Melissa McClure Blog

Still playing catch up with my blog…about a month behind

Last month I took a trip to Washington DC, my birth place!  I have zero memories of my hometown since we moved to San Diego when I was 5, but I have been back a few times since.  This was my first time as an adult though!  My best friend, Ann Marie moved to Maryland six months ago so I took the opportunity (and free board!) to spend some time with her and see the East Coast for a few days!  I planned my trip around the Cherry Blossom Festival held every Spring.  In the weeks leading up to my trip it looked like I was going to just miss the cherry blossom trees blooming. They decided to start blooming the week I got there, thanks goodness!  What a beautiful sight!

Since I was pretty much on vacation, I only took my camera out twice, so there aren’t a ton of photos!  But I hope you enjoy the ones I did take!

Meet Ann Marie. This girl makes me laugh like no other. This photo fills my heart.

We spent a day in Baltimore as well!  I went here on an 8th grade trip but don’t remember much of it!

I really wanted to see Edgar Allen Poe’s gravesite, thankfully it was open on a Sunday!  It was super eerie and overcast when we got there…perfect cemetery weather!  As soon as we got back in the car it started pouring rain!

I want to plan a yearly trip to the East Coast to get my Ann Marie fix!  So if there is anyone out there interested in booking a wedding or portrait session with me near the DC area, please let me know and I can inform you of my future travel plans!

xoxo, M

What’s better than getting engaged on a Friday and having your engagement session the following day?  I’m so happy Ami and Aalap were up for it!  We shot around their hotel in downtown and then headed over to Coronado to grab some quintessential San Diego shots!

Oh and in case you missed their engagement…it’s just below this post!

I love this shot!

*Meow*

My favorite view and my favorite image <3

I have to tell you, Aalap was worried that they would be shy in front of the camera.  That is the furthest from the truth!  They totally rocked it! I had so much fun getting to know them, learning about Indian weddings and reliving the proposal the night before!

xoxo, M

*I’m blogging a little out of order, but I figure it’s my blog – I call the shots!   Lots of new shoots coming up, but first…*

This past Friday I had the honor of photographing a marriage proposal!  I was super nervous, this is a one-time shot thing!  I had shot one marriage proposal before, which was equally as stressful! haha

Aalap contacted me off a referral from the awesome Karen Morrison.  I was so excited to play a role in this.  Aalap lives in New York City and wanted to surprise his girlfriend Ami all the way from the east coast (she lives in New Jersey).  So Aalap made up a healthcare conference. You read that right…he MADE ONE UP!  Talk about planning and scheming!  He had to create a website, get Ami’s professor on board as well as her family and some friends!  Want to see this awesome website?  Soon it will be changing and a photo of the two lovebirds will go up, but for now… OHMP Symposium.

Ami was told that she was chosen by her school to attend this conference, so it was all covered by the school.  Aalap recounted the numerous emails Ami sent to the website, asking different questions and how excited she was to go to San Diego and attend!  When she arrived to San Diego on Friday morning, a car and driver was waiting for her and even the driver played along, recounting the amount of students he had already dropped off that morning!  Everyone was in on it…except Ami!

She got ready in her room and came down for an opening cocktail reception at the W Hotel (the hotel was also extemely instrumental in helping Aalap with the planning!)  She was fashionably late (which is what we had wanted) and her expression was priceless when she saw Aalap there!  And even more priceless when he told her there was no conference and no cocktail reception!

She called him just before heading down to the “cocktail reception”.  It was perfect, we had good warning!  See the black frame around the top of the photo?  That was the tree I was hiding behind!

Still wondering what the deal was…there was no one there for the reception!

Love this one!

The happy couple!

The next day, we shot their engagement session!  I’ll be sharing those soon!  Aalap planned the rest of the weekend for them too…with dinner at Mr A’s, dessert at Extraordinary Desserts and a spa afternoon!  What a catch!

xo, M

A little slideshow I put together so they could send to family and friends back on the east coast!

Gloria and Carlos are such an inspiring couple!  Their love for each other was felt throughout the entire wedding day by every person in attendance.  They are both so grateful and kind to each other, their wedding was truly a special day and I am so thankful that I could be a part of it!

Most couples opt to have us shoot their getting ready, but instead we started a little later, just before the ceremony.  I adore this shot Mandi got that is perfectly timed!

We were pretty restricted at St Stephen’s Catholic Church in Valley Center, but were able to capture the mood from the side pews

I adore these colors and florals by Christine with Fancy That! Designs

We took some photos around the church, it holds lots of memories for these two

I love my couples, because they go along with some crazy ideas I have!  On the drive through Valley Center I spotted these orange trees and some tall grass on the side of the road.  They were totally up for hiking through some weeds for these next few shots!  SO worth it!

This shot cracked me up – she didn’t want to miss the action!  This is Edith, Gloria’s best friend.  She is also a very close friend of Josh, who was the best man in my own wedding!  Thanks to Edith for sending Gloria and Carlos my way!  Limo company is none other than the awesome Elite Image (the best in town!)

After some photo stops, we made our way down to Harbor Island for a few more portraits and the reception at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse.

The bilingual toasts were very touching!

DJ Pat from Sound Prodigy kept the dance floor busy all night! Love his light set up too!

Want to give a HUGE shout out to the wedding coordinator, Helena from Divine Events by Helena and her assistant, Heather. They were so awesome to work with, good coordinators always make my life (and the couple’s lives) so much easier!!  Hugs to you, Helena!

C+G – hope your honeymoon to Hawaii was amazing!!

xoxo, M

Enjoy your slideshow!

These two have such a special story!  They were high school sweethearts that went their separate ways.  Here they are, years later, in different branches of the military and so much in love!  Jahrod was in town for his R&R since he is currently serving our country in Iraq.   NeCole is stationed on the east coast and they hadn’t seen each other in almost two years!  You can imagine the emotion when they saw each other at the airport and Jahrod dropped to one knee right there to give NeCole her engagement ring!

This was my first time meeting these two, and boy did we have a blast! I am absolutely looking forward to their September wedding!

When NeCole was choosing her outfit for the shoot, she bought her shoes based on the fact we were going to shoot at the Museum of Man door! Too cute!

My fav <3

No wait, this is my fav!  haha

Here’s to Jahrod’s safe return from Iraq and an amazing relationship you two have built over the years!

xoxo, M

I know quite a few people have been waiting for this post!  Since I had never met Tami and Adam and didn’t get a chance to shoot an engagement session with them, we decided to shoot their Trash the Dress Session for them before the wedding!  Tami had a completely different wedding dress for the day of!

It was pretty much raining through this entire shoot!  In some of the images you can spot a rainbow and in most of them you can see spots all over their bodies – raindrops!

Oh, and for those destination brides looking at this post, a Trash the Dress or Day After Session is always included when I shoot Destination weddings!

LOTS of rain started here!

This image is not perfect from a technical standpoint but there is something I love about the pure joy in their faces after shooting under water!

Even though it was raining quite hard, the water was still pretty warm!  Gotta love Hawaii weather!

I have to say, A+T were such troopers for this shoot!  Climb through 4 foot high weeds? Ok!  Hold your breath as long as you can underwater and look happy about it? Ok!  I adore these two and I hope you all enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed taking them!!!

xo, M

ps I miss Maui <3

Photos by Mandi

Hanh and Alex are a super sweet couple that are getting married later this year in San Marcos! Mandi and I have been hired to shoot their wedding as a team which is awesome! We cannot wait!  Mandi and I always have such fun working together.

We met these two at the Estancia La Jolla for the first part of their engagement shoot and they were looking super hot and coordinated!

After, they took us to a new spot we had never been – Torrey Pines State Reserve! It was absolutely gorgeous with the sun setting!

It was so fun hanging out with you two, Mandi and I loved laughing along with you!  You are so cute together!

xo, M

Part 2 of this Amazing Beachside Wedding in Lahaina

Rev. Laki Ka’ahumanu was awesome!

Again, I can’t say enough sweet things about Dellables

Tami and Adam met on Craigslist (Craig himself RSVP’d ‘No”).  Each was looking for a dance partner in the Strictly Platonic section, so of course their first dance was going to be choreographed!

Tami’s sister, Paula had a very moving speech. I did family photos for this family, coming soon!

This was something I didn’t see until the editing process.  Tami’s BFF since grade school, Julie watching them during the speeches. Can you believe they are so close, they have the same mannerisms?  Julie is a newlywed herself and I did a photosession for her and her husband in Maui (also coming soon!)

Tami surprised everyone with learning a special Hula dance just for Adam!

As I was loading this blog, I got a text from Tami.  Just wanted to fill me in on how amazing her Honeymoon was.  She and Adam are so blissfully happy, I could not be more honored to show that love through photography!

xo, M

This is going to be a tough blog to write!  I was trying to narrow down images and there was no possible way I could!  So this is going to be a 3 parter.  Starting with Getting Ready and Portraits.  The next blog will be Ceremony and Reception and the final blog will be their awesome trash the dress session we did a few days prior.

I had never met Tami.  I knew what she looked like and her sense of humor only through our Facebook friendship.  But from the second we were both in Hawaii, we were more like friends. No, scratch that, she made me feel like family.  And her actual family and friends (Adam’s too) were so welcoming and warm.  I can truly say my heart was full when I left Maui.

But I’ll leave their story to the photos…I’m much better behind the lens than writing my feelings!

The wedding was at a Private Residence in Maui called Lahaina Oceanfront Estate.  The amazing decor and florals were done by Della with Dellables.  She was a total sweetheart and I could tell she absolutely loved what she does!  The coordinator Cherise was so helpful the day of (and to Tami throughout the planning)!

The super fun Jessica rocked all of the girls makeup!  Dan was also awesome and did a wonderful job on their hair!

You can’t see their tank tops but they each had a:  “Team Melissa” “Team Cherise” and “Team Della” tank!  SO adorable (I posted it on my facebook if we are friends there! If we aren’t – add me!)

They felt the first look was the best opportunity for more time together, so we chose the private beach as the location

Adam thinks I’m funny

Stunning Tami. Just stunning.

I can hardly wait to show you the next two blogs!  What do you think so far?

xo, M

Photos by Mandi

Mandi and Allison met with this sweet couple at Santa Rosa Plateau in Temecula.  They had quite the run in with the ranger and after some reprimanding and a case of mistaken identity, they were on their way to a fun engagement session!

My fav! <3

Congrats to you two! And best wishes on your September wedding, I know Mandi is looking forward to it!

xo, M