If you would like to read about the Featured Weddings here are the links:
Story 1
Story 2

Photography and Set Design: Willa Kveta
Fair and Makeup: LunaBella
Jewelry: Coast 2 Coast Collection
Dresses: La Soie Bridal
Location: Santa Barbara Woods
Model: Meara Aubin
Flowers: Willa Kveta

Every year, Santa Barbara is so lucky to be one of the destinations for the monarch butterflies on their migration south. It’s a magical sight and such a blessing to witness it ‘in our back yard’ every winter. Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day and the butterflies were out in full glory! I’ve always loved the Ellwood Preserve – my daughters and I take walks out there all the time – year-round, but this time of year is so special. Of course their favorite part after we saw the butterflies, was walking out to the bluffs and playing in the mud puddles. My girls always remind me how great life is and how so much fun can be had in nature!!! I’m truly blessed to have such incredible daughters!

We had so much fun photographing this awesome family out at El Capitan Ranch outside of Santa Barbara a few days after Christmas!

The unique design by Alegria By Design’s Armando Martinez ~ a blue and white winter wonderland, sparkling iceland with accents of pinks and yellows, was stunning. Every detail was winter perfection – the tables were sophisticatedly decorated yet still whimsical in their design, with off balanced floral bouquets of white long-stemmed tulips and lilies, offset with short bunches of white peonies, floating candles in glass vases of all shapes and sizes, sparking bowls of ‘ice’ with silver ball accents and jewels. The ceremony was held outside on the rooftop of the gorgeous Spanish style Canary Hotel in downtown Santa Barbara with a 360 degree view of the surrounding scenery. I was so lucky to photograph this incredible day!!!

I’m always honored when published in the upscale local Santa Barbara Magazine. This image that they chose from Becky and Bryce’s September wedding was one of my favorites from the day! I set them up so that the light would create a beautiful rim around them, making them glow in the late afternoon sun and in the perfect spot so that the surrounding trees would loosely frame them. But most of all, I love the energy between them – this shot is real, not a stiff posed moment. Those are real smiles and the love and chemistry between them here is undeniable.

“Becky Borden and Bryce Popoff ~ The couple met in a San Francisco sports bar. Both were pretending to watch the NBA finals while really eyeing each other. After the Lakers won, a mutual friend made their introductions.
Bryce stealthily videotaped the proposal. He set up his camera timer to ‘take a picture’ with Becky (San Marcos High School Class of 1999) during their vacation to Maui, the while ‘posing’, he opened his camera bag, pulled out a ring, and got down on one knee.
The Reception – held at Becky’s parents’ Hope Ranch home – was truly a family affair. Bryce’s mom made the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting herself.”

This year has been an exciting year for me, as my wedding photography is getting more and more recognition and publication! So excited about this full page feature in the current issue – Winter 2012/2013 of Destination Weddings and Honeymoons Magazine! Santa Barbara made their top 12 world-wide list for best places to tie the knot!

Hot Locale # 12: Santa Barbara, California!
Less than 100 miles north of Los Angeles, the scenery suddenly changes from skyscrapers and freeways to rolling hills, verdant vines and pristine beaches – the perfect outdoor wedding setting. Naturally, couples flock to the region’s top vineyards for idyllic ceremonies. Swap vows in a romantic garden filled with Diana, Princess of Wales roses at the award-winning Fess Parker Winery, which completed renovations on its cozy inn in April 2012. The result: a new swimming pool, Mediterranean restaurant and 19 rooms decorated in hues reminiscent of pinot noir and sauvignon Blanc. For an oceanfront ceremony, head to the beach at the Hyatt Santa Barbara, whose circa-1931 Spanish-colonial grounds also underwent a stunning makeover in April 2012. The garden-filled El Encanto, another coastal escape, reopens March 2013 as an Orient-Express property. This Californian wine mecca is also known for its fresh cuisine; foodies can throw an unforgettable fete at the Pierre Lafond Montecito Wine Bistro, where the farm-fresh menu (this duck confit paired with local wine) began wowing gourmands in November 2011.

Happy Holiday Season everyone!!! This 2012 wedding season was my busiest yet and unfortunately it left me neglecting my blog and website updates! So here I am ~ and hopefully I’ll be updating on a weekly basis now, as I’m slowly catching up with everything.

With much gratitude, I thank all of my clients who have made this season so enjoyable! I feel inspired and excited and cannot wait to meet more awesome people next year!! I am sooo lucky to have such incredible clients! Thank you thank you thank you to each and every one of you!!! I love Santa Barbara and I love my job as a wedding photographer here!!! It’s a dream come true!!

I’m excited to announce some of my published weddings, coming up in the next few weeks…I’ll be slowly leaking the places…
Here is one of my weddings featured in Borrowed and Blue ~ such a beautiful website!
http://www.borrowedandblue.com/santa-barbara/weddings/olesya-john

As you certainly know if you are familiar with the area, Santa Barbara is a gorgeous location, and as a result sees a great deal of activity with regard to weddings and engagements. With historic locations in town, beautiful beaches and stunning neighborhoods all around, Santa Barbara is simply an attractive location, which makes it a marriage destination not only for locals, but for people from all over the country who want to have their weddings in memorable and beautiful locations. Naturally, with all of this wedding activity going on in a single town and surrounding region, Santa Barbara is also home to romantic wedding proposals just about every day! There are certainly a number of specific destinations within the Santa Barbara area that make for wonderful settings for proposals, so here are a few tips on how to make yours as memorable as possible.

To begin with, if you are a man planning a proposal, you will need to get the biggest detail just right, and in most cases that means finding the perfect engagement ring. This is not to say that the ring is necessarily more important than where you propose, or what specifically you say, but the ring will be the lasting symbol of your engagement, and you want your future fiancé to have something she’ll truly cherish. Starting out at a website like http://www.77diamonds.com/engagement-rings.htm can be a good idea, as it exposes you to a broad selection of specific rings, as well as different styles of engagement rings. From there, you can begin to make your decision.

Secondly, you will have to pick a venue, and with this step – particularly in a location like Santa Barbara, which has so many known attractions – it is important to think from a personal standpoint. It may be easy to think of going to the most popular restaurant in town, or a location known to be particularly scenic. However, keep in mind that it can also be nice to rely on a location that has specific meaning to you and your significant other, rather than the general public. Even in a beautiful area, the restaurant where you had your first date, or the spot of your first kiss, etc might be nice ideas for where to propose.

Finally, you may also want to consider hiring a professional photographer for the event. Now, you don’t necessarily want a photographer standing by right when you pop the question, but at the same time, the day or night when you propose is a very important one in your relationship, and it can be nice to have some high quality photos to remember it by. One nice idea is to hire a photographer to be standing by at a restaurant or other location, to take pictures after you’ve already asked the question, or if coordinated well, the photographer can be acting as if they are photographing the surrounding scenery with a telephoto lens to conceal the fact that they are actually photographing the entire proposal and then move in closer once she says “YES”.