Posts tagged wedding photojournalist
Smogshoppe wedding; Covid Pandemic marriage First, then BIG Celebrations! - Stacey & Greg

Stacey and Greg got married during COVID pandemic at Honda Civic Center's Parking lot, and then threw a 3-day #wedding celebrations with their loved ones at #TheCulverHotel and #Smoggshope in Los Angeles. We're a team of #weddingphotojournalists and wedding documentary filmmakers, based in Los Angeles and San Diego, California. We're also experienced destination wedding photographers and #weddingvideographers

 

In the midst of COVID pandemic lockdown, Stacey and Greg couldn’t wait to get married.

So they did it one witness (their friend) in the parking lot of Honda Civic Center. The above 10-minute-long wedding film tells a great story about their love, the spontaneous civil ceremony with their masks on, and then finally 3-day-long wedding celebrations with their loved ones 2 years later in Los Angeles, California - at The Culver Hotel in Culver City, and at Smogshoppe in Los Angeles.

I hope you’ve sat through the entire film and felt all the emotions.

Stacey and Greg are the sweetest couple I’ve ever met and people who I’d personally love to keep in my life. Their gesture and appreciation towards “small things” in life is very admirable; “nothing is too small to celebrate,” they say.

As a couple they value supporting each other’s dreams, growth, and joy. They love being with and hosting friends, and they travel to new places, and their favorite activities are eating, strolling through residential neighborhoods, and visiting cemeteries.

“We like to think we’re pretty laid-back, but we also are chronic over-committers. There are too many things we want to do and too little time!” Stacy says. And I, too, am feeling the same way about life in general.

Stacey has two sisters. Her dad is originally from China and her mom was a refugee from Myanmar and moved to San Francisco as a young adult with her parents and 8 other siblings. Chinese was not her first language but she was ethicially Chinese so could communicate with her dad in Chinese. Her mom died pretty suddenly from cancer when Stacey was 10 years old. And our filmmaker Ailin made a little teaser of the wedding film where you could feel her presence everywhere.

The celebration highlight was at the end - a wedding tradition from Greg’s family side, which family members “surprise” or mess with the newlyweds by “decorating” their car on the wedding day. They secretly decided to fill up their Honda CRV with colorful balloons and cover the entire car including windows with colorful post-its. Then they threw some confettis and baby dolls inside of the car. I almost missed this because I had already left the venue as everybody left, but guess what? I had to go back to the venue because I forgot my camera batteries and charger, and so luckily we got to witness their struggles with peeling off all the post-its and clearing space inside of the car. It was purely amazing that I got to capture their family wedding tradition. That was seriously the best ending to their night. xoxo

 

Tribute to mother. Remembering and feeling her presence on the wedding day.

Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona Wedding - Emma & Farley
 

On their wedding day, October 14, 2023, there was an annular solar eclipse will cross North, Central, and South America. It was visible in parts of the United States, Mexico, and many countries in South and Central America, and we couldn’t help but photographed the beauty which will be back 70 years later in Tucson.

Emma works in climate change at a science museum in San Francisco, and Farley is a musician and music historian. They love to listen to college radio, go to shows, and are starting to play music together as well.
Emma was born and raised in Tucson, where her mom still lives and where she has a lot of community; hence, the wedding ceremony was be at a site out in the desert in Tucson Mountain Park, and the reception at the Tucson Museum of Art in historic downtown Tucson. Her best friend bought an old adobe near the museum downtown which was where she got ready.
Emma and Farley have both moved around a lot. After college, she moved around doing climate organizing work, settling for a while in North Carolina where she worked on a campaign to shut down a coal plant. Farley moved to Oakland and then Montreal, studying experimental electronic music performance and musicology. They actually went to the same college for undergrad and knew 'of' each other but weren't well acquainted. Farley was busy playing in bands and she was busy with activism and taking too many Econ classes. There is one photo of them at the same party- 4th of July 2009 at the Grant St. House. There was a super soaker fight that Farley couldn't join because he had to be at his radio station job right after. They then reconnected in Berkeley when they’d both moved to the Bay to be closer to family and were feeling a little aimless. Before marriage, they lived together with our cat Lollie and Farley's older brother, in the old house his brother was born in that is now held together by magic and duct tape.

Brett and I traveled to Tucson the day before the wedding, photographed their wedding with our hearts out. And here is some words we received from them;

“The photos are absolutely gorgeous, you and Brett were amazing We could not have asked for more incredible photographers or sweeter people to capture the day!! Our guests totally loved meeting and partying with you- I’m wishing you were front of the camera!! You guys captured everything so beautifully. We just can’t thank you enough (okay now I’m crying a little).  Please also if you’re ever up in the Bay we’d love to take you guys out for a drink/dinner (for real though.) We love you!! Thank you so much”

 
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico Wedding, Shelby + Perry
 

San Miguel de Allende in Mexico has a very very special space in my heart. That’s where Brett and I first met working together and where we have traveled to the most, so whenever there’s an opportunity given to me to go back there, I’m certainly SUPER delighted to do so. This time, it was for Shelby and Perry’s wedding.

Beautifully planned and decorated by Penzi Weddings, and assisted by a wonderful photographer Daniel Aguilar, their wedding held at the iconic Rosewood San Miguel de Allende.

Shelby is a teacher while Perry works in finance; she attracts people with her kindness and excellent leadership while Perry is calm, “corky” (according to a wedding guest) and smart and will do just about everything Shelby wants. They love traveling and have seen a lot of the world. She’s born and raised in Midland, TX, and Perry was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX. They believe unique cultures are what makes the world go around, and they truly love celebrating everything about life. <3