My 2010 wedding season has officially ended. This means no more weddings until 2011. While I am still busy wrapping up the last couple of weddings, I do look forward to taking a short break from wedding work. Trust me, my home will be glad to get my attention back, for a little while. It will also be a good time to renew my mind, re-position my business, take some photos of my kids, and read some good books.  That’s the goal. What I have experienced in the past 6 months though, was beyond what these words can express.  If I have the time, I will share more in a later blog post.

I said it. Abused by amusement is the summary of our family day at Disneyland. I didn’t get to take a lot of photos because as I said, we were being abused. I hesitated to further torture ourselves, but managed to take a few snapshots and video clips. Here is a short slideshow that shows our not-so-adventurous day. (Before you hit “play”, turn down the volume on the video, somehow the music came out way to loud.)

How often do we need to pray for sun in Southern California? It has been raining and drizzling the week before Kristina and Eric’s wedding. God heard their prayers, and better yet, reminded me not to take sunshine for granted.

Kristina and Eric are salt of the earth, amazing, amazing people! They are clients whom I feel thankful to call friends. Kristina is hands down the sweetest and funnest girl I have met in my life. She is not just a doll, she is a cheerful and entertaining doll that can make you laugh and melt your heart. From the first email to the last good-bye hug, Kristina made me feel warm and special deep inside. Eric is super gentle and kind-hearted. Together, these two are a perfect match by God.

Kristina and Eric have been dating since junior high. After so many years, they were happy and so excited to be getting married. The day was a blast! They got married at the Chart House Restaurant in Dana Point.  Their wedding was beautiful at many different levels. And they are so in tune with one another it was really a gift to be able to capture love like theirs. It is honest, deep, emotional and vulnerable. They bear it all to one another. It’s really beautiful to see in a couple and very fun to capture.

$6 lego cuff link from ebay makes Eric a happy man!

Kristina graduated from art school and has great taste. She made every little detail so gorgeous!

Oh yes, pretty cupcakes please!

Play the slideshow to see more photos from Kristina and Eric’s Dana Point wedding. Enjoy!

I believe in cards. Cards make this world a better place. Whether it’s handmade, digitally designed, or the new hybrid version, I love them all. Even more so when I get to create them.

I’m excited to show you these engagement announcements that I designed for Sonia and David with photos from their engagement session. Just like when I cannot decide between uni or sweet shrimp at a sushi bar, Sonia had a hard time picking out photos to put on her announcement because she loved them all. The best decision of course was to get them all. So she ended up with three sets of announcements with different photos on them.

Front and back of the card…

My son Christian has a bad case of copycat syndrome. While it is normal for children to imitate others since that’s how they learn, Christian goes far and beyond. Let me give you an example. One time his sister Annabelle bumped her hand on something. She was hurt and started crying. Christian copied exactly what happened. He hit his own hand against a table, for real, and then pretended to cry. Now with some photo illustrations…

He saw what Annabelle was doing…

…then it was his turn.

Following the way daddy walks…

“I’m a copy master!”

CJ and Norman are sugar cookies double dipped in chocolate syrup. They’re incredibly sweet! They’re the kind of people who laugh through life and are absolutely 100% authentic, always wear a sincere smile on their face. They made me feel so comfortable being with them, even for the first time we met. Although they seem a bit reserved at times, they definitely know how to have fun and go wild at the right moments.

Ricky and I shot their wedding at the Mariners Church right here in my backyard in Irvine. This church is amazingly blessed. If I weren’t told that it was a church, I would think it’s a university. The chapel and the campus are beautiful. I am so happy to see a couple with two beautiful hearts starting their whole new life journey together. Congratulations and love you both!

Minutes after I arrived at the hotel, I saw CJ brushing her teeth in front of a roomful of people. CJ, I told you I was blogging this. Since you didn’t object, here it is…

Girls in curlers are simply cute…

She totally made me laugh!

Isn’t she adorable?

