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Melissa and RJ were married on October 11, which turned out to be a gorgeous Fall day! It was even a bit chilly in the shade. It was perfect since Melissa had only lived in California for a week at that point! She moved here from Michigan to marry her long distance sweetie, RJ.

After 5 years of long distance, they made it official in front of their family and friends. These two love to laugh! That was obvious after their fun engagement session!

The day started at the Comfort Inn with some great vendors.

Sara Balderas of So Cal Makeup did a fabulous job with her airbrush makeup. It stayed flawless all day!

A Charger’s fan – my kind of couple!!

And here is Valerie Wilkerson (619-295-1525) from Tops Salon working on Melissa’s hair

About to become a Mrs. at the Immaculata on USD’s campus.

I love how Melissa is looking at RJ in this shot!

The whole bridal party! They were so fun, they had me laughing all day!

So gorgeous!

After our time at Balboa Park, we headed to Marina Village. Melissa worked hard at all these Fall themed details!

And the amazing cake that was done by Ranch Catering!

Dancing the night away!

One last quiet moment!

Melissa and RJ, I hope you are having an amazing Honeymoon!

Fun Fact: RJ is my third groom in 2008 that is a twin! (Shout out to Brandon and Kyle, the other two twin grooms!)

And a big thank you to Jamie Lawler for being a rad 2nd shooter!

xoxo, M

Enjoy your Slideshow!

I’m updating my blog at the moment, so if things look a little weird, this is why!

Thank you for your patience!

Last year I was asked to photograph South High School’s (Torrance, CA) class of 1963 45-year Reunion!  This was extra special because my mother happens to be in the graduating class! 

Since my first high school reunion is coming up in a few months (10 years already? Eeek!) it was nice to see how involved these people were, even 45 years after graduation!

My mother is the Tech-Geek of the bunch.  She made a fabulous slideshow and these name tags below.  They may not seem like much, but she spent months scanning pages from the yearbook to get these images!  She even touched them up a bit, removing blemishes, hickeys (true story!), etc. 

The rest of the committe did a fabulous job decorating, including centerpeices that were a blast from the past:

A view of the whole room, top of the Doubletree in Torrance.

And these schoolmates could dance!!!!!  The DJ was rocking oldies the whole night!

And of course, me and my Mom!  She lives outside of California, so I treasure all the time I can spend with her that I get!

Big thanks to Jen and Tim who shot the reunion with me!

I appreciate you two!!

xoxo, M

Last week I was one of the lucky few that got a seat in the Kiss Seminar held by Shaun Austin and Kevin Swan.  The seminar booked up in 120 seconds so big props to Google Reader and my fast typing abilities. ha ha

The first half of the day Kevin Swan talked to us about album sales and marketing our businesses.  He is incredibly smart when it comes to business and I learned a lot. 

Shaun gave us a tour of the Kiss Warehouse and we got to see the process of how those gorgeous leather storybook albums are made!

After a fabulous lunch provided by Shootsac, Mike Larson talked to us more about business, shooting style and his infamous camera toss!

Here is Mike showing the model how he wants her to sit and explaining it to the group as well.

Mike shooting our fabulous model Carlie Renee.  Also, please check out her other site here.  You won’t regret it.

A few of the attendees!  The lovely lady behind the camera is my friend Ryel J and the guy chimping in front is my buddy Ahmed.  

Mike showing Carlie where he wanted her to stand! We were in the parking lot of industrial buildings.  Nothing fabulous!

My quick shot of Carlie!

I really felt that I had a lot in common with Mike (photography-wise) so  came back the following day to have a 1 on 1 session with him.  That’s when he told me about his 2 day workshop in Vegas this October.  I am already signed up, I can’t wait!  My friend Charise will be going with me and I’m trying to talk Ryel in to going! *hint hint*  🙂

It was an awesome time meeting new people (and seeing old friends) at the workshop!  Big thanks to Barbara Mastro for driving me up there!!

xoxo, M 

On June 28th, I got the pleasure of assisting Kristi Klemens again. She and I always have a blast together!  I drove up to Santa Ana to shoot the wedding of Erica and Ree at Bower’s Museum. Oh my, I adore this location!  It is gorgeous and so easy to photograph! 

Here is Ree’s reaction to seeing his bride.  They opted for a First Look before the ceremony so they could spend extra time on photos!

How cool are the sculpture’s at the museum??

This staircase rocks too!

This was shot while holding my camera above my head.  This statue was about 8 feet tall!  Even on tippy-toes I couldn’t have peeked through it!

We weren’t allowed to shoot inside the museum.

It’s easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission!

The handsome Ree

Loved these program fans!

There was a balcony above the ceremony site, so I ran up them very quick to capture the processional!

We’re married!

Woo Hoo!

This was a unique way to have place cards!

Fabulous cake!

Here are two angles of the toast…I couldn’t decide 🙂

David, this is it.  

Dance fever!

Enjoy the Honeymoon!