David & Taly's Wedding

You may recognize Taly and David from their earlier engagement shoot. They had a beautiful wedding that was very personalized to the two of them. They did not want a traditional wedding in any sense, and so, went for an oriental theme, having their wedding at a Japanese Tea Garden, with the ceremony inside the Tea House. They interwove the color red throughout the wedding decorations and other elements, including their shoes! The ceremony was led by the groom's brother and encorporated parts of various cultures to create a harmony that really reflected the couple and their relationship. A few photos were taken on the bridge in the beautiful tea garden.



The only sign of nervousness I saw from the couple was just in the brief moments before the wedding when they waited together for everyone to assemble. To ease their nerves, they joked about the embarrassment of standing in front of all their friends and family during the wedding.


Luckily, it only rained breifly as some of the guests were arriving and cleared up during the ceremony. The rain did add an element of excitement to the pre-wedding mood! It was a beautiful day when everyone came out afterwards.



The couple await their grand entrance in front of the Tea House.



After the ceremony, everyone got green tea in small porcelain Japanese tea cups (which the guests kept as favors!) and toasted the newlyweds as a group.

The couple leaves the Tea House, and on to the reception!


The oriental and red theme was carried over to a fantastic reception set up. Some of the lanterns got wet from the rain, but it came out great nonetheless.




Taly's neice, Maya, was adorable and very photogenic.


Everyone, including the newlyweds, had a great time dancing the night away!


Congratulations and all the best wishes to this fun and spirited couple!

Change 4 MS - A Charity Event by Jade Entertainment Group

Change 4 MS was a classy event benefiting a wonderful cause, with all of the profits going to the National MS Society. The evening hosted at Aqua Lounge in Beverly Hills started with dinner and proceeded to a great night of live music. Jade Entertainment's founder Jana Evans bravely spoke of her own experience in being diagnosed with Multiple Schlerosis as well as the incredible medical advancements which have been developed, and continue to improve each day, that have enabled her to live a healthy and symptom-free life today. Research in the field is truly at an important and exciting point now since so many recent advances have been made to reverse the progress of MS as well as many similar autoimmune diseases, and there is still much more anticipated progress. More information about current research and how to donate can be found at National MS Society's site.

Jana, left below, and friends who contributed to the night posed for a few photos before the events of the evening began.











Newlyweds Mike Eddie (an up-and-coming singer songwriter who performed in the show) and his wife Shannon posed for some adorable photos.



A hip jazz band (including guitar and vocals by Greg K) set the mood as guests had dinner and mingled at the start of the evening.



The dj played hip hop and R&B between sets throughout the night.


Jana introduced herself and the cause before showing a short but powerful and hopeful documentary about living with MS.




Singer-songwriter Mike Eddie put on a great set. He is a fantastic performer, with a very cool sound.








Listen to Mike Eddie here. I highly recommend it!

Thanks to Jade Entertainment for the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful event. I am excited and hopeful for the current and upcoming leaps in medical treatments for the hundreds of thousands of people living with Multiple Sclerosis.

The Pimsaguans - Family Portrait

As a Christmas girft, my mom wanted to give our very good family friends the gift of a family portrait, so we took some pictures at a great park in Mission Viejo, Florence Joyner Olympiad Park. My mom debuted her talents as a photography assistant - she kept them smiling the whole shoot!

Shawn Anderson - Website Photos

Shawn Anderson is a highly positive, driven, motivational author and person! He has published a new book, Amicus 101: A Story About the Pursuit of Purpose and Overcoming Life's Chaos, and is building his new website: www.shawnanderson.com (where you can see many of the photos below!).

Shawn is truly enthusiastic and excited about helping others to reach their potential and gain direction in life. His mission is, "to empower 1,000,000 people to lead a more passionate and purposeful existence." He sends out a free weekly empowerment newsletter, about which you can find more information here! One quote from a recent newsletter I especially like says, "give everything you do an extra dose of your best YOU." I love that simple reminder!

It was great getting to know Shawn through a series of photoshoots, each aiming to capture one of three meaningful concepts: Possibility, Purpose, and Passion.

Shawn Anderson: The Author.






Purpose.
(These were taken at beautiful Marina Del Rey. It was a wonderfully calm, peaceful afternoon.)



Passion.
(This set was done along (and under!) the Santa Monica Pier just around sunset. Shawn is an avid runner: he has run a 100 mile race over 5 days and biked across the US, ocean to ocean, in 48 days.)



Possibility.
(These were taken in the hills at Mountaingate Road, Los Angeles. We wanted to capture the wide open space that conveys a feeling of fresh opportunity and possibility. The view was incredible and the fog rolled in to give it a magical quality. You'd never know we were in LA!)







I think this is an awesome post to start off the new year. As Shawn says, create a great day!