Drew B Photograhy

Nikki and Jeff’s wedding was full of unique elements that made for such a fun day! A vintage Porsche, a boat, and a cathedral length veil. Need I say more?

The day started off overcast and the weather forecasters promised drizzle, but as soon as we stepped outside to start Nikki’s pictures the sun came out to make Nikki and Jeff’s wedding day perfect! Nikki and Jeff were married at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Newport Beach. They left in style in Jeff’s Dads vintage Porsche! From there, the bridal party took a boat to the reception at the Balboa Bay Club. Talk about style! Most people get a limo, but Nikki and Jeff got a boat!

I’ve been so lucky to get to know Nikki and Jeff over the past few months! Their families are both so kind and welcoming and I feel so honored to have been part of their special day! A very special thank you to Brigid and Dave for the referral! It was great to see you two and I’m glad married life is treating you so well!

Nikki and Jeff, I hope you two are having an awesome time in Cancun and Jamaica! I can’t wait to hear all about it when you get back! Below are my favorites from your wedding day and a slide show! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Leeper!

The girls got ready at Jeff’s parents gorgeous home on the Newport Beach peninsula.

All of Nikki’s jewelry were family heirlooms. Her garter has been worn by several women in her family. How cool is that?

Nikki’s Mom made her veil! It was so gorgeous! I love working with cathedral length veils.

Nikki’s flowers were done by Planit Floral and Event Boutique. So gorgeous!

I love the area behind Jeff’s parents house. It’s photographer heaven!

Nikki was such a stunning bride.

My favorite shot of the day! Actually, it’s probably one of my most favorite picture I’ve ever taken. I love everything about this shot!

 

The ceremony

Mr. & Mrs. Leeper!

Leaving the ceremony in style!

The guys were looking great!

I love how everyone is always so happy when they see a bride and groom! Everyone was honking their horns and yelling congratulations. It always gives me goosebumps!

Nothing says, “Just married” like a surrey with fringe on top!

Love these pictures on the boat

Nikki and Jeff’s grand entrance at the Bay Club

The first dance

Love this shot with Nikki and her Dad

And here’s the sparkler shot again just because I love it so much

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Earth Day! There’s always more that each of us can do to help our environment. Here are a few things that I do for my business to make it as “green” as possible:

I reuse the boxes that prints are shipped in. So, you will probably be receiving your pretty pictures in an ugly, beat up box. But, it’s what’s inside that counts, right?

I use rechargeable batteries in my flashes so I’m not throwing away batteries after every wedding.

I recycle my printer cartridges.

I do as much business via email and fax so I can use less paper. And, of course, the paper that I do use is recyclable.

Not business related, but I’ve been stocking up on the reusable bags from Ralphs and Trader Joes so I don’t have to use their plastic bags.

I am going to get better at turning off all my computers every night so energy is not wasted there.

And when my lease is up on my car next March I am going to probably be leasing a Toyota Prius. As much as I would LOVE a Range Rover Sport, it will be nice to save money on gas and help the environment at the same time!

What are things that you do to keep your business and life as environmentally friendly as possible? I would love to hear ideas from everyone! Happy Earth Day everyone! Go hug a tree today!

Just got home from my first wedding back after the baby! It was amazing as I expected it to be! But, I am very tired! How did I ever do this carrying around an 8 pound baby inside of me???

Here are a couple of pictures to hold you over until I have time to blog the rest. I’m off to bed! Good night!

I’ve been looking forward to Chelsea and Sean’s engagement session for a long time. Not just because it was my first engagement session back after having the baby, but also because I knew it would be one of the most unique sessions I’ve ever done. Chelsea and Sean had a specific vision of what they wanted their shoot to be and they totally pulled it off. We shot at the amazing Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica. That place is heaven for a photographer. So many amazing places to shoot!

Chelsea and Sean are getting married this June at the Montage. Their coordinator is the fabulous Jeannie Savage from Details Details and I’m so excited to see what her and her team will do for this wedding! After seeing how all out they went for their engagement session, I’m sure their wedding is going to be SO amazing! Here’s a slideshow with my favorites from our session! See below for a day in the life of the oh so glamorous Chelsea and Sean!

They started out with a couple of drinks.

 

Then Chelsea did some cleaning.

Chelsea got a pedi.

 

Wardrobe change number two.

 

They played a game of cards.

 

And did some dancing.

Wardrobe change number 3.

 

They had a pillow fight.

Chelsea won.

Her prize was a foot rub.

Then they watched some TV and called it a night.

 

Thanks Chelsea and Sean for a fabulous shoot! Have a safe trip back home to Seattle and I’ll see you in June!

