I am both speechless and in awe of how Teresa and Vinh's wedding day came together. It was an incredibly unique experience, and I was absolutely in love with the cultural traditions tied in throughout the day. While the couple currently reside in St. Louis, they successfully planned a gorgeous wedding in Houston, starting in the morning with a traditional Vietnamese tea ceremony and ending with huge banquet feast in the evening. Despite the busyness throughout the day, Teresa and Vinh are naturally very relaxed so some of my favorite parts are the in-between moments where we just laugh and let out a deep breath with each other. Congratulations Teresa and Vinh on not only a beautiful wedding day, but also a wonderful start to marriage. 

Venue: Kim Son
Church: St. Clare of Assisi
Dress: Enzoani
Florist: Prestige Events
MUAH: Kathryn Mai

Sigh, another proposal in the books! I have so much love for David and Jenny as they are two of the most genuine, kindhearted people I've ever met. I've had the pleasure of getting to know them these couple of years and being present to witness their lives transition from one season to the next. 

Now, before I transition into the photos, I can't help but share my part in all of this because of the hilarity and awkwardness throughout. While photographing a proposal may not be my first rodeo, the inevitable is that I can never predict what will actually happen. For some guys, they'll meet up with me at the proposal site to run through the game plan while they wait for their lady's arrival. For others, it's easier to disguise it as a date by arriving together while I hide myself in the bushes somewhere. (Honestly, 75% of the job is just me hiding and stalking...and being creepy). And that's exactly how we did it for David's proposal. 

The tricky thing about the 360 Bridge is that (1) there's hiking involved and (2) it's almost guaranteed to be crowded on a weekend. To add to that, it had also rained so we had to conquer muddy pathways, slippery rocks, and mosquito infestation. Once I established my position behind a bush, I pretended to be an Asian tourist while secretly photographing Jenny and David as they made their way up the overlook. Since it was crowded, David led Jenny into a narrow path towards his spot while I tiptoed behind them, half photographing, half trying to stay on the down-low. At first, it was easy to hide because we were still in a populated area, but since David's spot was deeper in the forest trail, it was becoming harder to stay hidden. At this point, I'm literally stalking them... 10 feet behind. So far so good though. After a few minutes, David finally settled down with Jenny on a ledge while looking out onto the lake. Me? I became a cafeteria for mosquitoes. Just imagine... a cute couple enjoying the view while in the distant background, a crazy woman is jumping around while simultaneously swatting and photographing. Clearly, I was doing a great job at hiding. Just then, David decided to bring Jenny back up to flat ground, where I was standing. Busted! I pretended to be surprised to see them, continuing my tourist facade, but like any woman being proposed to, Jenny's mind clicked, and this is where the photos will tell the rest of the story...

When I first started planning with Chris and Victoria about their engagement session, the two descriptions they gave me were "water" and "nature", and immediately I thought of Bull Creek Park. It was the perfect location to highlight their style of simplicity and capture the tenderness of their affections. All throughout, we had a great time laughing and chasing the sunset up until dusk, and the overall aesthetic was just perfect, especially when the sunset glossed over the water and created such a romantic glow! There's an obvious sweetness between Chris and Victoria, and I absolutely loved watching them as they interacted both during and in-between shots. They seriously make my job so easy, and I am beyond excited to photograph their wedding later this year in December.

P.S. Recognize Victoria from anywhere? She was a bridesmaid at a wedding I photographed last year! Click here to see it. 

MUAH: Rachel Hill Makeup

From proposal to engagement, I've had nothing but fun and laughter with Sean & Joseph. In honor of their one year anniversary coming up this weekend, here's their long-awaited wedding blog post! Thank you to the AMAZING team who made this possible and congratulations to the Pao-wu's. May every year of marriage be even sweeter and richer than the last. Sending you both lots of love!

