Weddings Archive

Junior and Yvette – Grace Lutheran Church/The Westgate Hotel

 

This is a special wedding for me because Yvette and I met on an online planning website and we were pretty much the only two January brides on there!  So we have seen each other through the full planning of both our weddings!

Yvette really had a dream team of vendors!  The whole day was smooth thanks to everyone involved, especially Brenda Swann, coordinator extraordinaire! 

I’ll make a full list of the vendors at the end of this post and I will let the photos do the talking!

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My first visit to the Westgate, I saw this hallway and just knew I had to shoot there!

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Possibly my favorite image from the day. So candid, you can just feel her anticipation!

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The sun was long gone by the time the ceremony was through.  But we pushed through as much as we could with the little light left! 🙂

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Junior is quite a personality!!  Its rare that he takes his sunglasses off, I think this photo fits his personality perfectly!

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Love it!

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Another classic Junior face

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This is such a great photo of Junior.  99% of the time he is “on” so when you can grab that one percent…it is so genuine. 

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Fit for a Princess…

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Last few minutes of the night 🙂

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Yvette and Junior, it was great getting to know you two!  I hope you had an amazing honeymoon at Disneyworld!  Thank you for trusting me with your most important day!
xoxo, M
PS Big thanks to my awesome assistant, Aaron!
Ceremony Venue: Grace Lutheran Church
Reception Venue: The Westgate Hotel
Coordinator: Brenda of Swann Soirees
Florals: Linda with Something Borrowed
Dress: Edgardo Bonilla
Shoes: Stuart Weitzman
Photographer: Melissa McClure Photography with 2nd shooting by Aaron Thompson
Videographer: Jerry with Cloudbreak Films
Paper Goods: Cathy at Love at First Invite
Transportation: Rolls Livery Service
Officiant: Pastor Mike
Cake: Sumi’s Oven
Hair/Makeup: Trisha Vine/Maggie Hansen (contact me for their emails)

 

Enjoy your Slideshow!

 

Alex and Yana – Admiral Kidd Club

 

Yana and Alex were married on Monday at the Admiral Kidd Club.  But hours before the ceremony, I learned about a lot of Russian tradition!  Let me backtrack.

Yana is from Russia.  Alex studied there years ago and they fell in love.  Fast forward to December 29th. 🙂  Long story short.

In Russia, it is a tradition for the groom to go on a Scavenger Hunt (Or also called Paying the Ransom) to bribe (pay money to) the friends and family of the bride to give her away.  Wikipedia explains it a bit here.  Alex had to answer different questions, do Russian related tasks and even call out loving words to Yana.

Some details of the elaborate set up!

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He had fake snowballs thrown at him that had Russian sayings on them. He had to translate them!

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Alex’s brother drew this fantastic photo of him!  He had to guess the lipstick mark of his betrothed! 

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And answering questions about Yana.

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He did it!  He found his bride 🙂

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After that, we all headed to Cuvier Park for some fun photos!

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And one more stop at Pt Loma Nazarene University, where Alex graduated from!

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The final stop of the night was to the Admiral Kidd Club for the ceremony!  They were so excited for this part 😉

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The first dance was a traditional Russian dance.

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Lots of toasts is also common at Russian weddings.  But it is also in America too. 🙂

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The dance floor was packed the whole night!  DJ Bill Calhoun kept the music going! 

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The groom’s nephew cracked me up the whole night! 

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Night view of downtown, what AKC is famous for 🙂

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Yana and Alex, the wedding was so beautiful and intimate, I had such a great time!  Thank you for including me and David!

A huge thank you to David Baxter for coming to shoot with me!  You rock, of course!

XOXO, M

Enjoy your Slideshow!!

Gideon and Crimson are married!

Gideon and Crimson were married the Saturday following Christmas.  Its was a beautiful emotional ceremony.  I even admitted to shedding tears.  Twice.

The morning started at the Ayres Hotel in Orange County.

The beautiful bride getting her makeup done!