Time to bring out the chair again! Brayden Bittel will be 2 months old on Saturday! Where has the time gone? My little man is getting SO big! The doctor says he’s as big as a 4 month old! At his 6 week and 6 day appointment he weighed 12 pounds and 14 ounces and was 23 1/2 inches long! That’s the 95% for weight and 90% for height! We’ve got a big boy on our hands! This month Brayden has started laughing and smiling. My most favorite thing is when I get him out of his crib in the morning and he has a huge smile on his face when he sees me. It melts my heart! He’s also found his voice and coos. He loves talking to his butterfly on his gym. He loves to read Dr. Seuss books with his Daddy and enjoys looking at the pictures. He still loves UCLA basketball and Kevin Love even if they are big losers His diapers have Sesame Street characters on them and he hates when he gets the Elmo diapers! Don’t ask me why, but the kid hates Elmo. He’s not sleeping great through the night. He wakes up twice to eat and usually goes right back to sleep so it’s not that bad. All and all he’s a pretty happy kid and seems to be getting happier everyday.

This month we went to the Fullerton train station for his photo shoot. We had a very long day today so we made it a quick one. Here are some of my favs.

The cargo pants and hat are a gift from our awesome friends Johanna and Kyle. Doesn’t he look so handsome?

Check out Brayden’s awesome shoes! These were a gift from my BFF, Michelle.

That’s all for now! I have my first engagement session back tomorrow in LA and I’m super excited! It’s going to be my first time leaving Brayden all day, but I think it will be a good break for both of us Have a great weekend everyone!

Yesterday I got to meet Baby Griffin and do a quick session with him. Griffin’s mom, Kristi, and I were cheerleaders together in high school and I did their family session for them last year. Little Baby Griffin is only 6 days old! He’s so tiny weighing a little over 7 pounds. I don’t ever remember Brayden being that small (probably because he wasn’t!). Griffin didn’t get the memo that he was supposed to sleep through his session, but after some hard work from Mom we did get him to sleep for just a couple of minutes.

Congratulations Kristi! Griffin is absolutely perfect! Here are a few of my favorites!

So sad. Basketball is over for UCLA. Brayden Bittel is very sad. I’m going to go wallow in my misery now

Many of you will be very happy to know that I bought a new couch this weekend. It will replace the Ikea couch, which will now be retired to the garage. I will still bring it out for special occasions so don’t be too sad! This couch is in our front room, which will eventually be my room to meet with clients. I’m hoping it will be ready later this year, but we have a lot of work to do before then! And no, I won’t be taking it out on any shoots. It’s too heavy and I like it too much to get it dirty Brayden wanted to do a photo shoot on it and you know I can’t say no to Brayden when he wants to do a photo shoot. Even Hauggy joined us for a couple of pictures.

This is my last week of official maternity leave so for those of you sick of seeing Brayden Bittel pictures (how could you ever be sick of seeing Brayden Bittel pictures???) there will be lots of good shoots posted soon! I have an awesome engagement session in LA a week from Friday and three great weddings starting on April 19th! I’m so excited to start shooting weddings again. It’s going to be a heck of a lot easier shooting without a BIG belly weighing me down!

 

I think my parents are going to get their babysitting privileges revoked.  My kid does not wear dorky outfits like this…

This is how Brayden was returned to me this afternoon.  In a dorky cowboy outfit complete with cowboy boots.  See. Brayden is not happy about it! He doesn’t want to be a cowboy!  He doesn’t like cowboy boots.  If I didn’t like my freedom so much on Saturday mornings I would not let my kid hang out with them.

Here is a picture of a much happier Brayden

It’s so much fun now that he’s starting to smile, laugh, and really respond to us. He started smiling at 5 weeks, but at 6 weeks I knew for sure it was a real smile. He laughs and talks to himself. I think he really likes me and I’m starting to like being a Mom!

 

Is everyone sick of pictures of Brayden Bittel yet? Well, here is a whole entire post of pictures without him. Not that I didn’t try to take one of him during this shoot, but he was sleeping the whole time

Todd and Robin are good friends of ours who live up North. Chuck and Todd grew up right next door to each other and Chuck’s best (and really the only ones he remembers) childhood memories involve Todd and his sister Katie. Todd and I went to high school together too, but he was the cool senior football player and I was just a dorky, little freshman. I didn’t get to know him until Chuck and I started dating at the end of high school. When Todd moved up north to become a fireman he met his wonderful and beautiful wife, Robin. This past November they adopted little Robby to complete their family. Robby is just the cutest baby! He is a big boy with gorgeous blue eyes. And his personality is so cute! He’s super laid back and so interested in what is going on in the world around him. It’s pretty cool that Robby and Brayden are so close in age. I just wish we lived closer so they could hang out!

Below are some of my favorite pictures from their family session and here’s a slide show. Thank you to my friend Trista for letting me know where this super secret location is