Then Comes Marriage

Happy Half Birthday Brayden B!

Posted on August 12, 2008 by drewb

My baby is 6 months old! It’s seriously crazy how fast time flies. But, what’s even crazier is how much one little person can change in 6 months. He went from being a little blob who did nothing but cry, sleep, eat, and poop to a little man who can smile, laugh, roll over, almost crawl, and jump. Well, he still eats and poops a lot, but now he has such a huge personality!

We went to the doctor yesterday and Brayden is 18 pounds and 14 ounces, which is only in the 80th percentile. He is 28 1/4″ long, which is the 95th percentile. And his head is 18″, which is also the 95th percentile, but that’s because he has a big brain!

I did a list of Brayden’s likes and dislikes a couple of months ago and I’m going to do that again this month.

Likes:

Trying to crawl

Bath time

Eating rice cereal

Spitting rice cereal all over the place

The breeze

Flying

His brother

Five Little Monkeys

Getting Tickled

JUMPING in his jungle jumper

Owen and Emma

Photo shoots with Mom

Obama

UCLA Football!

Admiring himself in the mirror

The Olympics!

His grandparents

Dislikes

Trying to crawl

Sitting Up

Elmo

Getting his nails clipped

Gas

Being in his car seat for too long

Anything USC

He’s still a really happy little guy for the most part. He’s getting harder to entertain and needs my constant attention, which makes getting any work done during the day next to impossible. I’m learning to really take advantage of any free time I have and get work done and not surf on the web!

I know what you all are going to ask. Where are the chair pictures? Here are the problems I have with the chair. He’s way too big to lay on it and he’s nowhere near sitting up. What I will probably do is put it in the background the next time I find a good place to take his picture. I’m going to try to do it next week, but I’m SO crazy busy right now that I’m not so sure that’s going to happen. We’ll see. For now, here is a photo shoot I just did with Brayden last week while he was trying to crawl.

He starts out happy…

And this is how he ends up after a few minutes

So then he goes into his jumper

And then after a few minutes he gets sick of his jumper and starts to roll around again

Happy 6 month birthday B! I love you!

Posted in Then Comes Marriage | 13 Comments

Mr. & Mrs. Van Blois

Posted on August 8, 2008 by drewb

Chuck and I were in beautiful Puerto Vallarta last October at Rita and Scott’s rehearsal dinner and we just happened to be seated next to Katie and Brad. It’s always a little awkward when everyone else knows each other and you know no one, but we struck up a conversation about college football and their recent engagement in Paris. Katie told us all about their beautiful wedding that they were planning up in Sonoma. At the wedding the next day Katie saw the slide show that I put up at the reception and told me how much she loved the pictures. Two months later I got a phone call from Katie’s coordinator asking me if I’d come up to shoot their wedding!

I’ve really loved getting to know Katie and Brad. I especially loved shooting their engagement session in San Francisco and loved that they got to show me around. Their only down fall is that they are Cal alumni. Every time someone would say “Cal” during the wedding EVERYONE would yell “GO BEARS!”. I really had to stop myself from saying “Go Bruins!” And on top of that I had to shoot an engagement session at Cal the very next day! More on that later.

I’ve been looking forward to Katie and Brad’s wedding at the Mayacama Golf Club and Katie’s custom gown, their awesome wedding band, and gorgeous flowers and decor. I was not disappointed. John James Floral Design did an amazing job turning an already beautiful venue into a spectacular venue. The band Tainted Love was IN-CRED-IBLE! They are a San Francisco based 80′s cover band and I (as well as everyone else) loved them! The dance floor was rocking. I only got stepped on three times and no bad bruises :) And the videographer Thomas Hughes was such a pleasure to work with. He shot Courtney Cox and David Arquette’s wedding! How cool is that? Thomas does a lot of work up north, but he is also in Orange County so check him out!

Katie and Brad, have an absolutely fabulous time on your honeymoon! Thank you for having me shoot your wedding! It was an absolutely beautiful day and I’m so thankful I was able to be part of it! Congratulations and here’s the slide show!

Katie’s gorgeous custom gown!

Katie and her beautiful sister, Jenny. Jenny had camera radar and turned to smile for the camera every time I tried to take a picture of her. Too funny!


Brad is such a gentleman. There are lots of stairs at Mayacama so he picked up my bag and carried it for me. Of course I didn’t want him to do that on his wedding day, but he insisted. What a great guy!

The flower girl got a little tired


The gorgeous reception!

Tainted Love = Best Wedding Band Ever

I loved their favors. Brad and Katie cookies! Sorry Brad. Your leg broke off :)

It was so cute. At the end of the reception Katie didn’t want it to be over and she started crying :( So sweet!

Posted in Then Comes Marriage | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Mr. & Mrs. Posard

Posted on July 28, 2008 by drewb

I’ve been a really bad blogger this week.  Being right in the midst of wedding season is crazyness!  This is my first weekend off in a while.  Well, not technically off, but just not shooting a wedding.  And next weekend I head up to Sonoma to shoot Katie and Brad’s wedding so I’m just trying to get prepared to be out of the office for a few days.

Okay, enough whining.  Onto the real reason I’m blogging today.  Julie and Mark’s wedding!  Their gorgeous wedding was held at the Four Seasons Westlake Village, which is really a fabulous venue.  I wasn’t even aware that there was a Four Seasons in Westlake Village!  It’s a new hotel with lush grounds and beautiful ballrooms.  I know Julie and Mark put a lot of hard work and time into planning this wedding and it was well worth all of the effort.  This was my first real Jewish wedding (I’ve shot a couple of weddings where they have used different Jewish traditions, but have never done everything).  I loved the signing of the Ketubah before the ceremony and the way the parents are so involved with that.  It’s always fun to see new and different traditions!  And of course I love the Hora!  I only got stepped on twice with no major bruises :)

Those of you who frequent my blog may have read a little of Julie and Mark’s story when I posted their engagement pictures.  Julie and Mark met at camp when Julie was 12 and Mark was 16.  Julie had a BIG crush on Mark, but Mark of course didn’t have any feelings for Julie at that time (because that would be creepy).  But over a decade later the two of them met again at a networking group in San Francisco and Julie knew exactly who Mark was when she saw his name tag.  How is that for fate?  Next to the cake the letter that Julie wrote to Mark after camp was displayed.  Can you believe Mark still had it?  They have such a story.  I love it!

Julie and Mark, thank you so much for including me in your wedding celebration!  You two did such an amazing job with everything.  I hope you are enjoying your time in Europe and relaxing!  Here’s the slide show!

All my brides have such gorgeous smiles!

Loved the flowers from Flora by Fauna!

The first look!

Right after signing the Ketubah, Julie’s veil is lowered.  I love these two pictures!

Gorgeous decor!


Hora!

Best groomsman ever!  I’ve encountered a lot of groomsmen who think they are funny, but they really aren’t.  But, this guy was hilarious!  He had everyone out on the dance floor, even my second shooter Tracy!  Tracy, don’t kill me for posting this picture!  

And I love how they ended the night.  With all their friends and family around them!

Posted in Then Comes Marriage | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments