Category Archives: engagements

katrina & robbie | engagement | santa cruz photographer

Katrina and Robbie are both talented visual artists working in the film industry, so I was excited (and slightly intimidated) to get creative with their engagement portraits. I really wanted them to love their images, and I think by just documenting them doing some of the activities they enjoy together, we were able to really capture who they are as a couple. Robbie is from the UK and he loves to have a beer or two at the pub, so we started at the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery. There’s nothing like a pint to ease the awkwardness of having a camera follow your every move and to help amplify the fun. We then headed over to Wilder Ranch to wander around the old farmstead and do some crossword puzzles in the orchard. We followed the sun to where it set over the coastline and watched the full moon rise into the dusk light. It was one of those atmospheric evenings, one that made me feel so incredibly lucky to get to meet cool people, go to cool places and simply document love for a living.

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courtney & dan | engagement | bay area photographer

Dan’s Cowboy Gear:
Jeans – Wrangler Retro (the “fancy” wranglers…haha)
Straw & Felt Hats – Stetson
Cowboy Boots – Justin
Courtney’s Cowgirl Gear:
Dress – Guess
Purple Western Shirt – SuperDry
Cowboy Boots – Ariat (square toed) & Lucchese (pointed toe)

This has to be one of my all time favorite engagement shoots…ever. Most people already know that I’m a huge horse lover, as I grew up vaulting on them, show jumping with them, sleeping in the stall beside them and lots of shoveling up after them, so this was an engagement shoot after my own heart. I immediately fell in love with this couple and this ranch and I honestly could have kept photographing them for days. We started out where Courtney and Dan first met, at a country bar called The Wrangler out in Elk Grove California. We then took the scenic roads that led to Perham Ranch where Dan keeps his other love, his horse ‘Whiskey girl’ and where he also proposed to Courtney. This property could not have been a more perfect backdrop for conveying Courtney and Dan’s shared love of the laid back ranch lifestyle, full of fun and horses and natural beauty in every direction. I’ve never had such a hard time editing down images, because these two looked so good, so relaxed and and so in love in every single shot, right down to the last American Gothic inspired shot of this excessively long blog post. Of course I am now even more crazy excited to photograph their wedding at the River Highlands Ranch late in the summer.

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lori & nick | engagement | san francisco photographer

An afternoon spent with Lori and Nick in their San Francisco world would make anyone want to move there, including me! We started on their rooftop deck with amazing views out over the city and a good game of dominos between the bride and groom-to-be, followed by a champagne toast and a tour of their favorite places to spend time together in the city. This is a couple who definitely know how to have fun together, whether it’s running through the Presidio, playing rugby (Nick played on an SF rugby team for years) or traveling the world together, (next stop Greece and Turkey.) After getting to know these two, I am SO excited to document their wedding that will no doubt be full of a whole lot of merriment and up at Northstar in Tahoe later this summer.

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andi & nick | e-session | santa cruz photographer

These are two of my new favorite people and this is the beach that they live a block away from. Andi is a first grade teacher and she’s so full of joy and great big genuine smiles but she said that she also wanted to show her soft side too…so Andi this post is for you, to show you how you completely rocked all of the beautiful sides of yourself beside your incredibly kind and loving man. The light was perfect that afternoon and the connection between these two felt so natural and real. I’m sure that’s why I loved every second this shoot, and why I can’t wait to photograph their wedding at The Dream Inn later this year.

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anne & ganesh | e-session | carmel photographer

My neglected little blog is still missing many a post, but seeing as wedding season is rapidly approaching, I thought that I’d start to catch up with a beautiful Carmel engagement session.  I had never actually met Anne and Ganesh before this shoot, but the minute we met and starting talking, I knew that I was going to be one lucky girl to document the story of these two kind and interesting people. Anne told me about how she re-designed the dress she was wearing from an old dress that her mom used to wear, and that she had an Indian sari to change into to honor Ganesh’s Indian heritage. Anne continued to impress me as she managed to remain radiant and smiling in both of those outfits despite the intensely cold weather in Carmel that day. Ganesh talked about how he was born in Jamaica, raised with Indian traditions, and later received his higher education in the States. It was when he was living on the east coast that he met Anne and together they have now made California their home. I love that they will be celebrating both of their heritages on their wedding day by including both a traditional Indian ceremony followed by a western ceremony at the beautiful and unique Cornerstone Gardens later this spring.

