Emily & Will's wedding~Pacific Grove

First sight at the beach.

Lover's Point... grassy park with beautiful views of the Pacific coastline.

One fine day filled with much laughter and tears.

The goofy ring bearer having some down time.

Introducing Gatherings, one lovely bouquet-type venue bulit in Victorian era. Perfect for small intimate party where you can find nice company at every corner.




The final kiss at their first dance.

Thanks for being such a great couple to work with, Emily & Will. Love you~

All about play and love

Farewell 2008

I meant to write this before the year ended, and oops, December just slipped away in no time. So...

I'm SO grateful for all that I've achieved in the past year. Had the privilege to work with many many wonderful couples who had given me the real experiences to learn (re-learn) about love. Very special thanks to some of my awesome brides: Callie, Rachel, Gondica & Stefania. Spending my saturday at your biggest day in life is a gift in and of itself. My life has been enriched because of all of you.

I'm most thankful for all the TRUST you all have given me. It's an amazing feeling when someone let you know how much they love working with you. You all have energized me to produce more powerful and satisifying work in the years to come.

One by-product I didn't expect was about meeting some wonderful vendors all over the bay area. These are the people who utilize their talents in simliar ways as I do and that we've found connections and friendships amongst ourselves. These are also the ones who have helped discover my gift beyond my realization.

Debbie @ Gatherings, Pacific Grove (Venue Owner)
http://www.montereycatering.com/
Tiana @ Allied Arts Guild, Menlo Park (Event manager)
http://www.alliedartsguild.org/
Justin & Kisty @ In The Mix 916, Sacramento (Music)
http://inthemix916.com/
Mike @ Dorian Productions, Sacramento (Music)
http://www.mikeaskew.com/
Cael & Deana @ Reel to Real Productions, Sacramento (Videography)
http://www.reeltorealvideo.com/
2009 is already here, and is already good...

Lena & Donovan's wedding~ San Francisco

One word to describe Lena and Donovan... super. Lena- super organized & talented (how often do you see a bride sing at her wedding?). Donovan- super relaxed & presentable (how often do you see a groom do a power-point presentation at his wedding?). What's more, they had a super massive wedding party, super tight schedule on a super gorgeous day in San Francisco. Even Daly City was sunny & bright that day, for those who know what it's usually like :)

Lena's first sight with Donovan

A moment of Donovan being amused by his best man's speech.

Donovan put together a powerpoint presentation, sharing the data he collected about the demographics of their peers, the RSVP... all that worked to my benefit of capturing lovely candid moments of everyone.

Garrick is 1!

Garrick is the first child of two of my favorite friends. Little Garrick went through an emotional NICU experience in his first couple of weeks of life, which made his first brithday celebration a really memorable one for the family.

This picture was taken when Garrick was held in his mom's arms.. he taking a peek out the window to watch for daddy's return in the rain. An utterly precious moment when I almost felt like I had stopped breathing while taking this shot.

I was so in love with the look I decided to make it as a christmas postcard, to remind others how precious life is and what the real meaning of Christmas is all about.

Toastmasters International

For the past two years, I've had the honor to help Toastmasters International in photo shooting at their local conferences and contests. This is an organization where you can find the most motivated individuals from all across different professions. Among those faces you see their utmost desire to bring themselves to the next level. Well, giving speeches is definitely the last thing I want to do in my lifetime. I’m happy enough to sit and listen to all the empowering speeches with my camera in hand… and sometimes I get so taken away by the messages I simply forget to press my button…

The tricky thing about shooting for TM is that I can’t be distracting and I can’t shoot when the contestants are giving speeches. But what I can do is to capture the moments of the audience when they're utterly drawn by their learning experiences…

Don was one of the featured speakers this year. At the age of 92, he’s been a TM for 51 years… imagine that. My jaw kept dropping as I listened to his stories and triumph…

Some nice quotes I've learned this year:

"We're only limited by our imagination."

"Leaders always anticipate the needs they serve."

"Today's success is the result of good judgment.
Good judgement is the result of experience.
Experience is the result of bad judgement. "