Southern California Fine Art Wedding Photographer - SherriJ » Engagement

Veronica + Floyd: Engaged!

sjphoto — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:31:00 +0000

Veronica and Floyd have been together for 7+ years. They met while working together at an afterschool program for children. Now a teacher, Veronica is thrilled to be planning the details of her November wedding! One of the first places these two went when they first started dating is Lacy Park in San Marino, CA. The park was the perfect spot for their fun engagement pictures. With a beautiful rose garden and wide open spaces, they were able to bring some things that expressed their personalities!

Christina and Jason: Culver City Engagement Session

sjphoto — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:54:03 +0000

Christina and Jason are an outgoing pair who love the theater (among many other things). Christina is a real Opera singer and Jason is a graphic designer who love acting. They met many years ago when they were both in their teens, during a stage performance of Guys and Dolls. About 7 years ago they reconnected and have been inseparable ever since! They’ve been spending the past few years in NYC and recently moved back to California. Christina first contact me back at the beginning of this year saying “Yours are the first wedding photos that I have not rolled my eyes at! I love how they are candid, tasteful, and beautiful.” I knew then she was Awesome, with a capitol A! We soon met and they shared with me their plans of a beautiful November wedding. This weekend, I had the great pleasure of capturing Christina and Jason’s engagement pictures at their old stomping grounds… The Pacific Theaters in Culver City!

Another fun fact about Christina, she is an avid knitter. She made a jumbo red scarf just for her engagement session!

I love when my couples make their photo shoots personal. When Christina told me about her and Jason’s new “bat-mobile” purchase, we both agreed it would be awesome to have it as a prop for the session! We took these last few images on a parking structure’s rooftop. From there we had beautiful views of Culver City and a beautiful sunset.

More to come of these two lovers on this date…

Marissa + Tyler’s Beach Engagement Session: Santa Monica

sjphoto — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:45:28 +0000

I met Marissa and Tyler at the end of last year during a wedding I shot for Marissa’s sister in Bakersfield. I was so thrilled when she contacted me soon afterwards as she was starting to plan her own wedding!! It was almost 7 years ago when Marissa met Tyler during spring break at Pizmo Beach. In the spring of last year, Tyler brought Marissa back to Seal beach to ask the big question! They’re now planning an intimate wedding at the beautiful Seven Oaks Country Club, in Bakersfield, this May. When I talked to Marissa about where she might like to do her engagement photoshoot, the idea of the beach was on the top of her list. We began their session at one of my favorite hotels in Santa Monica, the Viceroy!

For some beach shots, we walked across the street towards the pier. Spring is definitely in bloom, and we took some warm sunset shots overlooking the ocean.

Fleming + Samantha: Venice Engagement

sjphoto — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:04:11 +0000

Fleming and Samantha met back in 2005, on an elevator. Their relationship grew after some dates, and now 6.5 years later they are planning a wedding in their favorite neighborhood! These two love hanging out in the Venice/Santa Monica area, their pup Ruby, and exploring the world, and food. For their engagement session, they wanted to stay close to home and visit some of their favorite spots! First stop, the popular Binocular building, on Main Street.

The Rose Cafe on Main Street is the location of their rehearsal dinner.

Venice Beach, CA

*UPDATE* Fleming and Samantha chose their favorite 8×10″ to be displayed at the entrance of their wedding. Here’s what it looked like!

Sakura + Nathan: Movie Themed Engagement Session

sjphoto — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Sakura and Nathan have been together for almost a decade… They met while working at the same video game store way back when. I actually met Sakura a couple of years ago at a wedding and was pretty stoked to hear she wanted to hire me for her own backyard wedding! Sakura describes herself as “non-traditional” and creative, and their wedding will have a lot of fun alternative ideas with a great color scheme and details! I can’t divulge too much right now, but maybe their engagement sessions has some hints for what’s to come? Sakura and Nathan both share a passion for movies. For their engagement session, they wanted to reenact some of their favorite movie scenes. This first set is inspired by “Shaun of the Dead” zombie scene, riffling through some records.

These two love their dogs Halo and Rambo!

These two birds are from the movie Dumb and Dumber.

Can you guess what movie the last shot represents?

Surprise Proposal

sjphoto — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:35:32 +0000

I met Rynxes and Mylene on August 22, 2010 when I photographed a wedding they both attended as a guest. Mylene was a bridesmaid and sang a song during the reception, and Rynxes played the piano for her. Their relationship was just starting to bloom when I captured these pictures of them.

Since then, their love has been growing and Rynxes contacted me a couple weeks ago with his plans for a surprise proposal! It seems like fate that these two met at church, where Mylene was on her way to become a nun. Rynxes chose to propose at the historic Cathedral of Our Lady of Angles.

