headed up to L.A. on Thursday for the the Mendhi/Sangeet at the Elevate Lounge, a sweet, modern night club.  From the heena artist to a little game show put on by the guests, there was never a shortage of fun visuals to shoot.  On Friday, we headed over to a community center in Mission Viejo for the traditional Garba and Raas dances…so much fun to shoot!  Finally, on Saturday morning we woke up early and headed over to the St. Regis Monarch Beach (in Dana Point) for the actual wedding day.  This gorgeous location made for an incredible wedding!  The day went quick for us…a little too quick.  We had to have their same day edit (which included all 3 days) done by 8:00 that night in time for their grand entrance. Needless to say, we had to hustle to make it happen. It was all worth it in the end though!

Congratulations Aunish and Mona!

Vendors:

Coordination: Shelly Wakefield (Details Details)
Photographer: Victor Sizemore
DJ: Ajay Manaktala (Special Occasions DJ & Lighting)
Makeup & Hair: Couture Beauty Team
Decor: Shawn Yamamoto Event Design
Desserts: Pastries by Edie
Lighting & AV: Amber Events Production
Heena: Amita (sweetgirlamita@gmail.com)
Day 1 Venue: Elevate Lounge
Day 2 Venue: Norman P. Murray Center, Mission Viejo
Day 3 Venue: St. Regis Monarch Beach

We had a blast shooting this beautiful beach-side wedding! The day started early with the guys drinking some beer and the ladies getting hair and make-up done. Once everyone was ready to go, we all headed over to the Hotel Del Coronado for the first look. Afterwards, we were happy to be able to take off our shoes and roll up our pants for a laid back ceremony on the beach looking out at the Del, and what a beautiful day it was! Scott and Taylor exchanged custom vows…a real tear jerker, we were able to squeeze some of that into the highlight. The ceremony ended and we had to book it over to the reception for the grand entrance and first dance, so we hauled all our equipment a mile or two over to the location and set up. The rest of the night went by quick with some great speeches and crazy dancing.

We had so much fun shooting this one. It helps when everyone is really fun! Thanks Scott and Taylor, congrats!

Vendors:
Coordinator: Amanda McPhail (Creative Affairs)
Photographers: Stephen Knuth & Scarlett Lilian (check out the photos here)
Makeup: Hawiza Sharpe (Makeup By Hawiza)
Hairstylists: Kyla Reber (Gorgeous Wedding Hair)
Florist: Randy Hill (Coronado Island Florist – 619.435.4108)
DJ: Mark Twyman (702.375.2350)
Caterer: Continental Catering

We’ve finally shot our first Indian wedding…and we absolutely loved it! We can’t begin to thank Amit & Harini enough for allowing us to participate in such a beautiful tradition. Congratulations to both of you!!

The whole experience was split into 3 separate events over 3 days. The first night was the Gaana which was more an informal event where their close friend’s and family  gathered to kick off the wedding celebrations together (and sing some karaoke).

The following evening was the “bridemaking” event where the elders, especially the women, blessed Harini to become a bride. This is also where most the guests received henna artwork on the hands, arms, and feet. In fact, the henna artist actually convinced Matt and I to get some artwork on the backs of our hands. We were skeptical at first given the long line of all women and no guys getting henna done. In the end though, we caved because the henna was just too awesome to pass up. We never did get a straight answer though whether guys are supposed to get henna or not….

On the third day, we started bright and early (4:30am) filming Harini, her sister, and her mom getting ready for the main ceremony later that morning. The whole wedding, ceremony and reception, took place at Soka University in Aliso Veijo which turned out to be an amazing location. Credit must be given to Sheryal Rozelle of Unique Elegance for orchestrating such a gorgeous event! The ceremony was situated on the far side of a large pond (or small lake) with two long pathways acting as bridges through the water. It was in the middle of one of these bridges that we shot the first look. We definitely could not have asked for a more cinematic moment.

