On a rainy day in Santa Monica, we hid behind a tree and photographed Michael asking Mary to marry him.
Two years later we stood at the back of their ceremony at Westlake Village Inn while she walked toward him. Same two people. Same camera. A completely different kind of nervous.
What changes when it's the same photographer
Most couples meet their wedding photographer at a consultation, then again on the most emotionally demanding day of their lives. There’s a warming-up period built into that, and it happens on the day itself.
When we’ve already photographed your proposal, that feeling is long gone. We know how you stand when you’re nervous. We know which of you laughs when they don’t know what to do with their hands. You’ve already seen us disappear for twenty minutes and come back with photographs you didn’t know were being taken.
By the wedding, nobody’s performing for a stranger. That’s the whole difference, and it shows in your gallery.
Their story
They met online, both in the middle of medical residencies, both psychiatrists — people who spend their working lives paying close attention to someone else. Their first date was a walk through Tongva Park in Santa Monica.
That’s where Michael wanted to propose. Not somewhere with a better view. There.
It rained
It rained on the day he’d chosen, and he kept the date anyway.
We were behind a tree when they came down the path. Mary had no idea.
What stayed with us was her reaction. Not the hand over the mouth — most people have that one half-rehearsed without knowing it. Hers was less composed than that, and it lasted about a second.
Afterwards we walked. There was nowhere to be.
Nine months later, the same park
They came back in September for their engagement session, and brought Cindy.
Cindy is their dog, and she had opinions about which way they were walking, about a squirrel near the upper terrace. We worked down toward the pier as the light went soft. The frames with her in them are the ones we’d keep.
May 2024
Mary got ready at The Villa, below the circular staircase, in the light tall windows give you late in the morning.
The ceremony was at Lake Arbor — pillared arbor, white chairs, florals wound around each pillar. She walked through it and arrived somewhere she had meant to arrive.
Then the Provence Room. A harpist through the transition, the balcony over the water, a pale-walled ballroom that gives a photographer more than it should.
Near the end, nearly twelve hours in, we stepped into the private lobby off the ballroom. Fireplace, low light, the party audible through the wall. They leaned into each other the way people do once there’s nothing left to perform.
They're not the only ones
- Leslie & Alfredo — Bluffcove in Palos Verdes, then Rio Hondo by Wedgewood Weddings
- Sayori & Jordon — El Matador Malibu, then Casa Bonita in Fullerton, Orange County
- Rachel & Joseph — Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes, then JW Marriott Anaheim, Orange County
- Kaitlyn & Jacob — Bluffcove in Palos Verdes, then Dorner Family Vineyard in Tehachapi, California
- Cassidy & Hudson — Del Cerro Park in Palos Verdes, then Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles.
- Fatima & Evan — Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, then The Elms in Missouri.
If you're the one deciding
You don’t have to book your wedding photographer the week you get engaged. Most couples book nine to twelve months out, and there’s no reasons to be rushing through all these vendor hiring decisions with this short amount of time.
But if you liked how your proposal photos felt — that nobody told you where to stand, that you forgot anyone was there — that’s not a style we switch on for weddings. It’s the same approach, over a longer day.
And if you’d rather work with someone different for the wedding, that’s totally okay – just keep in mind, aside from the work displayed on the photographer’s website, it is more important to feel comfortable with the photographer you choose to work with on your most important day, and if possible, get to know the person behind the camera too, their likes and interest, not that it is a deal breaker if they like dogs and you don’t, these are information about someone who will be taking care of capturing your day, every moment and memories you will want to revisit year from now.
Planning the next part of your Wedding?
Tell us your date and what you’re picturing, and we’ll tell you honestly whether we are the right fit for it.