Here’s Norman waiting, waiting, and waiting, for his bride…

Precious emotional moments…

I love long ceremonies which allows me plenty of time to walk around and have some fun…

Norman played the piano and sang a song to CJ during the ceremony. It was so impressive and touching that made everyone cry.

Then it’s party time…

This bridal party went wild at the playground on the church campus. They were unstoppable!

Enjoy more photos in the slideshow:

A few months’ of virus-free days in my household have come to an end as the flu season officially starts again. Last week I got a flu and was worn out for two days. When CJ and Norman’s wedding came on Saturday, my body actually forgot that I was sick. It didn’t even look like I was sick at all the entire day. I’m pretty sure God was at work. Right after Ricky and I said goodbye to CJ and Norman, I collapsed. With my lost voice, I begged Ricky to carry me from the car to my bed, and then I passed out for the 12 hours that followed. Here is a sneak peak of the wedding that I survived:

When I saw Dominique’s dress, I almost called Ricky to tell him that I wanted to marry him again. IN THAT DRESS. But wait until I saw her shoes. I screamed my eyeballs out. They were so gorgeous! While Dominique and her bridesmaids were getting their make up done at a salon, I had a whole lot of fun hunting for beautiful details in her hotel room like in a treasure hunt. What a way to start a day packed full of beauty and goodness.

Dominique and Jeremiah have become my friends through this process of working with them. At the start of the day, Dominique said to me, “If you need me to do something, just yell at me.”  Towards the end of the day, I told her this, “If you need a picture of you and your guests, just yell at me like how I yelled at you.” Our friendship built upon our yelling at each other.

One thing that I have to mention is how much I loved being around the entire bridal party. The bridesmaids are the fumiest girls and you will never run out of laughter when you’re with them. They’ll always put on a great show for you.

D and J, I consider it a blessing to have known the two of  you. May God bless you with as many children as you want!

Oh this bracelet, I want to swallow it…

Dominique, I think you glowed and brightened up the whole room…

Since Ricky was the pallbearer at my friend Kenny’s memorial service (you may read about the story here), he had to join us later in the day. I was so thankful for my friend, Edward Lee, who came out to help take the guys’ getting ready photos. He did a wonderful job!

The first look…

Then we took some more pictures right outside the venue at the Harborside Restaurant and Grand Ballroom in the Balboa Pavilion…

For a guy who gave up his scholarship to play football, I had no doubt that Jeremiah could throw!

So I will end my post with this photo of the happy couple, who are just starting their whole new life journey together…

To see more photos, play the slideshow:

Sometimes people come into our lives and we know right away that they were meant to be there, they serve some sort of purpose, teach us a lesson, or help figure out who we are and who we want to become. We never know who these people may be: they can be our neighbor, child, long lost friend, lover, or even complete stranger who, when we lock eyes with them, we know at that very moment that they will affect our lives in some profound way.

I was at my church brother Kenny’s memorial service last Saturday. I was touched by the outpouring of good vibes from those who gave an eulogy or who shared in the memory book. It amazed me how Kenny led a life that has influenced so many along the way, slowly but deeply. Now I stop on each day to thank God for each person who comes into my life to influence me in every different way. And I look at myself in the mirror, asking how I could make a difference in other people’s lives.  As Abraham Lincoln has said, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”

I went to photograph Dominique and Jeremiah’s wedding after the service. They are not only my clients, but friends who came into my life. I had a great time being around them. And here is a teaser for now.

I love watching Giada’s cooking shows. Not so because of her cooking, but I just enjoy looking at a modern and beautiful cook.  I am not born to be a cook. I lack the patience and love for it. As Ricky used to tell me after eating my food, “Food tastes better if you put your heart in it”. I humbly accept what he was implying.

Although I enjoy making quite and easy treats once in a while, food is not where you can find my heart. If an entree takes more than 30 minutes to prepare and cook, I’m dropping it from my menu. Even Rachael Ray’s 30-minute meals are not fast enough for me. Sad. So I use her recipes as a starting point and personalize them with my own short cuts. I am collecting these magazines so that when my mom has to move back to Hong Kong, we won’t have to order pizza every night.