Reality Stockton

I went to church today at Reality Stockton with Casey and Hope. I took some pics because it was the one year birthday of the church (even though they are having the celebration next week).

Mark and Terry were involved at Reality Carp when I was down there, and they moved up to Stockton to be a part of this church.

Josh did the double header weekend- officiated the wedding yesterday and preached today.

Brian and Lea Doster

This summer has been non-stop! It has been awesome to be a part of so many sweet weddings! This weekend I shot Brian and Lea's wedding in Ripon. I'm not going to lie, it was a hot one! The SLIDESHOW is like 7 minutes long, and I put 42 photos on this post :) 

Hahaha! Good times!


The giggle-monsters:

Casey Joens was one of the groomsmen. I met Brian and Lea through Casey.

Originally the guys were not going to wear ties, but you will see that they came in handy later...




Brian and Lea collected amber-wear for months before the wedding to use for the tables at the reception. Even though all of the pieces were different, they matched in a really cool way. My garage sale and thrift store loving heart was SO into it :)




Trent and Olivia are two of the cutest kids  you could ever see!



Brian and Lea washed each others feet during the ceremony. This idea comes from John 13 where Jesus washes his disciples' feet. It shows humility and a willingness to serve the other person. I think that this was a really cool way of physically demonstrating what their wedding vows were verbally communicating.






I love this shot!
Coorrrbbiinn!
Haha. Papa Alex grew a new finger-stache :)

I love these kids! If I didn't like the city so much, I'd move to Stockton so that I could hang out with them all the time.


Apparently Trent was still hungry, and Hope was the first thing he could get his hands on.


See how the tie became a critical accessory for the dancefloor:
What a fun day! I'm so glad I got to be there for such a good time :)

Back to school

As if I wasn't busy enough, the fall semester at SFSU started today. I have a more mellow load than I have had in the past, but it is still going to be busy. 

Luke Jackson

I shot Mark and Kristin's wedding in 2006, and they had a son this year. Baby Luke is super cute, and it was really nice to see them all doing well :)

Ryan and Zoe Hillner

It happened! Ryan and Zoe got married today!!! Just in case you didn't know, Ryan and I have been best friends since elementary school. I count Terry, Ryan's mom, like a mother to me too. We have done everything from skateboarding, surfing, dirt biking, traveling (over 20 countries together), school, youth ministry, In-n-Out Burger, and starting this wedding photography business together. I am so happy for Ryan and Zoe! I met Zoe about 5 years ago when she starting helping with the youth group at Reality. I have gotten to know her really well, and I am super glad that the Riz was able to pull down such a sweet catch! The SLIDESHOW is like 9 minutes long, so brace yourself...

I bet I could give Lauren a camera and she could take photos too. This summer, as you may remember, she has done hair, makeup, built a wedding cake, and she also help Angelo set up the food today.
Even though I am the best man, I am ALSO the primary photographer. How is that even possible? I covered all of the stuff before the ceremony with Dan Ramming, and then handed my cameras off to Chris Lazo and my brother, Mikey, for the ceremony. It was straight loco, but it was super fun seeing everything go down :)
Hahaha. Zoe is pretty funny! It gets better though... I was taking this picture upstairs while Dan was downstairs taking the next picture.
Funny, right?
If it wasn't for this mirror, I don't know how I would have got any of the groomsmen getting ready photos ;)

Long story short, it was getting hot and Ryan needed something to wipe sweat off while we were taking portraits, and what better to do so with than some Hanes! (They were new, thus clean)


Kathy and Greg are SO cool!
Cody and Jess Joens did tones of stuff to make the wedding happen. Jess made like 239293934389 cupcakes and Cody made all of the music and sound stuff happen. 
Chris is the other groomsman. Here he's with his lady, Sarah.


The reception zone:
The crew of photographers, Dan, Mikey, my dad, Gary, and Lazo did an amazing job! They totally nailed it!

What?! See me in this photo? It was kinda weird being on the other side of the lens, but it was a good view from right there :)

I didn't faint, but I did have to fish around in my sweaty pockets to find the rings.

Lazo pulled this SWEET shot!
Dan caught this one:
Hey, it's me again!





The reception was shorter, with no formal wedding activities; just hanging out.


My wonderful girlfriend flew down from SF to come to the wedding :)
The family:
Reality Carp youth:
Jess Joens cupcakes:

The rode out in this Mini convertable, but not before driving around the loop a couple of times! Now they are in Europe honeymooning for 3 weeks! Congrats guys!!! I love you both, and am so excited to see the amazing things that the Lord will use you both for!
Worker bees:

Thanks everyone who stayed to clean up, move chairs, tables, ect. You all rock :) Not only did she open up her house for this madness, but Kathy was straight doing work with the clean up crew afterwards!

Dress Rehearsal

We had the rehearsal for Ryan and Zoe's wedding today. I go to rehearsals all the time, but this one was a trip. My best friend is getting married tomorrow!!!