I could go on forever about the colors, decor, food, and the ocean of other details that kept us riveted behind our cameras…but it’s probably best just to show you! So, if you haven’t already, go watch the wedding film above and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below. Enjoy

Vendors:

Photographer: Israel Anderson (Anderson Photograpy)
Wedding Consultant: Sheryal Rozzelle  (Unique Elegance)
Florist: Alex Amedi (Square Root)
Hair & Makeup: Couture Beauty
DJ: Infamous L.A. Dee Jay
Catering: Manohar’s Delhi Palace
Mehndi (Henna): Lishma (Beauty by Lishma)

We had the great pleasure of filming Paul and Andrea’s wedding in beautiful La Jolla, Ca. The morning started with a great surf session from the guys, we really enjoyed getting some shots of Paul and his groomsmen in the water. Andrea and the other bridesmaids got their hair done and then headed over to Hotel Parisi to finish getting ready. There was a really nice first look on the balcony of her room, and then it was off to The Museum of Contemporary Art for a beautiful ceremony and fun reception. We especially enjoyed the run through the tunnel of sparklers at the end of the night…just so fun to shoot!

Congrats Paul and Andrea!

Vendors:

Photographers: Amy & Maurice (theorie Photography)
Day-of Coordinator: Jennifer Robinson (Weddings by J.R.)
Cake & Cupcakes: Sweet Cheeks Baking Co.
Band: Science Fiction – Allen de la Rosa – (805) 878-8955)
Reception DJ: Melissa Hunt – (909) 559-5934
Makeup: Chandra Campos (Chandra Campos Makeup)
Hair: Gretchen Phillips (The Standard Salon, La Jolla)
Tuxedos: Janet Klein (A Better Deal Tuxedos & Suits, La Jolla)
Jewelery: John Franklin Jewelers + Justine M Couture

Despite the crowds of on-lookers enjoying the gorgeous Sunday afternoon at the beach, this Del Mar wedding went off without a hitch. Between the L’Auberge Hotel, Seagrove Park, and the Pacifica Breeze Cafe, there was certainly no shortage of picturesque moments to film. Congratulations Mark & Bianca on such a beautiful wedding!

This was officially our first military wedding…and it was awesome! We started bright and early with the guys getting straight shaves by Boris at Vince’s Barbershop in Little Italy. After that we all walked over to the Little Italy farmer’s market and got amazing breakfast paninis and fresh OJ. Definitely a good start to the day

After the girls got ready at Salon Tonic and everyone was suited up, we all headed over St. Joseph Cathedral for a beautiful, traditional Catholic mass and ceremony. Then it was off through the arch of swords and over to the US Grant for the reception. Over all, the entire day was beautiful and we were so honored to be a part of Grant and Kristina’s wedding.  Congratulations again to the both you!!

Vendors:

Photographer: Furious Photographers
Ceremony: St. Joseph Cathedral, San Diego
Reception: US Grant Hotel
Hair: Kelly at Salon Tonic
Straight Shaves: Boris at Vince’s Barbershop – (619) 623-0798
Music: DJ Crazeek

This past Saturday we had the pleasure of filming the wedding of Jim and Stefanie! Both were such amazing people with equally awesome friends and family. That, combined with the fact that both the venue and reception locations were new for us, made for an all around fun shoot. We started the day bright and early at the Navarro residence overlooking Old Town and Mission Bay. While the guys enjoyed some beer, go-carts, and miniature golf, the girls were hard at work getting their make-up and hair done at Jim’s parent’s house. Okay…maybe “hard at work” is the wrong term. They leisurely enjoyed having their hair and make-up done while catching clips from movies like Father of the Bride in between.

Once the entire bridal party was ready to go, they all jumped into a sweet trolley car waiting outside the house to take them down to the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the heart of historic Old Town. Both the church and ceremony were perfect…and gave us the opportunity to use our new 135mm lenses (which were amazing). After the ceremony, we were whisked away to the Natural History Museum at Balboa Park. Until Jim and Stephanie first came to us about filming their wedding, we didn’t even know you could have weddings at the Museum. So awesome!! They started with the cocktail reception on the roof with a fantastic view of the park. Later, once all the guests had made their way to the ground floor and found their seats, Jim and Stephanie descended the stairs to make their grand entrance. They immediately went into their first dance which was an incredibly classy waltz to Sparks by Coldplay. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of this “night at the museum”

Just as the locations were stunning, the team of vendors was equally impressive:

Wedding Coordinator: Catherine Bachelier Smith of CBS Weddings
Photographer: Paul Barnett of Barnett Photographics
Cake: Michele Coulon Dessertier
Florist: Grand Floral
Band: The Tijuana Dogs
Caterer: Urban Kitchen Catering
Venue: Rachel de Quesada of the San Diego Natural History Museum