Happy Holidays from Baja!

Ahhh, Christmas -must be time for my annual blog post ;-).

Two photographers on holiday

minus all of their camera gear

+ one Fuji F30 point-and-shoot

+ the Baja coastline

+ one private villa

+ one infinity pool (a la my hero Gary Fong)

+ lots of barefoot beach walks with my hot senorita

+ Dos Equis + mas Dos Equis (ps - no habla espanol, lol)




+ three wonderful parents

+ lots of lazy sun-filled days

+ my Undomestic Goddess going all Rachel Ray in the kitchen (Lynn cooks like I blog, lol .....but, Dios mio, Christmas brunch was mucho delicioso)



+ one gorgeous infinity pool sunset after another





= a very, very happy C+L Christmas

We are so fortunate to be here celebrating the holidays in the sunshine with our families. Peace, love and fish tacos to all our family and friends!

Chris

P.S. Have received a lot of emails about this villa - and yes, it is absolutely stunning! Gorgeous views & totally private ~ http://www.villaveranovacations.com/

Lilian+Dennis=Elegance

Faithful blog readers may remember Dennis and Lilian from their hot engagement session. Well, their wedding was just as memorable! The Seattle couple returned to Lilian's hometown of Vancouver for their very elegant affair, and their day, despite the rain, was absolutely perfect.

Beautiful details.

"She's got diamonds on the soles of her shoes..."

Lilian is such a classic beauty ~ I just love her Grace Kelly updo.

Lilian's girls guide her up the church stairs...

...to meet her husband.



Married!

So happy! There's nothing like a genuine smile.



Another portrait of the gorgeous Lilian.



Some moments from the couple's first dance at Terminal City Club.



Congratulations D+L!

"I went to 7 weddings in the last 3 months"

I have heard this from my clients more times than I can count on my 2 hands. The reason it is an important tidbit of info is because it will without a doubt have a great impact on the direction we go in planning & designing their weddings. It's great because you get a true impression of what its really like. Kind of like trying a dress on. What its looks like on the hanger is never what it looks like on, and it never looks the same on 2 different people.
Okay, so the lowdown. First, nobody wants to have a wedding that resembles that of a friend of theirs. That's like plagiarism! Although flattering...its just not where you want to go. Second, its a great way to note things that you do and don't like about what happens at weddings.
So let's say you go to a wedding and you love everything about it. It's easy to take the foundation of what you saw and loved and make it your own. Make a list of everything that you loved about the wedding. Also make a list of the things you didn't like (if anything at all). Take the lists to your wedding planner. Now you have a foundation to build off of. Your planner will help you find a way to make the things you mentioned unique to your wedding all while retaining the elements that made you excited about them in the 1st place. Really, its the same as looking at the real weddings featured in magazines and online- only experiencing them in real life is so much better!

How the south does weddings

Most people don't consider Florida as one of the "southern" states. I can agree with that because it really is like night and day between Savannah and Naples. But all the same, there is something to be said for an elegant southern wedding. I came across the latest issue of Unveiled yesterday and realized while flipping through that if this is what they consider to be a southern wedding, then I want Florida to be included.
Seriously, just look at this cover! Gorgeous. I could see this being at any metropolitan area of the US. Then I get to page 66. WHOA! Turns out Florida is included! And not only is Florida included, but this real wedding of Courtney & Ben takes place at LaPlaya Beach resort where my clients Jenn & John got married just last week and we have another gorgeous wedding in the works for next April.
So head out to the newstands and grab this issue. Lots of good stuff.

Preview: Cruise Ship Weddings

Nearly all of the major cruise ship lines offer weddings these days. We briefly looked into this for our destination wedding, but had trouble with the logistics (too many family members coming from too many different places) to make it work.

But Ultimate Destination Weddings will be taking a much-deserved multi-week holiday cruise in December! We’re going to be scoping out cruise ship weddings, ports of call and reporting back in early January! Watch for more details.