Among my responsibilities as the best man, I will need to: 1.  not faint, and 2. give Britt the rings. 
The wedding is going to be at Kathy Ireland and Greg Olsen's house in Montecito. They have a sweet zone, and it is super rad that they are letting Ryan and Zoe use their house.


So my other responsibility is to shoot everything tomorrow, except the ceremony. It is going to be crazy!
After the rehearsal, we had lunch at Piatti in Montecito.

Shannon and Chris

Here are some of the shots that I got from Chris and Shannon's engagement shoot in Santa Barbara. We went to a couple of different spots, starting with these outside their house in San Roque. You can see more photos by CLICKING HERE.

We were driving down to the beach, and this wall looked cool, so we stopped and took a couple of shots.




I really like this shot from the harbor. It was a little tricky because it was almost dark, but it gave the shots a cool dusk look.
By the time we did this one, it was dark.
For these it was night time. This overpass bridge has some cool lights though that gave some good depth.

Shannon and Chris are super cool, and I can't wait to shoot their wedding in October :)

Ryan and Zoe Engagement Photos

We got some fun shots and had them printed and framed for the wedding. Good times and good smiles, right? You can see a slideshow HERE.

Madelyn and Heidi

I got to see Madelyn and Heidi today. She is SO cute!! I got to hold her too! She makes so many expressions, and was mostly sleeping. There was a couple of times that she would start smirking while I was holding her. It was really cool :) Here are some pics:

Mitchell and Elizabeth Greene

I saw my uncle's band play at the Creekside last night after the wedding, and I saw the USA swimming team take the Gold in the Olympics. Michael Phelps is amazing! I went home, cleared the cards, and charged the batteries back up. Today I shot the wedding of Elizabeth Koppa and Mitchell Greene. I've know Liz for years. Our moms have been prayer partners since we were really young. You can see the slideshow (it's like 7.5 mins long) by clicking HERE.

Kim Cantello did Elizabeth's hair, which was fun because Kim's mom is in the same prayer group as Liz and my mom. We all spent tons of time at the Koppa's house growing up, and now we were back here doing stuff for the wedding :)

All I heard was, "the BBQ is on FIRE!" I ran out there, and there's Dave putting it out with shaving cream all over his face! It was a funny site to see. 


I guess you have to make sure that it's on there REEAAALLLYY tight ;)

The ceremony was at SBCC, and I was amazed at how cool this spot is. The view is literally unmatched. In the shot below, you see the mountains and the SB riviera. In the one after, you see the harbor and the ocean. It was a beautiful day!

They didn't have a bridal party, but they did have a bunch of kids...







My brother Mikey shot the whole wedding with me. Kid's got skills! This is just one of the hundreds of good shots he got.


Interesting fact: I worked for my dad on some of his side projects, including all of the exposed aggregate and brick concrete work around the Koppa's house. And you thought I could just take photos!


Liz wrote a love song for Mitchell and played it during the reception. I'm not going to lie, I was crying by the end of it. I was moved by the lyrics, but also by seeing Mitchell's expressions with the zoom lens with she was playing.





Hey look, it's my whole family!
Cheesecakes for days! Literally. I took one of the leftover ones home and ate it for days. I LOVE cheesecake!

Drowning

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been here and there and all over the place, with hardly any down time at all. Im going to do like 5 monster posts on monday. I hope you are all doing good :)

Kolin and Sheena

I got to help shoot Kolin and Sheena's wedding with my friend AVG today. I've known Kolin for a few years now, and it was a super fun wedding! Here are some pics:

You can see a slideshow with more by CLICKING HERE :)

Everything was at the Rockwood Women's Club in Santa Barbara. This place is sweet! I'm surprised that I haven't shot a wedding here yet because it it the perfect spot.











We took the portraits over at the mission which is right down the street.




here's a couple of cute kids:
Haha. Just a couple of girls with some strawberries and chocolate. Mmmm...
Kolin's dad gave one of the funniest, and best speeches that I've ever heard.
Here are some more cute kids:









Here's AVG, having a good time at the wedding.

Ryan's Bachelor Party

So my best friend Ryan is getting hitched next weekend, and we threw his a bachelor party today. (Sorry I didn't post any of the crazy stripper photos... J/K! We kept it clean :) We did bend some laws to fit our needs though. We went up to the Glass Factory to shoot some guns, and there road was blocked off, but somehow we still made it up there... It might have been old or left over from when the fires were burning though. 

A good friend, Chris Storer, was up in Alaska fishing with my cousin and he came back early to go to the wedding. He is going to be the other groomsman with me. It's sweet to have him back!


Skeet Skeet
What a goofball, right?
 
Chris and Chach are moving up to SF for the fall semester for an urban program that Westmont offers. It will be fun to have them in the city!



