Drew B Photograhy

Natalie likes the cake and Scott likes the frosting. How much more perfect can two people be for one another? I guess that’s why they decided to get married

Natalie and Scott were married at the Villa de Amore in Temecula on May 3rd. This was the second time I shot at the Villa and it’s just breathtaking out there. It helped to have the amazing Jenny B as their florist. She made an already gorgeous venue even more beautiful. I always love working with her and not just because she brings me presents every time

It was my first time working with Kendra from Prima Events and I would highly recommend checking her out if you’re looking for a coordinator. I don’t recommend very many coordinators, but she did a great job of keeping everything running smoothly and attending to all the little details. She even went and bought more beer when they ran out after the cocktail hour. Yeah, it was a good party

Natalie is one of the sweetest brides I’ve ever worked with. She sent a card when Brayden was born. She helps me find things I’m looking for on the internet. She’s just a very thoughtful girl and I’m so happy her day was perfect. I’m also very excited to shoot their day after session in a couple of weeks! I hope you two are enjoying Maui! You two are awesome and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you! Enjoy your slide show!

The gorgeous dress

I love it when brides think outside the box and wear different color shoes!

Doesn’t she look stunning?

Scott and the guys aren’t too bad either

The reception details

Natalie had different bouquets for each of her bridesmaids. What a great idea!

The cutest flower girl and ring bearer!

Natalie choose Villa de Amore because of the vines, so we took advantage of them and got some great shots in the vineyard

Love the reception details

I love grooms cakes!

The first dance

Natalie being serenaded by her Delta Gamma sisters

They were pretty cool for being DG’s. D to the E to the L. L to the T to the A. T to the R. R to the I. Delta Delta Delta Tri! Sorry I couldn’t help myself. I’ll always be a Tri Delt at heart

Everyone really wanted this girl to catch the bouquet

And, guess what? She caught it. Need a wedding photog?

Everyone is having a baby! Shooting newborns is so much fun now that I’m not super scared of them! And it’s especially fun when I’ve been looking forward to meeting the little guy for so long.

Baby Julian is the first baby I’ve shot where I’ve also shot the babies parents wedding (does that make sense?). What I’m trying to say is, I shot Gina and Joel’s wedding in October of 2006. So, this was a very special shoot for me! Gina and Joel are probably my all time favorite couple. They are fun, cute, and so in love! And they are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Julian is truly a very lucky little boy. Julian was just 11 days old at our shoot. He tried really, really hard to be a good boy, but modeling is a very hard job. He didn’t love the warm house, but actually loved being outside in the wind. If it weren’t considered child abuse I would say Gina and Joel should move his crib outside and then maybe they would all get some sleep

Gina and Joel, thank you for trusting me with such important moments in your lives. I can’t even tell you how much it means to me. You two are already such amazing parents. I can’t wait to shoot your next little one’s newborn pictures XOXO

Gotta love little, wrinkly newborns!

Julian started to get a little cranky so Daddy played him some tunes

Gina and Joel weren’t planning on being in any of the pictures, but I’m so glad they did.

These next two pictures are two of my most favorite pictures I’ve ever taken. Little boys and their Daddy’s…

Gina is such a natural beauty

And we can’t leave out big brother Harper!

Snoozing away on the front porch

And here’s a little slide show. The song is the same song that Joel was playing on his guitar and it’s also the song that Gina walked down the aisle to. Aren’t they the cutest???

Because I needed another distraction when I should be editing, I am now on Twitter.  If you want to follow me and all my very exciting adventures you can do so here.  It keeps speaking Japanese to me.  I don’t know how to speak Japanese.  I don’t even like Japanese food.  Hmmm.  I’m still trying to figure it all out…

If I couldn’t be with my hubby on our 10 year anniversary, I’m glad I got to be with Natalie and Scott on their wedding day.  Such a gorgeous day and beautiful wedding out in Temecula!  And now we share an anniversary  Can’t wait to share all the pictures, but for now here are two of my favorite!

My life changed. 10 years ago today the boy that was my best friend became the man that I would fall in love with. The man I would marry. And the man that would become the father to my Brayden (and my Hauggy). I don’t think at 17 I could have ever realized how much my life would change for the better. Everything good in my life is because of him. He helps to make my dreams a reality. He’s my number one fan. He makes me feel safe when I’m scared. He listens to me when I’m “annoyed”. He loves me for me (and takes all my faults with it). He’s my Dawson and I’m his Joey. I’m his Drewbie and he’s my Tuck. I love him more than words can even describe.

