Unique Floral Design + Cest La Fete Events

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to do some work with Laurie from Unique Floral Designs and Heather from Cest La Fete Events. Both of these women are wonderfuly talented and put together an amazingly beautiful Moroccan inspired spread to celebrate a special bridal shower. Here are just a few of the images I captured of their event. If you are in need of a florist or an event planner please give these lovely ladies a call, they really do amazing work.

The place settings and favors...




The beautiful table set up












The details and decor...















the yummy stuff...


the beautiful cake was provided by Skiffs Cakes (who makes some KILLER cakes by the way)


The meal provided by the Thai House in Simi Valley

"Happy Birthday little dada"

My poor husband has been working long hours and very stressful days these past few weeks as his store awaits their corporate audit team. He has been leaving every morning at 5am and gets home around 5pm only to take a 45 min conference call to prep for the next day. Well, today is his birthday, so to brighten his day a little I had our daughter call him to wish him a happy birthday as soon as she woke up. "Hello?" he answered in a flustered voice, "Happy Birthday dada" she said, "lets sing!" And she started to sing happy birthday to him. The two of them sing happy birthday all the time, but its always "happy birthday little Shayna, happy birthday too you" But today she sang "happy birthday little dada, happy birthday to you" It was so sweet, it really just melted my heart. I could tell immediately by the tone of his voice that this one little phone call really made his day. She was so excited that it was daddy's birthday. She anxiously awaited his arrival home from work, knowing she had helped wrap his present in the ducky bag she insisted we used and because there was cake with "candles to blow". As soon as he walked in the door, she ran to him saying "happy birthday, happy birthday, dada!" Well it wasn't too long before it was time for cake. She was just tickled beyond belief that while daddy was in the shower we were going to get the cake ready and surprise him. So as I set it on the island she tells me...."I have an idea", well as you can imagine, any 2 year old that has an idea when there is a cake in front of them...its probably not an idea that is in the best interest of the cake.





The final project of her "idea"


But, shhhh, here comes daddy, lets surprise him......"ta'da daddy"


Singing...."Happy Birthday Little Dada"


"Blowin candles"

OpLove on the Beach :)

I was so happy to get a chance to hit the beach for a session last week. With the weather being so back and forth from rain to sun you just never know lately. Ohh how I was missing the beautiful So Cal weather! It really was a beautiful day....then to be greeted by the adorable 'Z' and her parents for an OpLove session.....even better! Little 'Z' is so full of personality and energy, I just adored getting to know her. Here is a sneak peek from our session.





'Z' wasnt crazy about the idea of daddy throwing her up in the air when I first suggested it. But after the first or second toss, she loved it and wanted to keep going :). Ohhh, and just a quick PSA, if I do an outdoor session for you, Im pretty much addicted to sun flare so its pretty much a given that you will end up with a fun sun flare shot ;)


When I aked 'Z' to give her her best model pose...this is what she gave me. LOVE IT!


We tried to get a few shots of 'Z' with daddys cover on...however this was her idea of how the image should be made. We even tried to bribe her with a quesadilla! Face or no face, still a super fun capture in my book.

Beautiful Baby Bellies!

Last weekend I was graced with not one, not two but THREE beautiful baby bellies to photograph!!! What an amazing day of sessions it was! I will be back with some images from the third session however here are a few sneak peeks from the first two.

First up is Kristin...such a sweetheart and simply glowing! And we cant forget the new dad to be, smiling from ear to ear with excitment :)





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And next I shot Breann...Breann and I had a great time during her session just laughing and chatting...and stealing a few shots of her beauty and gorgeous bump in between!







I cant wait for both of your beautiful babies to make their entrance into the world so we can capture their beauty and innocence outside of your wonderful baby bumps.

Check out these BEAUTIFUL eyes!

A sneak peek from a session last week....and what a session it was. Sweet, sweet "J" has stunning eyes, a sparkling smile and such an adorable personality. And, mom and dad are pretty great too :) The family came to see me at the Photography By Charise studio for an OpLove session as well as to capture some milestone images to mark the 1 year birthday of little "J". We started our session with some captures of "J", then snuck in some adorable family shots, followed by the infamous.....one year old cake smash images! I love when the little ones get into the cake and have such a great time making a mess of themselves while getting down as much cake as their little hands can hold.

We had a great time...and thank you George for your wonderful courage and service to our Country. I hope that these images bring a smile to your face while you are away from your beautiful family.

Megan + Eric

Love is in the air!! Here is another sneak peek from an engagement session I had the pleasure of shooting on Sunday. Its always so great to get out and photograph a couple that is so in love. What can I say, I'm a romantic and absolutly love shooting these sort of sessions. We started with a breif session in the Photography By Charise Studio and then went on to a great outdoor park. Megan and Eric are getting married next year at The Abbey in San Diego and judging by the fun we had at their engagement session I know that the wedding is going to be a blast and I cant wait!

You guys were so much fun, up for anything ;), and oh so in love. They seriously were such troopers, it was FREEZING back in the mountains but they just went along with all my requests without batting an eye. And a special thanks to my trusty assistant who also froze her butt off for me :)

We made a quick stop on the way to the park to get this shot that was inspired by the amazing husband and wife team that is the image is found, who's work I absolutly adore :)