Photographer (me) was a surprise gift to the wedding couple. The bride and groom planned a thrifty wedding. They started out by borrowing a relative’s house in Simi Valley. But the parents provided them with the wedding vendors as surprise gifts.

I’ve been talking to the groom’s mother and brother for a few months about this wedding. I was told to show up at the wedding right before the wedding ceremony started (for a surprise effect). I had to insist that I would arrive at the wedding site way before the wedding ceremony so I would take pictures of the bride getting ready.

Everyone wore beach attire for the wedding. It was very hot in Simi Valley today.  Only the wedding officiant and I were wearing suit and tie.  I wear a suit during the ceremony only, so I am OK with a little bit of heat for a short time.  I prefer to look formal for my customers.

I thought I knew the wedding DJ from somewhere.  We kept picking our brains to figure out where we met.  Later I realized he was Mike Breul.  We’ve been talking online for several years.  But we’ve never met in person.  DJ was good.  There were a lot of dancing.  I should email him before I forget.

This wedding was one of those “flawless” weddings.  I didn’t see any accidents or dramas.  Maybe it’s because the wedding couple expected a thrifty wedding at the beginning (?) I don’t know.

Also, there were a lot of dancing.  You can usually tell how successful the wedding was by amount of dancing going on at the wedding reception.  At some weddings I see not much people dancing at the expensive wedding site.  But at this wedding at Simi Valley? there was a lot of dancing.  This backyard wedding was a success.

Wedgewood Banquet Center’s been good to me.  They have wonderful in-house DJ’s like Robin and Scott.  They also have a Spanish DJ 

Wedgewood is a friendly place for wedding vendors.  They take care of wedding vendors.  I always fee comfortable with them.  Bartenders, waiters, DJ, and rest of the staff members are quite likable.  I have a lot of fun memories here.  And I took a lot of fun pictures here at Wedgewood Banquet Center.

One of the memorable pictures I have taken at Wedgewood Golf Club is this group picture 4 years ago (below, 2005).  Apparently, my current customer saw those pictures as well.  The bride asked me to take same group pictures for them as well.

It was just when the wedding ceremony was over.  The bride and groom just kissed and walked down the isle.  As soon as they walked down the isle, the bride asked me about that group picture.  “I saw group pictures you took here on your website, can we take that picture?”  So I told the wedding coordinator “If they want that group pictures, we must announce right now before they start walking way”  “It has to be right now~!!”  (It was not the time to be polite – I was yelling ).

The wedding coordinator called the DJ on her radio, and the DJ made an announcement for group pictures.  Everything worked out perfect.

Wedgewood Wedding – Group Picture
Wedding Picture from September 2005
Photographed with a Film Camera – Negative Scan (low resolution)
Notice the shorter trees

Back to Wedgewood Banquet Center
March 2009. Look at the trees, they are taller now.

Look at that picture… that’s a cute group shot.  I also photographed them waving at me as well, just like the one from 2005 wedding.

One thing I like about Wedgewood Banquet Center is that you have this elevated view point so you can take a large group pictures.

Sun was setting so fast, I had to direct people like a plane was going down.  We managed to photograph all the needed shots.  The wedding guests worked with me (and for me) without any delay.  I felt thankful for making everything so smooth for me.

Reception was fun.  Later, the bride told me “It was everything I wanted a wedding to be”.  A lot of people danced (a lot of dancing means the wedding was a success)

Good time.

Below are the pictures from August 30 photo-shoot at River-Ridge Golf Club at Oxnard.  This was my favorite spot on the golf club.  Then the golf club staff came to me and said how dangerous it was to be in that area.  But I had to take the chance and get this done fast.  Actually, I didn’t really see people swinging clubs to my direction.  I think they were being overly cautious.  Anyway, nobody got hurt.

* On this wedding – I walked 6.2 miles and burned 2381 calories 

“Photography Fitness” (personal project)

“My Coffee Cup” (personal project)

One word.  HOT~!!

It was the hottest wedding day thus far.  I was worried that bride and groom will sweat too much.  I don’t know how they managed to keep clean and pretty.  Also, I had somewhat challenging lighting situation during the formal photography session.  I think wedding pictures came out just fine (look at below image). 

Ventura Beach, Across the street from Ventura Fair Ground

In the beginning.  Booked 2 weddings with 1 sales pitch:
There is a fun story on how I met this wedding customers.

I had a wedding last year (2007) at Wedgewood Banquet Center.  I had a meeting with the bride and groom for that wedding at Starbucks Coffee in Ventura.  As I was getting ready to make a sales pitch, a couple walked in and recognized my wedding prospects.  They turned out to be close friends and neighbors.  They were planning to get married next year (2008).  I invited them to join us for my presentation on wedding photography.  They set down along with my customers.  I made a sales pitch to two couples.  And I booked two weddings.  So far, this is the only incident where I scored two weddings with one presentation. 