On the day of the proposal (Sunday), the church had a gathering of 1000+ choir singers. The acoustics was amazing and it made the day even more special! For the past 2 weeks leading up to the proposal, Ryxnes made daily prayers and wrote notes in a book to share with Mylene. If you personally know these two, ask for the story about the book and what happened to it. =)

Rynxes wanted to have the proposal documented at the exact moment it happened, which meant I had to be in stealth ninja mode until then. When they first arrived, I found them having a quite moment together in prayer. I was hiding behind the pillars. Thankfully the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angles is a popular tourist destination, so there were tons of other people everywhere with cameras. I hope I blended in well and didn’t look like a creeper!

Then, they walked to a bench in the courtyard and had a short chat. Soon after, he got down on one knee!

She was so surprised and emotional… and I was so excited for both of them! Her answer was “okay!!” I snapped some pictures as they were both glowing! This was so fun, and I’m totally honored to be able to document this moment in their lives.

After some pictures, we said adieu… but little did Mylene know that Rynxes had another huge surprise waiting for her. He invited 60 of their closest friends and family to a surprise dinner at Miceli’s Italian Resturant in Studio City.

This was the look on her face when she first entered and saw everyone!

Near the end of the night, we took a family pictures with their parents, and some of the guests.

How romantic is this story~!? I want to say a big congratulations to Rynxes and Mylene!! Here’s to many more moments to come. =)

Best of 2011

sjphoto — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 05:29:22 +0000

Angela and Eugene’s Wedding, Rancho Del Cielo. Malibu, CA

Shana and Brandon’s Wedding at Gainey Winery. Los Olivos, CA

Laura + Chris’ Wedding, Santa Barbara Zoo

Kelly and David’s Destination Wedding: Yosemite, CA

Anne and Peter’s Wedding, Verandas Manhattan Beach

Jen and Rylan’s Wedding, Seven Oaks Country Club, Bakersfield

Reagan and Ken’s Wedding, Sherwood Oaks Country Club

Monina and Matt’s Wedding, Calamigos Equestrian Center Burbank

Karina and Kevin’s Wedding, Malibou Lake

Tara and Timmy’s Backyard wedding

Tina and Armando’s Wedding, Sportsman Lodge

Melissa + Ray’s Wedding, Walnut Grove. Moorpark, CA

Manami + Nick’s Wedding, Museum of Art Long Beach

Danielle and Gabriel’s Photobooth

Engagements

Personal: My engagement at Joshua Tree

Bridal Photoshoot: Las Vegas

Portrait: Paul Kenny

Sony E3 for Playstation, Jane’s Addiction

Mindy: Feather’s Photoshoot (unblogged)

Aurora + James: Engagement Long Beach

sjphoto — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:31:20 +0000

I met Aurora and James last month as they began planning their September 2012 wedding at a villa in San Juan Capistranio. They had only been engaged a month, and I was so thrilled photography was a high priority on their list of things to book first! Their ideas for an intimate wedding with lots of handmade details, made my heart happy. Aurora and James met in Long Beach and are planning to relocate at the end of the month to be closer to James’ new office. To celebrate this time in their life and how they met, they chose to have their engagement session at the Queen Mary and a nearby lighthouse!

I actually photographed the Queen Mary a couple of month ago for one of my architectural projects… during that shoot I learned the hotel was recently the location of choice of a Victoria Secret Campaign. CLICK HERE to watch the behind the scenes video of that. As we walked around the ship, we found so many great locations! The following 2 shots below was one of my favorite location finds… angel wings!

We were about to leave the Queen Mary and head over to our second location, when James found this amazing photo spot! I love how you can see the sign, boats, and the lighting on their faces is just beautiful!

Location #2 was across the river at a lighthouse. There were lots of people around, so we had to wait for just the right moment to get these shots.

Michael + Adrian: Engagement at Griffith Observatory

sjphoto — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:11:40 +0000

Adrian and Michael met during college and have been together for the past 9 years. Tonight, we met up at the Griffith Observatory to capture their love during a fun engagement session with a beautiful sunset. And of course we did just that…. definitely in style!

Melissa + Jeff: Sunset Engagement

sjphoto — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:41:01 +0000

Every once in a while, I get a couple who decide to book me as their wedding photographer, without ever meeting in person. They’re usually referrals from a friend’s wedding I’ve photographed. I’m actually super flattered in these cases, but also a really nervous! Last night, I met one of my 2012 clients in person for the first time, Melissa and Jeff. They were giggly and loving right from the start, which always makes my job super easy. They chose to have their engagement session during sunset at one of their favorite spots in Malibu, Paradise Cove!