Sacramento Perfect Wedding Guide - Summer 2012

Guess who has her first Sacramento print advertisement? That's right, THIS girl!  I'm excited to see this finally in print form, now that it has been discussed & debated for several weeks now.  I met a few people from the Perfect Wedding Guide team at the bridal shows that I did, and they were super helpful when it came to whatever questions I had.  Best of all?  It's free to all of the brides out there!  Be sure to pick one up, and check it out.  Page 165 is super awesome of course ;) but there is so much in this little book in case you are looking for one specific vendor, or all of them!

Michela & Tommaso Tower Cafe Wedding - Sacramento, CA

Michela contacted me two weeks before her wedding day. Yes, you read that right. TWO weeks! Even though it was so close to her wedding day, I agreed to meet up with her that week, just to see if there was even a smidgen of a possibility of making things happen for her, and boy am I glad I did. Hearing her story of how they met seriously sounded like something you hear in the movies. Girl travels abroad to study and meets a local Italian boy and becomes friends, but nothing serious. Girl comes home to California for a short while, boy follows shortly, and it wasn't until Girl goes BACK to Italy without him that they realize they are meant to be. Tommaso is her Italian boy who was willing to wait it out for her, and they have been together ever since! Both the bride and groom come from cultures with very large extended families - Tommaso from Italy, and Michela from China, so they decided to have a very small and intimate "first wedding" with close friends before having their next large weddings each for Tommaso's family in Italy, as well as Michaela's family in the future.
Their wedding day began in Old Sacramento, where we did their formal photos as well as a few groupings of their friends before heading to the venue for the ceremony. Train tracks were a special request from the bride, and Old Sacramento is the perfect place for those!This stop along the river was another request, since "they don't make buildings like that in Italy!"Love Love LOVE. When I make my gallery wrap samples, I have a strong feeling that this shot is going to be on one of them! I mean seriously, are they super cute or what?Tommaso's best man flew in from Italy to be here for the wedding, and as you can see, the boys were WELL out numbered! They didn't seem to mind one bit though :)The ceremony itself was held right outside Tower Cafe in Sacramento, and they went through and put up the archway themselves without Michela or Tommaso knowing! Before they knew it, it was time for their short and sweet ceremony to finally become husband and wife.The party then moved over to Tower Cafe, where there was toasting, dinner, and a gorgeous cake that yet again, Tower Cafe staff went above and beyond with being so gracious to this couple on their wedding day. I had never been there before but after seeing how amazing the staff and management were, as well as the delicious food, I would definetly go there again and again! Their wedding bands originally belonged to Tommasso's parents. Such a sweet gesture that they became their wedding bands for the lives they are just beginning to share together.

Michela & Tommaso - Thank you SO much for not hesitating to contact me on such short notice before your wedding day! I had a fabulous time with you two, capturing your "first wedding day" memories to last the rest of your lives! We battled the heat together, and you both looked fabulous doing so. Again, thank you, and I hope your next two weddings to each other are as special as your first :)

Devin - Class of 2012

Last week you saw part 1 of Devin's shoot, which was a more basic senior session. I'll preface this half with a little back story. Devin is a "hoofer", much like myself, and has picked it up as his specialty over the years. He will be graduating this year from Natomas Charter School, which is a school that has a very large focus on perfoming arts. Growing up, I somewhat envied my friends who got to go there, with their focuses on music, dance, painting, you name it! Even some of my previous ballerinas are graduating this year as well! I had Devin bring his tap shoes with him to his senior session, and while things started out pretty basic, in the end I had him moving all over the place to get the perfect shot :) I thought a more structured environment would be great for doing his tap portraits, and what could be better than my favorite Loomis Blue Goose? So many great textures and different levels for sitting, standing and tapping. I tried to get him to pose like Savion Glover, but boy does that man make it look way easier than it really is!I had such a great time photographing Devin both in and out of tap shoes, and was left with a desire to photograph more dancers. So believe me, after watching Devin tap down the stairs of the Blue Goose, there may just be another dancer project in the works! I cannot wait to photograph more seniors throughout the year. It's great to work with kids that are at such a great turning point in their lives. Good luck with the rest of your senior year Devin and class of 2012!