   

Never too Hot for wedding:
One requirement of being a Wedding photographer is a good physical condition.  Today was the perfect example of how you should keep in shape.  It was a very hot day.  As soon as I got out of my car I started to sweat.  The whole city was baking.  From that point, my job went on for 8 more hours.  I wore Sunscreen lotion.  I had my supply of cold water.  I was also wearing a heart rate monitor that I wear when I workout.  I thought it would be fun to monitor my heart rate & calories burnt.

It was a Catholic wedding at “Our Lady of the Assumption” in Ventura.  The priest was very nice.  I was allowed to use flash all I wanted.  You see, flash photography is usually not allowed in Catholic weddings.  Some catholic priests would forbid any kind of photography during the wedding ceremony.  The wedding was very impressive with about 200 guests and the Mariachi band playing loud.  By the way, I know this Mariachi band.  We worked together at number of weddings.  This was a Spanish wedding ceremony.

After the wedding ceremony & the usual hugging session, we headed out to Ventura Fair Ground.  We all parked at Ventura Fairground parking lot and walked across the street to the beach.  The Sun was so intense that taking photographs under the full Sunlight was not ideal.  Everyone would squint.  Also, people would sweat bullets under this weather.  With this kind of weather, some people become hard to manage (especially the young ones).  So, I located tiny patches of shades under the palm trees.  I setup the remote flash system there.  Setting up lighting system was a little tricky.  It’s somewhat technical to explain..  all that matters is that I know customers will like the results.

The bride had some specific posed shots in her list.  We took care of all her list first than I took charge.  Then we moved onto some couple shots.  I did all I can do to keep the bride and groom in the shade.  Despite the temperature the bride and groom looked very fresh.  Soon, we were ready for grand entrance.

During the reception, I begged the bride and groom for “One last pose for 1 minute”.  And I photographed that Fish Truck shot.

Ventura Fair Ground:
Ventura Fairground has a lot of halls to rent. Today’s bride and groom rented Santa Rosa Hall, but there are more wedding halls at Ventura Fairground. Ventura Fairground is located right by the beach. Also, you get an ample parking space. Wedding guests can park their cars at the parking lot and walk across the street for formal wedding photography session on the beach. The beach has a sandy area as well as grassy area with a lot of palm trees.

Burned 5100 Calories?:
My heart rate monitor measured that I burned 5100 calories in 8 hours.  Considering most people burn 2500 calories in 24 hours, you can see how active I was.  It was indeed a very physical day.  Most people just don’t realize how much work it is.

On the second thought.  I think 5100 calories is too much.  I cannot trust this heart rate monitor.  I shall purchase a better heart rate monitor for future wedding photography use. 

Our Lady of the Assumption
3175 Telegraph Rd., Ventura 93003

Ventura Fair Ground
10 W. Harbor Blvd, Ventura, CA 93001

It was a real shotgun wedding.  The groom was a real cowboy.  They got married in the ranch at Moorpark. Wedding guests came all dressed up in Country Western attires.  With this wedding, I had to pay extra attention to capture their “Country Western” feeling.

 

Padre Serra Parish is an exclusive Catholic wedding venue in Camarillo.  I have done 2-3 weddings at Padre Serra Parish in the past.  Catholic couples cannot resist its high class construction and decorations.  They have somewhat strict guideline on using this holy Parish.  The church is exclusive and high class sitting high on the Mission Oaks hill of Camarillo.

I believe this was the first time they allowed outdoor reception at Padre Serra Parish

The groom is a studio musician.  He plays a bass guitar in a Funk/Jazz band.  He also sings.  So, naturally, most of his friends and family were hip musicians.  Their music style was somewhat similar to Tonight Show band (Kevin Eubanks) with more funk to it. 

Power outage:
The reception started and everyone was having good time.  The DJ was playing music, some of the friends and family members took turn playing live music.  When they started the Dollar dance the DJ lost electricity.  They were having a tough time getting the power back.  They were keep blowing one fuse after another.

That’s when the “Magic Moment” happened.

A gentleman walked up to the band stand and started to play drums (slowly).  Then another gentleman came up and started to play acoustic guitar.   He started to sing Eagles medley.  His wife (I assumed) came and sang harmony with him.  To me, that was the highlight of the reception.  It was unforgettable.

Finally the juice was back on.  And the band proceeded to funk.  My favorite song was their funky version of Mustang Sally.