Wedding Planner: Amy Nguyen Kerstetter
Venue: Clark Gardens
MUAH: Something You Beauty
Brides's Dress: Jenny Packham
Florals: Dr. Delphinium
Bride's Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Bridesmaids Dresses: Jenny Yoo
Groomsmen Suits: Macy's
Groom's Tux & Shoes: Suitsupply
Videography: ILC Films
Cake: Elijah & Maris Ochoa from Flour & Oil
Catering: Gil's Catering
Stationery Suite: Vivien Jordan

It was a beautiful Wednesday afternoon. I was photographing a newborn session when I saw that someone had left a voicemail on my phone. After listening to it several times, it finally clicked in my head that it was Tim, a new friend and client with whom I recently met, along with his fiancée, Jessica. As it had turned out, Tim's custom designed engagement ring arrived early so he decided he was going to surprise Jess with a proposal and asked if I could capture that moment.

It was a no-brainer in my head. OF COURSE I wanted to! Only, our phone call was five hours before his intended time so that meant Tim and I had to quickly draft a game plan before everything went down. But this is where I'll stop talking and let the newly engaged couple share the rest of their story... cheers!

---

TIM: Leading up to the proposal, my biggest struggle was planning something that didn't seem out of the ordinary and maintained the element of surprise. I gamed every scenario and luckily the engagement ring arrived a day before Jessica's 27th birthday, ahead of schedule. Originally, I had planned to pop the question during an everyday activity but realized that wasn't "us." From the inception of our relationship in Los Angeles, we always bonded over great meals, sushi in particular, and I knew I had to tie that into the proposal somehow. 

JESS: He's right - one of our favorite activities to do together is to sit at the sushi bar, talk with the chefs, and stuff our faces with nigiri. Tim knows the way to my heart - it's through my belly ha!

TIM: Since I had already made a reservation at Uchiko for Jessica's birthday (without the prior knowledge that the ring would arrive), I decided to enlist the help of the restaurant management and staff to help with the proposal. The one problem was I had never been to this venue before which made it very difficult to picture in my head how this would all turn out. I must have called the managers at Uchiko fifty times (likely once or twice, but in my head it felt like fifty...) to just go over the game plan and execution. 

JESS: Still impressed Tim managed to plan and pull this entire proposal off in basically a day. He does tend to work better under pressure... :) 

TIM: The whole plan was contingent on Jessica getting out of work early and getting her to come to the restaurant under the auspices of staking out a seat at the sushi bar. Victoria was kind enough to come early to the venue and review the plan and find a good place to hide out in the meantime. 

JESS: Ever since my parents gave their blessing for us to marry back in December 2017, we have been researching wedding photographers. We stumbled upon Victoria's page one day and reached out to her to meet for coffee. Based on our conversation and connection that day, we really wanted to work with her for our wedding. Apparently Tim called Victoria about 5 hours before our dinner and she was available to shoot the entire proposal!

TIM: Game on. I arrived at the restaurant and the staff warmly greeted us and put the plans into motion. Once set up on the cocktail patio, I calmly texted Jess that I had arrived a bit early and was "just getting a drink" to wait out our reservation. The cocktail waitress was prepared to videotape the whole event and even the surrounding guests were in on it. 

JESS: Hahaha "calmly". Well he did seem pretty calm over text. In person... not so much. :P

Tim: Since it was her birthday, I wrote a long note on a card and planned on presenting the ring just as she finished reading it. As most plans go, as soon as she arrived, she spotted Victoria, likely noticed I was sweating profusely, and my makeshift videographer was nowhere to be found. Luckily, she quickly emerged but somewhat awkwardly just started recording right in front of us (actually the footage is quite good). It was now or never...and I quickly got down on one knee, botched the most important speech of my life and presented Jessica with the ring. The sheer look of surprise, joy, and love from my newly minted fiancee made the entire process completely worth it. 