Tuck, thank you for kissing me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being you. Thank you for letting me be me. 143.

Photo by the awesome Image is Found

Pictures by the amazing Jessica Claire

Yep, you read it right. The little guy who I shot on Monday has the coolest name ever! Drew! How cool is that? His mom Sarah and I had been emailing and I never even asked the baby’s name. But, when I pulled up to their house they had a big stork out front that said, “Baby Drew” and I knew it was meant to be!

Little Baby Drew was just 11 days old when he had his first photo shoot. His big brother, Wolfgang, joined us for the shoot as well. His big brother loves him and seems to be adjusting well. Mom and Dad are a bit tired (who isn’t with a newborn?), but you can just see how much they love their little guy. Bobby is a pediatric orthodontist and Sarah is a pediatric dentist so you know Drew is going to have the perfect smile!Sarah and Bobby, thank you so much for inviting me into your home. Drew is SO cute (how could he not be with that name?) and your love for him is so evident. He’s a very lucky boy! Below are some of my favorite pictures and a slide show.

Drew and his big brother Wolfgang.The family

Check out this awesome mural in Drew’s room! It goes around his whole room and into his bathroom. It’s really incredible. The artist is Sharon Anderson and her number is 714-404-6796.

Michelle and Shawn picked a very beautiful (and very HOT) day to get married. They were married at Michelle’s cousins home in Alta Loma and everything about the day was perfect.

The gorgeous flowers were done by Barb Short (626)-798-0221. Not only is she an awesome florist, but she is also very sweet. She gave Michelle a very thoughtful note and hankie. It brought Michelle to tears

The bridal party was so awesome. Michelle and Shawn are the last of their group of friends to get married so they were all very excited for them!

It was HOT! But, these guys were great sports and we ended up with these awesome pictures. Guys always love the Reservior Dogs pictures.

The gorgeous ceremony! I love backyard weddings.

I love a girl who’s not afraid to get her dress a little dirty. It’s going to get dirty anyways so you might as well get some fun pictures out of it, right?

My second favorite picture of the day

This one is my favorite. Another bride with a long veil. LOVE it!

I found the perfect field for Michelle and Shawn’s pictures. When we were heading down the road we saw a worker from the city putting yellow police tape around the field. We thought they were probably doing it because of fire danger. But, as we were walking out there the guy yelled at us and said there were swarms of bees all over the field! What is it with my luck lately? A mountain lion and now killer bees? I swear my next encounter will be with a rattle snake. Well, we drove a bit further and found this field. No bees, mountain lions, or rattle snakes. Just red ants. I can deal with red ants. And the light was actually much better here.

See what I mean about the light? Gorgeous!

I absolutely loved working with Michelle and Shawn. Michelle is so genuine and kind. She is going to make a great mom someday (hopefully sooner than later!). And Shawn cracks me up. They are perfect! Except that Shawn happens to be a huge fan of that other school in LA. Boooo!

Silver Service Catering catered the wedding. They made the best potatoes I’ve ever had. And I’ve eaten a lot of potatoes at weddings. No pictures of the potatoes. I should have taken a picture of them, they were that good. But, here’s a picture of the gorgeous cake!

I love this shot of Michelle and Shawn’s mom watching them during their first dance. Don’t they look so proud and happy?

The bridal party did such a great job with the toasts. If everyone laughs and cries then it’s a perfect toast.

The best man gave the worlds longest toast. It’s a good thing Michelle had already married Shawn because she may have just changed her mind when she learned about how Shawn caught his butt on fire while trying to light his farts. Yeah, I know. TMI. But, he’s a Trojan so I had to publicly humiliate him on my blog

And my favorite DJ’s, VOX, were there to keep the party going all night long. Even when the power went out during, “Please Don’t Stop the Music”. How ironic is that?

Michelle and Shawn, thank you so much for trusting me with your wedding photography. You two are truly perfect for each other and I’m so happy you found one another. Your wedding reminded me why I love what I do so much. You two are so lucky to have such loving and supportive friends and family. It was such a magical day and the perfect wedding! Thank you for including me! I hope you are loving every second of Costa Rica! Here’s your slide show to the most perfect first dance song ever. Congratulations!