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nancy & david | golden gate park engagement session

This was one of those days where everything just seemed to flow. Golden Gate Park is notoriously crowded on most weekends and I arrived fully prepared to dodge and crop people out of my shot all afternoon, but it turned out to be a beautiful and relaxed day where it felt like we had the de Young sculpture garden and the gorgeous Japanese Tea Gardens all to ourselves. Nancy chose the Tea Gardens as the main location for their engagement session because it’s a place that holds special meaning in her life, as her childhood was filled with fond memories of visiting with her parents, who are now no longer with her. I could see how this location actually brought out the carefree kid in these two, as they explored all over the gardens, climbed the bridge, ate sesame cookies and drank tea together. The afternoon felt so full of playful wonder and genuine love, and I left that evening even more excited to photograph their wedding at the Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco later in the year.

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audra & matt | engagement | allied arts photography

Audra and Matt are straight up awesome; kind, smart, and tons of fun…so together they are quite the dynamic duo and an absolute pleasure to photograph. Audra said that she loved all things French, so we headed for the European inspired gardens at Allied Arts Guild for their engagement session. Matt brought some french pastries and champagne to share with his love, and Audra brought some rockin’ outfits, and together they brought the romance. We got really lucky and had the gardens to ourselves, making it easy to capture the intimate and real connection between these two, who came all the way from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania for this shoot. After our afternoon together I’m more than positive that their summer wedding at the Cypress Manor Estate in Monte Sereno is going to be filled with pure beauty and fun.

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tiffany & joey | san francisco engagement session

I may be more than 10 blog posts behind, but it’s a brand new year, so I thought I’d start playing catch up with a lovely little engagement session. This was such a fun shoot, one that really reflected this couple’s love for San Francisco. We had Joey’s sister and his mom chauffeur us all over the city so that we could fit in as many iconic San Francisco locations as possible in one 2 hour session. We visit pier 7, Grace Cathedral, and even made it to Baker Beach for sunset despite the crazy traffic. During the car rides in between I got to know Tiffany and Joey and their family, and I got to see how kind and affectionate they are with each other. Then we would arrive at our destination, jump out of the car and immediately start shooting while Joey’s sister pulled off crazy parallel parks or just circled the neighborhood until we were done….and that’s how we dominated the city together in record time!

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sheena & adam | vinehill winery engagement session

I think that the destiny we reach in love and in life is more often than not manifested by the strength of our thoughts and will….and this engagement session is my proof. Earlier this autumn I was visiting one of our Happy Valley neighbors, Santa Cruz’ oldest vineyard, Vinehill Winery. As I was being blown away by the property’s stunning views of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the California Coast, I turned to my friend and said that I really wanted to do an engagement shoot there… and soon. The very next day I received an email from Adam saying that we couldn’t shoot at the Napa Vineyard that we were planning on visiting (where he proposed to Sheena) and asked if I knew of any beautiful Santa Cruz vineyards. I gave them a list of a bunch of local vineyards and out of all of them they chose Vinehill. We were lucky enough to have the entire place to ourselves, and despite the forecast of rain, we stayed dry for the entire session. Sheena and Adam are so much fun together and that fun was completely contagious, as we shared some wine and wandered around the vineyards full of fall colors. I love a little serendipity in any photo session, and on this day it came in many forms, including a mustard cardigan that complimented the colors of the vines perfectly, (best shown in the last shot of this post.) In fact, just about everything about this day seemed complimentary; fashion and location, weather and wine, views and privacy, and most of all Sheena and Adam. I could tell that these two completely belong together and I am so excited to see what they will manifest for their Holman Ranch wedding next year!

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