JESS: Side note: I really love receiving greeting cards and Tim always makes it a point to get me sweet, funny, and thoughtful greeting cards during birthdays and holidays. I still remember the perplexed look I gave the cocktail waitress - she just stood there with the phone recording saying nothing hahah. Tim did NOT botch the speech, it was actually very sweet. In my mind, I thought I was going to cry or jump into Tim's arms. Well, I felt like a deer in the headlights. I felt really stunned because I couldn't believe the actual moment was finally here. I was also caught off guard because the ring was so beautiful and exactly what I had hoped it would look like. Moments after I said yes to him... I awkwardly said aww thank you.... Hahaha here is someone professing his love to me and I am awkwardly thanking the guy. 

TIM: Now with the hard work out of the way, we toasted our proposal and took a few celebratory photos with Victoria. I am truly thankful she was able to photograph this occasion for us and share in our love story. We finished the evening seated at perhaps the best seats in the house and were treated like royalty by the staff. While the evening certainly didn't go exactly as originally planned, it was totally "us" in every way, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. 

JESS: It was very much "us". We did exactly what we love to do together: sit at the sushi bar, talk with the chefs, and stuff our faces with nigiri - both my belly and heart so very full and happy! 

Victoria: This was the EXACT moment that Jess spotted me, even though I was hiding behind a tree AND a bar cart. I call it "women's intuition".

Tim and Jess, I've said it about fifty times, but thank you again for allowing me the
opportunity to capture this milestone for you both. I loved the spontaneity and joy that we
all shared together. Here's to your forever. 

Thank you to all the staff and participants at Uchiko that day for helping us out.
We cannot be more appreciative of your care that evening. 

Here's the scenario: As a couple, you're spending quite some time researching, emailing, and interviewing with potential wedding vendors. In this case, let's say you found three different wedding photographers, they've all sent you their proposals, and after weighing in your options, you've decided to go with lucky number three. That's awesome because of course you want to do business with someone you connect with! But what to do about photographers one and two? Here's where it gets tricky, right? The easier thing to do (trust me, I'm guilty of it too) is to just drop the communication and hope that they get the hint. Most likely they will, but the truth is, there's a kinder and more polite way of doing this and that's simply letting them know you're declining their services. 

Seriously, we prefer it.
And please don't feel bad. You didn't do anything wrong. 

As a wedding photographer, I genuinely care about every inquiry I receive and put a lot of heart into the spent with working with each couple. I also understand that rejections are part of the job because I'm not always the right fit for every couple, be it style differences, budget reasons, or even personality disconnections. The reality is that you're probably considering two or more photographers, which only means someone's bound to be turned down. This sort of relationship can't be forced. I always appreciate a little courtesy note letting me know if you decided to go another direction. Perhaps it'll take more time out of your hands to communicate your decision, but I can tell you right now how much I appreciate that because of the time and effort we’ve invested together. I just want to know if you've changed your decision so I can reopen the wedding date to someone who really wants that date. Really, no hard feelings at all!

Lastly, if you're able to give me a reason why you're declining my services, please tell me. I want you to feel comfortable doing so because I want to keep growing. As we all know, writing a rejection feels awful, and it's absolutely normal for us to not want to hurt someone's feelings. But again, because I'm coming into this from a professional standpoint, your honest reason is actually very valuable to me as a vendor. That way, I can improve whatever might be an issue. Consider it sort of like a dating relationship. No one wants to be ghosted. Even if it's hard at first, we'd all rather hear the truth or reason than be left hanging!

With all that said, here's a sample email layout you can use if you're ever stuck in this situation:

"Hi (Vendor's Name), 

Thank you so much for your proposal and taking the time to walk us through your services. We've decided to move forward with another (photographer or any other vendor) that better suited our wedding (or any other reason - budget, personality, style, etc.). Thanks again for your time!"

That's it! Your email doesn't have to be apologetic or super long. In response, I'll congratulate you again and say thanks! In the end, I want you to work with a wedding team that can carry out your vision and dream. It's not always an easy process, but I just want you to know that we understand. If you have any thoughts, questions, or similar experiences, feel free to share! I'd love to hear more!