Friday, March 28, 2008

Jane and Kevin : Wedding - Jasmine Star Photography

Jane and Kevin closely sat next to each other as their Maid of Honor toasted their love. She made it a point to express she worried Kevin wouldn’t be able to handle Jane’s feisty demeanor upon first meeting him, but over the years noticed Kevin held Jane in the palm of his hand. Not gripped, nor clenched, but, rather, with his fingers loosely facing heavenward. Kevin loves Jane so evidently and knows she needs a lover who will surround her heart with devotion and support, not merely words. Their Maid of Honor acknowledged this, but it’s something everyone already knew.

Their wedding day was filled with fun, joy, and gorgeousness. Basically—as Jane so aptly described her wedding—it was feroche. Surrounded by their friends and family at Seven Degrees—one of Orange County’s most fabulous wedding venues—their special day was spectacular. The wedding was coordinated by Jeannie Le and her assistant, Nite, and nothing was left unbeautified…they were nothing short of amazing! The florals were designed by Flower Allie the event was captured by the ever amazing videographer Kyle of Elysium Productions. Every vendor was a dream to work with and I was truly honored to stand beside them and document this wedding.


Here's Jane looking gorgeous with makeup done by Sherry from On Location Beauty













To view more of their wedding, CLICK HERE to visit my blog and see a complete slideshow! :)

Monday, March 10, 2008

Seven Degrees - DrewB

Venue: Seven Degrees
Florist: Del Langsdale 714-547-8237
DJ: Black Tie Events
Videographer: Mission Visual

Lauren and Robert were married at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach on Saturday. It was a gorgeous Southern California January day! I’ve been wanting to shoot at Seven Degrees for a long time and my expectations were exceeded. It’s an amazing venue with lots of great light and places to shoot. It's the perfect blend of nature and modern chic. The rooftop terrace has a hillside of cascading waterfalls and bridges and is the perfect ceremony site. The reception area is a blank canvas. The expert design team at Seven Degrees creates weddings as unique as you are. They are one of the only wedding venues in Orange County that has professional lighting on site. Any photographer will tell you that professional lighting at your reception makes such an amazing difference. If there is one thing that I think brides should splurge on it's professional lighting!!! They also have various multi media amenities including flat screens and little ornament balls with TV's inside of them they can play slide shows of the bride and groom playing (Lauren and Robert choose to have their engagement pictures in the slide show, which I, of course, thought was a great idea!).

A couple of other unique things about Lauren and Robert's wedding was that they had snow (okay, not real snow, but a snow machine!) in the main entryway as their guests walked in. And they also had a grand exit with sparklers! I love grand exits! Not very many of my couples do them, but sparklers, bubbles, and rose petals are all great ideas for grand exits. Grand exits make for great pictures!

Below are some of my favorite pictures from Lauren and Robert's wedding. And you can check out more on my blog!




















And thanks to Jasmine for getting their grand exit. At 37 weeks pregnant my feet were way too swollen to stay until the end :)

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Choosing the Best Engagement Shoot Location - Jasmine Star

Finding the right spot for an engagement shoot is key. Plenty of times I have clients who want me to choose the location for them, but—to be totally honest—I don’t know where they feel pretty…where they feel fun…where they feel like themselves! It’s an unspoken rule here at Jasmine Star Photography that the clients must choose the location for the shoot and while it may seem like a daunting task, it’s totally rewarding!

Here are a few tips in choosing the right location:
1. Choose a spot that is indicative of your personality. Don’t simply choose the beach (and wear white shirts and jeans!) because everyone else is doing it…go to a place that blares YOU!
2. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. There is no such thing as ‘the perfect spot’…it’s the illusive White Unicorn of wedding forums nationwide! I’ve shot couples against dumpsters, on top of septic tanks, and in alleys. Beauty is everywhere…the photographer just has to find it!
3. Choose a location that offers landscape diversity. It’s totally awesome to shoot, say, at a local park, but all the pictures are going to be green and fresh. Which is fine, but if you think things through you can perhaps find a park that’s close to a downtown area for an urban option as well. This affords the luxury of having more options when choosing your engagement photos.

Here are a few images I particularly like because my clients thought about their engagement session location and planned accordingly…