After all that Black and White extravaganza in Part I of Priscilla’s and Kellii’s engagement shoot it’s time to feast your eyes on some color again! Ladies and gentlemen if you will follow me please:
While they were kissing this crazy beautiful thing happened: Sun rays forming a perfect circle of light and love around them….
Priscilla and Kellii are so awesome, they literally made my job a walk in the park!!
Talking about chemistry- in their case you could almost feel the sparks fly between them…..! Honestly, there’s nothing better than photographing people in love!
I don’t care if I sound sappy at all!
Griffith Park was an easy choice for their engagement shoot, with the observatory representing old Hollywood and all the breathtaking wilderness around it.
As far as Part 1 of this engagement shoot is concerned, James Dean’s “Rebel without a cause” was apparently on my mind in a rather subliminal sort of way. How could it not be….!
And now, take it away!
Stay tuned for a very colorful Part 2 of Priscilla’s and Kellii’s engagement shoot!
I am so happy to share this bridal inspiration shoot with you today, you have no idea! The inspiration for this was born about 3 years ago, I am not kidding! Indulge me for a bit- so I found this to-die-for medieval revival dress at an estate sale in Pasadena and then I had a baby… Pause… Fast forward 2 years… You get the idea! The dress always reminded me of Guinevere from the Arthurian legend! You might have never guessed but I am a die hard romantic – I love the notion of eternal love!!!
I also love Art Deco. Art Deco was flirting with lots of various eras. You had eqyptian revival, mayan revival and medieval revival…! But I digress! If you will, the dress was the little spark that ignited a whole process- it quickly evolved into a very distinct blend of styles. Art Deco meets Camelot meets 70’s meets Hollywood! Rock’n Roll!
Spring, the season of longing, has always been my favorite. I grew up in Germany where we have long cold winters, as a kid I would go out into the forest in spring and gather the first flowers for a wreath.
Putting this shoot together was a dream. Everything fell into place or happened for a reason. Coincidence? I don’t know, but I will tell you this: Lady Luck was with us all along the way..!
We were very fortunate to use some breath taking Claire Pettibon and Anne Barge dresses, real diamond jewelry and super cool props from House of Honey( Please find a complete list of all the lovely people involved in this shoot at the bottom of this post) the weather was stellar and we did NOT get kicked out by the ranger, hurray!
Wow, so this turned into a real mission!- Romanticizing the short dress is one thing but coming up with some hardboiled facts or rather photos to prove its relevance is something else! It has become a full blown investigation on 2012 couture wedding dresses, resulting in a very small selection of personal favorites!
Let me just say, Marchesa blew me AWAY! Their dresses are everything you would ever want in a wedding dress: They graciously provide a narrative, a real manifestation of the bride’s personality! Incredible.
They are chic, smart and SEXY. Ridiculous! Ever wonder if your wedding dress will make a good reception dress? Make no mistake- This is it!!!!
Feeling faint? It’s that good , right???!!
With the one on the left you are channeling your inner flapper girl while the one on the right is charming as can be! Super super sweet, both of them
I can see a little nod to Coco Chanel in that left dress by Claire Pettibon, knee length with a long train, combined with breezy spaghetti straps- beautiful! And that feathered beauty on the right? So damn cute!
Here’s a little couture craziness from Lanvin!
Definitely not your run of the mill dress, eh? To say the least….!
If I noticed one Leitmotiv among those fall 2012 collections, it is the use of feathers! Everyone’s doing feathers! Reminds me of: “The incredible lightness of being”, a book by Milos Kundera that I read ages ago.
Hold on, I got more!
Love the sophisticated elegance of this gorgeous Monique Lluillier number! This is taking “Modern Classic” to a whole new level, Right?
I was checking out Vera Wang Fall 2012, but wasn’t feeling any of her short dresses.
Did you watch Black Swan like 50 times or do you secretly wish you could wear you still wear your little tutu..??? I got your back, uh dress!
