Halfway through planning their big, expensive wedding, Sarah and Zach did what a lot of couples find themselves doing: they turned to each other and said, “let’s just elope instead.” Most couples probably don’t go through with the idea, but for Sarah and Zach, it quickly became reality. With their families’ blessings, they flew from their home in Florida…
Cake party! We had such a lovely shoot with these wooden cake toppers from Brown Fox Calligraphy, cakes decorated by my friend Andrew Chao, and florals by Hawthorn Flower Studio. Here’s a little glimpse at our three pretty cakes below: Vendors: Cake toppers: Brown Fox Calligraphy Cake: Andrew Chao Florals: Hawthorn Flower Studio Venue: Berkeley City…
I was thrilled to help Melanie of Hawthorn Flower Studio photograph a floral lookbook for her new marketing collateral. One of my favorite venues, The Berkeley City Club, provided the perfect setting for our shoot. See it all below: What a privilege to work with such talented friends! See more of Melanie’s floral work at…
I first met and photographed Shawna six years ago, when her first book Water Ghosts had just been released by Penguin Press. Now her second novel has been completed and is available for preordering: Green Island. The book has been Shawna’s labor of love over the last decade and is a work of historic fiction set against the backdrop of Taiwanese and…
One of the best things about being in the wedding industry is finding other vendors whom you just love to work with and collaborating together on all sorts of projects. In the past few weeks, I’ve connected with my friend Brianne of Brown Fox Calligraphy to help her photograph some of her beautiful pieces, and I also attended one of…
First of all, a big congratulations is in order for my friend Brianne who, as of this week, is now a full-time calligrapher! We met only recently through a mutual friend of our shared alma mater, but we hit it off right away, and we’ve been thinking up all sorts of collaborations ever since. Check out Brianne’s…
Located just two hours south of San Francisco, Monterey makes for a perfect day trip from the Bay Area. I’ve been lucky enough to visit Monterey Bay four times in the last year, for a variety of reasons, including weddings and personal trips. This March, when I was down in Monterey for a couple days, I visited the Monterey…
I’m not a very outdoorsy person by nature. Lacking in athleticism, having no survival skills, and having a general dislike for insects makes me pretty useless for most intense outdoor activities. But walking through pretty nature? Yes. That I love. Back in March and April, I got to go on four different hikes around the…
My thirtieth birthday party was half a year ago, but the celebration continues. After being featured on Style Me Pretty, my photographs got picked up for publication in this beautiful Australian magazine, Hooray! Magazine. It’s filled with large photographs, and I got three-and-a-half spreads for my images. There’s nothing quite like seeing your work… or…
One month ago, we were all gathered in the beautiful backyard garden at my office in San Francisco, dining under the string lights and kicking off my 30s in style. My party is now featured on Style Me Pretty, which is usually known as a wedding blog, but showcases lifestyle posts too. You can view…
Today, we take a little break from the midst of wedding season to head up to Sonoma Valley for a harvest celebration, California-style. It was actually last week that I made this little day trip with my friends Tiffany and Dan. We spent the day touring and tasting at four different wineries– all part of…
They met at the CIA (the Culinary Institute of America and not the Central Intelligence Agency). They had grown up across the country from each other, Ashley in Pennsylvania and Chad in Las Vegas, each with a wide range of interests. But their love of cooking drew them to California. They bonded over food, laughter, and wine,…