Arriving at the Millennium it’s always such a joy to see wedding coordinator’s Krista Bossie’s smiling face! Another smiling face awaiting us was Rich Mancini – DJ extraordinaire from Music Doctors… such a great guy. He was already setting up for some beautiful ceremony music. The wedding party was one of the largest we’ve photographed in a while. With the couple deciding to forgo a “before-ceremony-reveal” and wait til afterwards, we had fun running around with the 9 groomsmen and the groom. What a fun group of guys! And Dan, our groom couldn’t have been a nicer guy. Back at the girls’ headquarters in one of the casitas, Karen was getting busy with hair and make up. She looked amazing! So did her mom, sister and all her girls. And one of the most touching moments of the day was a special tribute to Karen’s father who passed away recently. Karen’s sister stepped in and walked up the aisle with her instead. It was beautiful. Congratulations Karen and Dan!

It is already an honor to be a part of http://www.ispwp.com/  The organization with strict membership guidelines, features some of the best photographers in the world.  In the Spring 2010 photography contest we placed 2nd in the “Family Love” category and in the “Bridal Party” scored 6th.  Check ‘em out.

People have been asking lately why don’t we post our engagements on our blog? We should really!! Good question. Mostly because we get a little backed up trying to make sure we feature every wedding. So here are a handful of some of our favorite engagement photos from the last year. For those brides that often ask what they should wear on the day of the engagement session – I believe this should provides lots of ideas. As you can see, some get dressy, some go casual. We tell our clients….”feel free to bring a change of clothes.” We allow plenty of time for an outfit change or two. As you can see from these engagement photos, we love finding beautiful light – so for those who ask what time of day should we plan for – One Fine Day’s photographers love shooting at the “golden hour”.. the hour of day when the sun is starting to get low on the horizon. I like to tell our workshop students that positioning your subject between you and the sun creates beautiful backlighting or as some would call it “a natural hair light”. We also like to shoot with “prime” lenses or long lenses with the widest aperature possible 1.2, 1.4, 1.8 or 2.8 in order to achieve total sharpness on our subject, with lots of diffusion or “blur” in the background. We also like to look for reflective surfaces like white sidewalks, shiny buildings, even as you can see in a few of these pictures… a man’s white shirt can reflect beautiful light onto his fiance’s face when he is standing close to her. So when people ask me if it is okay to wear a white shirt for an engagement session, I say heck yes!!

It is always such a joy photographing weddings at Villa Siena. Such a gorgeous property. And on this particular spring day, such a gorgeous bride! Katie looked amazing on her big day. And her groom Joe was so much fun. He definitely took everything in stride, making sure everyone had a great time. And the bridesmaids were so “pretty in pink”… Congratulations Katie and Joe!

Doug Williams always has a blast shooting One Fine Day weddings. We both had the pleasure of meeting Julie more than a year ago. Such a beautiful woman, inside and out. And it was definitely reflected in the pictures. We hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Chris before-hand, but Doug kept raving about what a GREAT guy he was. “I really loved that bride and groom – they were so awesome!” he kept raving in the days afterwards. “I want to photograph them again!” he repeated a couple of times. The wedding setting was beautiful, held one of the beautiful terraces at Desert Botanical Gardens. All the details – linens, flowers, placecards, glassware -everything was so beautiful. And of course, it was a joy working with Victoria Canada, with Victoria Canada Weddings and Events. Congratulations Julie and Chris!!