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Designed by Barbara Leber, a hungarian designer in 2011, this is your basic Ballerina wedding dress with all the bells and whistles, just um, shorter.
Not nearly as short as this, though!
The real deal was designed by Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld in 2009 for real Ballerina Elena Glurdjidze, who also performed “The dying swan” in the same video filmed by Lagerfeld, watch it here: http://chanel-news.chanel.com/en/?s=dying+swan
Feathers, anyone? Supposedly there’s about 2500 on this tutu dress!!!
Meanwhile I hope you enjoyed my little wedding dress excursion, I sure did!
Got legs? What better way to show them off than at your wedding?! Right?! Imagine how your shoes will love the limelight! Like anyone will ever see them if you wear a long gown? Other than in those cute photos afterwards? Ha!
I have a confession to make: Being a wedding photographer with a fashion photography background, I’m actually really into bridal fashion! I love all the vintage inspired dresses, but can’t help wondering why the short wedding dress hasn’t gotten more attention in recent years?
This is what got me looking into the history of the short wedding dress a bit. It seems as if the short dress has always been a bit of the maverick of wedding dresses, worn by individualistic, nonconformist women. The gamut ranges from casual, playful to couture chic, and even soon to be seen ultra glamorous!
Undeniably so, the short dress is inherently sexy- Could that be the reason why most brides prefer to go with a long dress? Hmmm? Any thoughts on this?
Coco Chanel brought us the very first short wedding dress in 1920! It was knee length and had a long train. Revolutionary at the time, brides were less restricted in their movements, could show off them legs( so skandalous!) and still make a royal entrance/ exit thanks to the long train!
Once Coco had introduced the short dress, there was no turning back! A long succession of shorter dresses followed that became commonly known as”flapper dresses”, worn by various hipster girls of that era.
After that nothing much remarkable happened until the fabulous 60’s, when it was considered super hip to go short- Well loved by the Jet Set, chic movie stars like Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn rocked the short dress- When Mia Farrow married Frank Sinatra in 1966, she wore short as well!
Now that I got you hopefully interested in the short wedding dress, you might be wondering: Who the hell is making decent short wedding dresses these days?
Let’s see, shall we? In my next post, I promise, I will give you some truly mind-blowing, simply to die for short wedding dresses!
Spring is here!!! If you are like me, you get antsy and want to be outside as much as possible- I lucked out, since most of my shooting occurs outside anyway!
This image illustrates perfectly how spring makes me feel! Don’t you just love this crazy awesome belt?!? This and more radness to be featured soon is courtesy of http://www.houseofhoney.la ,this incredible interior design studio in South Pasadena. Everything in there is skillfully curated and spells great taste. If you ever need something really unique, check them out! Tamara, the owner and Kelley are simply amazing, I just can’t say too many good things about House of Honey!
A lot has happened since my last blog entry: I had a very nice feature in Grace Ormonde”s wedding style, needless to say I was super honored and excited- If you have missed it, don’t fret, you can still check it out by clicking on the Grace Ormonde Badge next to this!
I am beyond thrilled to shoot a sweet destination wedding in Italy in June and excited about a few other weddings that I booked- Each one is super special and I feel extremely honored and grateful that all these rad people chose me as their photographer!
It was one of those hot Southern Cali days, virtually too hot if it hadn’t been for a pacific breeze from the west. Scents of eucalyptus and rosemary mingled with sun tan lotion, thus bringing back childhood memories of long, carefree days at the beach embraced by the eternal Pacific Ocean, so intensely salty you could almost taste it. 
I need to backtrack a little- I had researched albums far and low, call me Miss Fancy Pants but I am pretty picky when it comes to albums and prints. I simply want my couples to have a true heirloom piece. Forever. That’s right. Nothing less.
I had looked through catalogues galore, had had sample books made- but I wasn’t really into anything. From my experience, compromises usually suck anyway! Everything I saw was either mediocre, squarish or cheap looking. I am not going to name any names, but hey, it was pretty appalling! Luckily I had gotten a major head start with this before I launched my web site, so I continued to search for the perfect album! Quest is a much better word, actually.