Before we watched the new Rambo movie was gave Ryan a pretty funny gift ;) Who knows, maybe it will come in handy someday...

Corbin, Alex and Savannah

My Friends Alex and Savannah had a son about a month ago, and they were in the city hanging out for the weekend. I got to go to dinner with them, and see their son, Corbin. He's real cute! Here's some photos:

Alex got his son's name inked on his arm.

Nothing is more pleasant than a sleeping baby, right?

Madelyn Jane Meyers

I'm so excited for my cousin, Heidi, and her husband, TJ, who had a heathy baby girl today!

Grant and Laura Duncan

I am so glad that I was able to come out to Miami for Grant and Laura's wedding! If you noticed on the last post, the snorkeling pictures, those were from today too. Yep, I woke up went snorkeling off the Miami coast, and then went to an awesome party! It's really hard work, but someone has to do it :) Here are some of the photos. You can see the slideshow by CLICKING HERE. Laura got a sweet artsy hairdo at the Avant Guard Salon.

Grant and all of the boys sported kilts!



The wedding was at the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables. It is an amazing cathedral! They had a lot of restrictions on where I could be. The coordinator pointed at a spot on the floor and said, "this is where you can stand, here or up on the mezzanine, and that's it." I think the photos from the ceremony still turned out awesome though!







I don't know how this actually worked out, but we got a shot of everyone at the wedding! 




I hung out with Pat and Patty a bunch while we were out there. They are really cool people.



Why smash cake on each other when you have the best man and maid of honor to do it on?

WOW. I can't believe that this was happening...

The kilts were so money! It probably the only man-skirt that I know of that is still cool. We went out to a bar after the wedding, and everyone there was excited to see all of the kilts.
This was the first time that I've seen like 20 family and friends tuck the bride and groom in for the night. What a FUN day!

Miami

Here are some photos of the pre-wedding fun out in Miami. I came out to Florida for Grant and Laura's wedding. Grant has been a friend for a while, and when he called to see if I could come out to Florida, I was like, "heck yeah!" 

We are heading over to the rehearsal in this sweet stretch limo.
Photos bring smiles... It's why I do what I do :)


We had a free day before the wedding and all of the guys went for a race at a high-speed go-cart track. The carts could go 45 mph!

So much fun!!! When I was growing up we had a go-cart, and it always seemed like it was going really fast. I'm sure that it wasn't going more that 20mph, but it seemed SO fast at the time. These carts were awesome!


It would just start raining for a while, and it was pretty steady rain, and then it would stop. It was hot and humid out, so it was not bad when it rained.
The birthday boys having a good time.
I stayed in a room with some of the friends and groomsmen from California. We had a good time, and this was an awesome late night discussion after a night at the bar ;) Props to Gina for putting up with all of the stinky boys in the room.
These photos were actually taken on the day of the wedding. We went snorkeling off the coast. The water was SO amazing to be in because it was nice and warm. I'm used to the cold California water and wearing a wetsuit most of the time. It was a good way to spend the morning on the day of the wedding.  
"Look Jack, I'm flying!" -It's from the Titanic
Even though we went snorkeling at a shipwreck, the coral and other things to see were a little bit too deep. It was not the best snorkeling that I have ever done, but it was really cool to just chill on the boat.

Gina and Patty with their smiles on :)

Joshua James

I learned about this guy pretty recently, and I noticed that he was playing in SF. It was a really small intimate show at the Hotel Utah. Joshua's voice is very unique and his lyrics have an honest melancholy twist that I enjoy. You can hear his music on MYSPACE.

Chris and Gritchelle's Wedding

I had an awesome weekend hanging out in Cayucos for my friends Chris and Gritchelle's wedding. I got there the night before and met them and a bunch of their friends out at the only bar in Cayucos for a few drinks. I crashed back at the house that Chris and Gritchelle had rented for the week. We woke up and had some cold pizza for breakfast and went over to the wedding site to get stuff ready. We put up decorations everywhere, made the center pieces, set up the chairs, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It was pretty fun being a part of setting stuff up because I normally am just taking photos. There is SO much stuff that goes into making a wedding happen!

After all of the set up, we went back to get ready and do all of the other stuff (where I normally start my day off). 









The barn location for the wedding was awesome! It is a country/rustic spot that made a pretty sweet background for the wedding.




We got this shot right after the ceremony with EVERYONE who was at the wedding. It was a lot of people to corral, but I think that is a pretty cool shot to have.



I like this shot :) It is such a classic wedding moment for the bride and groom to drink out of each others glasses, but here at the barn, it's beer bottles. Fun!

Their friend Cori built this beautiful cake! Her husband was the one who officiated the ceremony too.
Having a fire pit to hang out at is 
This is the moment where the guy in the blue shirt realized that the hands on his waist are not his girlfriends...
This is the whiskey bottle dance- one of those moments where you just stand back and enjoy :)

Such a good time! Thanks.