Bachelorette Parties – Cooking School

It’s another bachelorette party – dressing up, wearing the mock veil, getting drunk, going bar hopping and feeling bad the next day. But that’s not what you want for your bachelorette party. You want different. You want fun. Sure you want to drink, but don’t want to get out of control. You want the kind of bachelorette party where you can take your mom and your 16-year-old niece. And did we say you want to have fun?

Try this on for size: Cooking School. It’s not some stodgy cooking school, we’re talking fun, wine and fantastic food you’ve cooked yourself. You bring the girlfriends, they provide the chef to teach you and the food to prepare. It’s a blast (and you even get to keep the apron).

We’re in love with the Viking Cooking School. For a bachelorette or bridal party, contact them directly for a Special Events Program.

We’ve done it several times and absolutely love it. We’ve taken the Basic Knife Skills class and the Date Night – Lobster Bisque and Steak. We’re already booked into the Indian Dinner for the spring.

You said the funniest thing

I got the funniest emails today. Must be something in the air. These made me laugh the hardest:

Smiley bride works not 1/2 mile from the biggest outlet mall in the world (slight exaggeration). She called me today and said she couldn't find any shoes to buy.

Boogie down bride emailed me asking for "my blessing" on a musician for her welcome reception. Yeah, I did get ordained online, but I don't think that means I can bless anything.

Typically calm bride emailed me a bride on crack email. It was 47.3 questions in one paragraph.

And crazy question bride strikes again, "When I walk down the aisle, will someone direct me where to go?"
She got me good. 1 minute later she emailed me, "GOTCHA!" I about pee'd my pants I was laughing so hard.

I love being a wedding planner. And I just adore my clients! You girls are great :)

I missed this!

I really missed blogging...can't wait to get back into it this week. Back to daily blogs starting tomorrow everyone!

The last wedding of 2007

The wedding year ended with a "BANG!" literally. At Jenn and Johns wedding this past weekend, the father of the bride had his yacht parked in the Gulf just behind the ceremony and when the bride & groom were announced "Mr & Mrs..." there were a few huge explosives marking the occassion.
Here are a few photos from the wedding, more to come on their blog tomorrow!

Destination Weddings for Dummies

I found another video on YouTube (originally from Brideorama). This one features Susan Breslow, author of Destination Weddings for Dummies.

She offers three tips for people planning destination weddings:

• Find out the local marriage laws – residency requirements vary by country (for example, France is 40 days)
• Prepare for the weather – Breslow says, hope for sun, but be prepared with a backup venue inside
• Have a fun party at home – We agree on this front. See our previous entry Advanced Topics – The Welcome Back Reception.
  

The Susan Breslow video is here:

Nicole+Brian=Style

A fun, urban couple, Nicole and Brian were a joy to photograph! Running around downtown with them, we felt like we were hanging out with good friends.


Brian waits to see Nicole for the first time...



...ready to give his bride her bouquet.

Love and laughter (in a bananalicious yellow parkade(!)).

Love the lines here - will be a BIG beautiful art canvas (750 pixels on the computer screen doesn't relate the drama quite as much as a 30x40!).

I think this is one of those images that we as photographers love, but mom and dad may be thinking, well, it's interesting, but I can't really see their faces!



Which is why we have this one too :).

The guys.



And the gals.



Brian and his best bud.

Is that little tux not just the cutest?!

The ceremony took place at UBC Boathouse.



Father daughter moment as they walk down the aisle.

Ceremony view from above - they were blessed with a perfect blue-sky day.

Nicole, a designer herself (www.kitandkaboodle.ca), had a clear vision of how she wanted her day to look, from her Japanese-inspired custom gown to the simplicity of the decor. I just loved all the details of her day ~ silky smoothly planned by the team of by Nicole & Natalie of Frog Prince Planners.

This image just makes me smile.

Married!

Congratulations!