And then one day, Halleluja, I found Wildmagnolia Design, a refreshing young album company owned by amazing Rebekka Shostak! I met her and her master bookbinder Mariann over a coffee to chat- I was so curious about their work and was dying to get my hands on their books, quite literally. They had brought along some of the albums they had just finished and I knew I had hit the jackpot right when I saw them. Bingo! The albums were incredible.
All albums are masterfully hand bound – There are several options for end papers available and the print quality is super rad. On top of everything, the books are completely eco friendly and archivally safe. You just can’t get any greener than this with your album! I am not kidding. Wildmagnolia is profoundly dedicated to the environment. I love the hemp cover with a printed image- The album itself is beyond beautiful, super unique and just WOW WOW WOW, for lack of another superlative! I couldn’t be happier about it!
And now, without further ado, a few pages from Eileen and Harry’s engagement book:
The front album cover- Of course it had to be the chandelier that made this engagement shoot so special...
Rebecca came up with this super cool end paper- a subtle gold crumble!
FYI, “endpaper” is a term used for the paper you see first when opening the book
Well, you get the idea, right?! BTW, the primroses are from my garden!
This is how I handed it over to Eileen and Harry.
We will be starting to work on their wedding album shortly- Can’t wait!
Eileen and Harry got hitched on May 7th 2011! That day came around quicker than you could say “Wong”, the very name both shared even before they got married! Since their engagement shoot last November we had been in touch weekly and I knew they were getting a wee anxious shortly before their big day- Go figure, after all you don’t just hang out with 300 people on a daily basis! Boy, was I blown away by their composure throughout that day, they were like rock stars: Smiling for the camera and being super pro about posing for family members etc.. Had they started signing autographs, I would not have given it a second thought!
Eileen’s dress got so many AAAAAhhhs and Ooooooohs, it was ridiculous! Made out of 150 yards of silk tulle, it was so delicously delicate! For the ceremony, Eileen wore it with a long train and a sheer endless veil. A real dream of a dress, designed by Monsieur Robert Rodriguez, who also designed the flowergirl’s and the bridesmaids’ dresses
The rhinestone Louboutins were the perfect match for the dress- Real jaw droppers, the kind of shoes you just want to put on a pedestal, so damn gorgeous!
After getting ready at a friends house, Eileen and her girls dashed over to the Ambassador Mansions in Pasadena to meet Harry and his groomsmen for some fab photos…
The stately stairs of the Ambassador Mansion..
I love this shot, it felt like time had stopped for a tiny moment….
From there it was the First Congregational Church, where awesome Pastor Ken officiated the ceremony.
How Eileen managed to look so incredibly graceful even when her veil caught on something is beyond me- I would have inevitably stumbled and torn the veil…
Then again, Harry totally had her back, literally!
Robert Rodriguez- amazing couturist, Eileen’s boss and designer of the very dress was there in the flesh along with Eileen’s entire design team. 
Chandeliers galore, which one do you like best?
Last stop: Cicada, a beautiful Art Deco venue in downtown L.A.
At some point Eileen disappeared and reemerged wearing a traditional chinese wedding dress, adorned with a golden phoenix and dragon. She totally looked like Maggie Cheung from ” In the mood for love”, the beautiful atmospheric film shot by Wong Kar Wei.
She and Harry were holding hands while a traditional chinese lion dance was performed to scare away evil spirits and procure luck and good fortune!
For their honeymoon, Eileen and Harry went on a transatlantic adventure to Rome and Paris, had a fantastic time and apparently spent a lot of time at Paris’ Rue Saint-Honoré, Oh là là!
Voila, here’s your chance to see me at work! Actually, getting up super early was work, everything else was super fun! Watching this makes me wanna get a hair cut right this second, haha! Check out Eileen’s amazing gowns, designed by Robert Rodriguez who also happens to be her boss! BTW, Monsieur himself designed her couture wedding gown which I will feature here very soon- stay tuned!