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Here is a fun little thing. This first shot was taken by my assistant, Chrystal (website coming soon).  The shot below it was taken from my point of view! 

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The couple opted for a first look.  It was a very intimate moment even though their entire bridal party was only yards away!  Gideon was so nervous!

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We headed over to a local park for some sunny photos!

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I love that the ladies all wore different red dresses!

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On to the church!  This is what Gideon saw…

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Crimson’s view!

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I mentioned tears, didn’t I?

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And at the Laguna Hills Community Center:

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Lots of laughter, live music, more tears and a room full of love!

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Gideon and Mary, thank you so much for your patience!  This blog is a bit overdue because of a little trip I had to take! 😉

You two are so perfect for one another, I love that you met each other in the Philippines and then went back again this year for another Mission trip.  Your dedication to each other is amazing and are a couple to be looked up to!

xoxo, M

Please enjoy your Slideshow!

 

Kyle and Ann – The Prado at Balboa Park

 

 

Ann knew me in my awkward stage.  If I had a photo of me during those years, I would post it, but I have good reason to believe they have all been burned.

Well, not all of them.  Ann kept the copies and proudly displayed them (along with others from her life) at her wedding.  When I showed Nic the photo of Ann and myself at 14 years old he asked “Who is that”?  Yeah, you can say we’ve changed a lot.

I admit this wedding was an extra special one for me.  With Ann being one of my oldest friends and Kyle being her PERFECT match, I got extra emotional at the ceremony.  I’m just glad that I wasn’t facing Ann, I would have really lost it!

We started out at the US Grant Hotel downtown

Both Ann and Kyle have quite a few nieces and nephews. Maddie and Ashley are two of the many! 


 

Because it gets dark so early in the Winter, Ann and Kyle decided to see each other beforehand to take all their photos.  Ann’s nerves calmed as soon as she was headed to see her love!

Wowzers!

 

The ceremony site at the Prado was just beautiful! Lauren-Michele Seals presided over the vows. 

Can you believe this fabulous cake??

Seeing her black and pink theme made me re-think my own wedding colors! (Don’t worry Mom, no major changes this late in the game!)

Mmmm who can resist white chocolate chips??

Ann and Kyle, I love you two very much and am so glad you are part of my life.  I feel priveledged that you wanted me as part of your big day!  You two totally deserve each other, I look up to both of you for the amazing relationship and bond you have together. 

XOXO,

M

BIG thank you to my wonderful assistants from last Saturday, Vanessa and Nic!  You two rock, its always a pleasure hanging out…I mean working with you!  

Enjoy the slideshow!!

 

Kyle and Dana – Lanesville, Indiana

Last Saturday was cold. And not throw on your sweatshirt and drink cocoa cold. It was, if you don’t have a scarf and mittens your limbs might fall off, cold.

Ok I might be exaggerating.  But this California girl isn’t used to the Midwest weather anymore!

The wedding was held at the church where Dana grew up.  She actually went all through 8th grade at the school where they got ready and held the reception!

Dana was very calm the whole day, even while getting her hair and makeup done!

Love colored shoes!

 

Since they got ready in the school, I went along with the theme!

 

 

Abby, Dana and Hattie!

 

 

 

And the handsome groom, Kyle.  We have known each other for about 4 years now.  He is actually a photographer as well!

This was all the groomsmen idea!  They had a fun time with this stop sign! 

Bobby, Kyle and Lonnie.

Uniting.

 

I convinced them we had to go outside for at least 5 minutes.  In between shots, Lonnie (the groomsman) had a fleece blanket that he would wrap around Dana!  You can see it in the slideshow!

 

See..it was worth the cold! 😉

 

 

 

 

I had such a fun time during my 4 days in Indiana.  I love seeing different parts of the country.  Thank you to Dana and Kyle for having complete faith in me!  I wish you two the happiest life together and I will see you in a month when you visit Cali!

xoxo, M

ps Big thanks to Alicia for driving down to shoot with me!

 

Enjoy your Slideshow!

 

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