Groom on the bass while sax was on solo

Padre Serra Parish – Camarillo
www.padreserra.org
5205 Upland Rd
Camarillo, CA 93012
(805) 482-6417

Today’s wedding photography marks the first wedding of the year 2008.
Today is Thursday, you see.  Yes, a Thursday wedding.
I had to take a day off from my day job for this wedding.
The bride and groom came up with an odd wedding schedule.. check this out.

- – - – - Wedding Schedule – - – - –

Thursday, February 21, 2008

• Both Bride and Groom getting ready at their house in Santa Barbara.
• Limo to pickup bride and groom.
• Wedding ceremony: Mission Rose Garden – Santa Barbara
• Photography after wedding ceremony: Shoreline Park/Leadbetter Beach Park – Santa Barbara
• Additional formal photography at Santa Barbara Beach
• Lunch at Cava Restaurant – Santa Barbara

Saturday, February, 23, 2008

• Wedding Reception: Arnoldi’s Cafe, Santa Barbara

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -  – -

The wedding schedule was made, hoping it would not rain.
But it rained – so we had to go with the flow and compromise

Because of the rain, wedding ceremony at the Rose Garden was out of question.  The bride and groom rented Santa Barbara Courthouse (The Mural Room) for one hour.  The Mural Room is a historic room that County of Santa Barbara is keeping as a tourist attraction.  As we were getting ready there were steady flow of tourists with cameras walking in to take pictures.

Wedding Ceremony was officiated by their close friend.  The officiant was cool and calm at first.  He told some of the tourists to “sit back and watch the wedding”.  Ceremony soon began.  There were only about a dozen people attending wedding ceremony.  The bride and groom were relaxed.  They were smiling and enjoying the moment.  But the officiant was sweating bullets.  After the wedding ceremony, they all made fun on the officiant about how nervous he was while he was officiating wedding ceremony.

Because of the rain, we had to get creative about the formal photography session.  We were originally scheduled to go to the park and the beach around Santa Barbara area for photographs.  But, outdoor photography was not going to happen.  We had heavy wind along with rain.  Rain was falling in side way.

We took most of the formal photographs inside the Mural Room.  The room was very dark.  It was the darkest setting I ever had.  I used my wireless lighting system. 

We had to cancel our plan on the beach photography as well.  Instead, I suggested that we’d all go up to the tower.  At the tower, we would still get natural light and we still have a roof over our heads.  It was windy and cold.  Everyone was shaking.  I had to wear my gloves because my hands were too cold.  The wedding guests were saying “Wow, John’s wearing gloves”

Because of the wet & cold weather photography session on top of the tower ended rather quick. 

All in all, everything worked out pretty nice.

This completed today’s schedule.  They all went to Cava Restaurant for a lunch.  By this time it was raining really hard.  I will come back in 2 days for a reception.

Santa Barbara Courthouse
1100 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara (California) , 93101
(805) 568-2220

Cava Restaurant
1212 Coast Village Rd
Montecito, CA 93108
(805) 969-8500

I had such a busy 2007 that I rarely had solid 7 hours of sleep.  I have raised price on my wedding package yet again, but there is no slowing down on wedding inquiries.  I am looking at even busier 2008.  I am very happy that I can scream, but I can use some rest. 

Today is 3 days before Christmas.  They had a wedding ceremony at a church in Thousand Oaks, with all the Christmas trimmings.  The groom doesn’t have to struggle to remember his anniversary date.  Lucky guy

Above picture was a test shot (the very first shot to test shutter speed & flash).  We had some wet days earlier.  We were lucky to have a blue sky.   My good luck with rain continues.  But we had a classic “sinking heels” problem.  We tried to see if we can work around and take pictures here on the grass.  But the ground was way too soft, we had to move to the concrete ground. 

After the ladies, all the guys took pictures at this very spot on the grass.  Guys didn’t have high heels, you see.

One thing about the winter wedding is that we lose Sunlight fast.  We took most of the wedding party photographs before the wedding.  After the ceremony, we took formal photographs inside the church (flash photography) because outside was pitch black and cold.

Reception was a class act at Palm Garden Hotel in Thousand Oaks.  There were a lot of dancing.  People were doing all kinds of stupid dances.  Stupid is good when you are having fun.  Stupid is beautiful, it’s a bless. 

Table 14, where all the young ladies were at

Check out the table setting.  This is a classy setup.  Good decoration, and it complements the Christmas mood. 

Merry Christmas~~!!
Thank you everyone.  I’m going to enjoy my holidays off. 

I had a wedding customer from Japan. She got married at Malibu, Stauffer Chapel in Pepperdine University. I photographed both their engagement and wedding only in 1 week apart. A signing board had to be made in 5 days. Wedding album was completed and delivered in 5 days. The bride and groom stayed in the US for less than 2 weeks.