I’m 2 for 2. Another absolutely fabulous wedding with another amazing couple. How do I get so lucky? No mountain lions today, but we did have an encounter with some killer bees.  Here are two of my favorites. More later!

So excited! My new baby cousin is here! We’ve been awaiting her arrival for some time now. Chuck’s Aunt Shari and her boyfriend Don brought her home this past weekend. She’s gorgeous with big brown eyes and sandy blonde hair. She’s a tiny little thing weighing in at about 5 pounds. She sleeps most of the time (as most newborns do) and really doesn’t make too much noise. And, she’s almost potty trained! At only 8 weeks! It’s going to be great for Brayden to have a cousin so close in age. They will get to grow up together. How fun! Here are her newborn pictures! 

Did I forget to mention that Charley is a dog? She’s a golden doodle and she’s the 2nd cutest dog I’ve ever seen! We’re so excited for Shari and Don to finally have a puppy of their own! It’s the best!

Funny story about her name, Charley the IV. When I was pregnant we were out to dinner with Shari, Don, Chuck’s other aunt Connie, and his Grandma. Everyone was asking us what we were going to name the baby. Chuck is Charles Frederick Bittel III. And while that’s a great name and all, I really didn’t want a Charles the IV. I had my heart set on naming him Brayden. So when we told everyone the baby’s name, his Grandma didn’t love it and Shari, being the antagonist that she is, kept saying that we really should name the baby Charlie IV to carry on the family tradition. I told Shari that SHE should have a baby and she could name him Charlie IV. Well, she did! And although the puppy is a girl, they just adapted the spelling to Charley IV. LOVE it! Now all the pressure is off of me and the family name is carried on

This afternoon Chuck, Brayden, Hauggy and I took a walk at our favorite park. I was scouting a cool field where I planned on shooting Jill and Brandon’s maternity session in a couple of weeks. However, we won’t be going to that park again. We’ve been going to this park since Brayden was a few weeks old and I love it because there are so many cool trails to explore. We were walking towards a dam with cool graffiti on it and I hear Chuck yell, “Pick up Hauggy and RUN!”. I scooped Hauggy up and ran for my life, which is really hard to do with a 25 pound dog when I haven’t run in ten plus months. I knew from the sound of Chuck’s voice that it was either a mountain lion or a deranged man with a knife. We ran down a hill and got off the trail. We realized that we were going to have to walk back towards the mountain lion to get back to the trail. So, we started yelling help. As we were walking on the trails earlier I was cursing the mountain bikers who would go zipping up and down the trails, but now I was so happy for them because they could get to us fast. Two mountain bikers got to us right away and they escorted us back to the park.

Chuck told me when we got back to the car that he saw a big brown thing in the bushes about 200 feet away from us. He didn’t say anything at first because he didn’t want to scare me and he thought it was just a coyote. But, then it started running towards us and jumped over the bushes. That’s when he saw that it was a big mountain lion. I’m so glad I didn’t see it because I think I might have been too scared to run. When I called my parents to tell them, my Dad said that we did the completely wrong thing and should have faced it and made ourselves “big”. Dad, the next time you get chased by a mountain lion let’s see what you do! We were just trying to save your grandson and granddog. I think once I picked up Hauggy it gave up. The whole thing was so scary. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened. I’m just glad it didn’t. The statistics say that you are 1000 times more likely to get struck by lightning than you are to get attacked by a mountain lion. But, today was close enough for me.

I don’t even want to think about little Brayden on his chair in the middle of that field (because I probably would have taken his 3 month pictures there) and a mountain lion jumping out of the bushes or if I would have had pregnant Jill all the way out there who wouldn’t have been able to run. I’m going to start carrying pepper spray with me so at least I will feel a little bit more in control if I were in the situation again. I’m bummed because I lost one of the coolest locations to shoot at, but I will just have to find another one. Any suggestions for my maternity shoot?

And to make everyone happy after my scary story, here is a picture of Brayden Bittel. He was 4 weeks old in the picture. I love his toothless yawns! The shirt was given to him by my friend Jamie. He was supposed to wear it on Valentine’s Day, but he was still in the hospital. By the way, he slept through the whole ordeal. Even with Chuck running for his life he stayed totally asleep in his Baby Bjorn. Crazy kid misses all the fun adventures!