Devin - Class of 2012

I have known Devin for what seems like forever, and throughout that whole forever period, he was shorter than me! (readers that don't know, i'm 5'11"... no joke). I did a small chunk of his senior portraits when we had the studio set up for our dance recital portraits, and when I stepped up to photograph him, I nearly had to stand on my toes to do so! We carried on to do a more relaxed outdoor session a week or so ago, and despite the heat (and the insanely packed park) we found some great areas to work in! The park we were at had a small creek area, and before we fought our way down to the rocks, there was this small brick utility type building that proved to be an excellent background.t-shirts and jeans always make for an excellent casual senior portrait session. Especially if they help express exactly how you are at that point in your life! We headed across the road to the other half of the park with a small bridge and wood fence to get some photos of Devin in his suit. I'm sure he was plenty done once we did a few in the first outfit, but he carried onward without a complaint :) Make sure you swing by next week for part 2 of Devin's post. You'll get to see how I really make him work for his session ;) No really, it's right up my alley, and I'm super excited for it! Happy Thursday everyone.

Jacob - Class of 2011

From our long lineage of cousins (the whopping six of us) on my mom's side, I'm 99% sure we all lettered in something. Sure, I got my varsity letters in band, but that's just how I roll. My letters sit in a shadowbox in my room, attempting to gain oohs and ahhs from anyone who sees them. which is only me, but still. Jacob however, lettered in Cross Country, and got himself a letter man jacket. My aunt asked me to "document" this jacket, in case it ends up never worn... Which I hope isn't so! I expect Jacob to wear this thing 24/7! When we did the cap and gown photos of the two of Josh & Jacob, we also these. I needed a reason to bust out a chair, and I thought this would be perfect. And it was.see, I'm thinking this jacket will come in excellent use this summer... since we had so many random cold and wet days this past week... who KNOWS what june and july will have in store. flash floods perhaps? knock on wood...
Managed to even incorporate the back of the jacket in there! Although, I think his Viking person should have worn a tutu, or even some ballet shoes to show the dance side of his life ;)

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Katie & Kristin

10 weeks of ballerinas already? usually when it comes to photo classes, i'm dragging my feet along, and as soon as midterm hits, i'm kicking in to high gear to get my a game on and heading in for final portfolio. amazingly, this semester, i have been WAY on top of my shooting. which has made me almost feel more excited to spend my weekends photographing ballerinas back to back. like i said in the last two posts, these girls were SO much fun to work with. their pose ideas together were awesome! i loved how they totally turned memorial auditorium in to the backdrop for their "performance" bouncing ideas off each other left and right. if one couldn't get a pose just right, the other would try and then throw ideas back. probably my easiest and least directed shoot YET. great job girls. i hope you had a blast as well!

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Kristin

i have kristin to thank for the collection of ballerina's from the sacramento state dance department. i stayed after my history and appreciation of dance class to inform my professor about my project, and ask if she could lead me in the right direction of who i would talk to to find ballerinas in the dance department. Kristin just happened to be in the room as well, waiting to talk to her, and she pointed me right to her, and that was that! We met up a few weeks ago with Katie outside of memorial auditorium, and had a great time. working with two girls at the same time was SO fun, and i cannot WAIT to show you their partner shot next week!

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Katie

this is another appreciation for the sac state dance program week. i'm so glad i was able to get in touch with the in order to help me with this project! katie was one of the girls in the intermediate/advanced ballet class taught on campus, and i loved photographing her! she came with kristin early sunday morning (the day of daylight savings to be exact!) and rocked it out. in my mind i was imagining simple, stereotypical ballet poses, but between the two of them, they were bouncing ideas off of each other left and right, i didn't know where to begin! there were so many photos to choose from, it was hard to narrow it down. we met at the memorial auditorium, and even with only shooting at that one location, we were able to get TONS of different looks.