I helped the bride and groom with locating makeup artist and florist. Below is my journal on Aki & Noji’s wedding.

• October 15: I received an email from Japan. She said she’s coming to Malibu, from Japan, to get married. She also stated that he’s already decided to send me a deposit. I was very skeptical about this email. I sent her my generic reply. I was hoping she will not reply my email.
• October 16: The prospect from Japan replied my email the next day. We exchanged 8 emails that day. The bride and groom are Japanese. They live in Japan. But they have American friends in Malibu area. They already booked Stauffer Chapel in Malibu (Pepperdine University). Well, that’s what she wrote. I am still very skeptical.
• October 16: I asked the bride if she needs any help organizing her wedding. She said she’s looking for a makeup artist and a florist. I happened to know a Japanese makeup artist in LA. I introduced the makeup artist to the bride.
• October 17: The makeup artist sent me a “Thank You” email. The makeup artist stated that she’s booked for her wedding. I replied “Don’t get excited until you see the money”.
• October 21: The bride asked more questions. She asked about engagement photography, easel, etc.. The bride, as a Japanese, had a very good English skill.
• October 22: Received deposit from the bride via PayPal.
• October 23: Received detailed wedding information from the bride.
• November 8: Florist is booked.
• November 24: Bride and Groom arrived in the US
• November 25: Engagement photography session at Griffith Observatory. Since wedding was only a week away, everything had to be done in rush. Web album was made in 1 day. Bride and Groom picked their favorite shot the same day. The signing board was ready by Friday
  
• December 2: Wedding at Malibu. At beautiful Stauffer chapel in Pepperdine University.
  
• December 2: Dinner at Geoffrey’s Malibu. I was treated as a wedding guest. 12 of us set at one table. Geoffrey’s Malibu is a top notch restaurant where rich people come. The parking lot looked like a European Dealership.
  
• December 7: Album was completed and delivered to the Bride and Groom. We met at Starbucks in Woodland Hills. They loved the pictures.
  
• December 8: Bride and Groom flew back to Japan, bringing a lot of memory, leaving a lot of new friends behind.

• PS: Oh, The bride and Groom brought a gift from Japan. They read my blog and learned that I drink coffee when I take pictures. They brought some exotic imported coffee. Thank you.
  

- end - 

Today’s Wedding Schedule
Bride getting ready at Homewood Suites by Hilton, Agoura Hills
Tailgate to Calamigos Ranch in Malibu - 4:30pm
All activities take place at Calamigos Ranch until 11pm.

Homewood Suites Hilton, Agoura Hills.
** Notice two guys at the lobby looking at me.  I get that all the time

Wedding flower decoration at Calamigos Ranch.  Supplied by the Bride and Groom 

Above Picture: They had two of those flower structures.  Later they moved them up to the reception area .   I didn’t know at first, but these structures are carefully balanced by the heavy bouquets.  At night, as the guests left, one of the guests took one of these bouquets.  Soon the whole structure fell to the heavy side, damaging all rest of the bouquets.  By that time ceremony was almost over.  And, luckily, Bride thought it was funny. 

Calamigos Ranch, before wedding.  Sun’s already setting

Above Picture: Calamigos Ranch has 130 acres of land.  It can hold many number of weddings at the same time.  They can accommodate 500 people or more.  Each wedding area is so secluded that you will never now that there are other events being held in the same ranch.  From this picture, you can see the wedding ceremony area at the ground level (right side).  After ceremony, wedding guests will come up to the upper deck area for reception, dining, and dancing.  As you can see, Calamigos Ranch is a very impressive wedding site.  This is only a section of Calamigos Ranch.  There are other wedding sites other than this location.

Calamigos Ranch, Malibu (Conference Center), at night.

Homewood Suites by Hilton, Agoura Hills 
28901 Canwood Street, Agoura Hills, California, United States 91301
Tel: 1-818-865-1000   Fax: 1-818-865-1091

Calamigos Ranch, Malibu, California
Malibu Conference Center at Calamigos Ranch

327 S. Latigo Canyon Road, Malibu, CA 90265
(800) 821-2097 or (818) 889-6280
(Please Note: This is a mailing address only)

From Los Angeles:
Ventura Freeway (101) West to the City of Agoura.
 Left on Kanan road, South 6 miles, through 2 tunnels.
Right on Mulholland Highway, go 1/4 of a mile.
Left on Calamigos Road, follow signs to parking area.

From Pacific Coast Highway:
Pacific Coast Highway West past Paradise Cove.
Right on Kanan-Dume Road, go North 6 miles.
Left on Mulholland Highway, go 1/4 of a mile.
Left on Calamigos Road, follow signs to parking area.

DJ – Music To Go