Becca and Dean | Boston Wedding Photography

Constantly striving for improvement – that’s how you can describe my work ethic. When I started out just a year or two ago I would often feel, after a session, that there was just something that I couldn’t get, that I wasn’t getting there. Well, I’m still far away from being where I want to be, and I doubt that if I reach that I would be fully satisfied with my work. However, I can pinpoint the engagement session I had with Becca and Dean was really a turning point of me taking photography as “just a hobby” towards the “I think this could be a serious thing”. Not only are they incredibly warm and generous people to work with, they are extremely creative as well, inspiring me (at that point) to produce some of my best work… You can see some of those engagement photos here.

Flash forward a year, and we’re now at their Harvard wedding. The amount of detail placed into this wedding was incredible – you can see their personal touches everywhere. From her self-designed dress, to her sister’s font-like handwriting on all the paper, to initialed shoes, to a handmade photobooth, this wedding was lovingly their own. I had the opportunity to take some photos of them getting ready and my separate portrait session with them as well as an additional shooter at this wedding. We timed it before the ceremony – which is commonly known in the wedding photography world as the First Look (it was Dean’s first time seeing Becca in her dress). I’m extremely thankful for this wonderful opportunity. [Note to other friends of mine getting married whose weddings I may attend as a guest: I don’t bring my professional equipment as a rule of thumb, so if you’d like me to take photos, we should talk first!] It was also a blast catching up with all the people from Harvard AACF that I may or may not have seen since graduation (congrats to 2009!), and a shoutout to the 5 generation of PBJ leaders that were there – praise band represent!

Some details

Putting on the dress and accessories takes lots of help!

Photos from my private session with them

Cutest kids to walk down the aisle! (ring bearer and flower girl). Becca’s sister and matron of honor is in the background

Emotional hugs with Dean’s parents

Izze at the cocktail party? I’m all in

They set up a photo booth with some large pieces of cloth, old photo frames, and chalkboard

So Andrew and I got in on the fun =)

Ah yes, dreams do come true

Becca, Dean, congrats on such a beautiful wedding and may God continue to bless your marriage into the future – one that I know will be filled with joy, grace, love, and lots and lots of laughter, sports, and arts. And thank you again for setting out some time with me and my camera as well! Curious to see more of the highlights? Please click here

See Strut Photography’s beautiful coverage of the wedding here

Rachel | Wellesley Senior Photography

Oh hello, look at this thousand-watt smile! The ever-adorable Rachel and I spent good quality time at Wellesley (yep, again!) for her senior session… It was after commencement, the campus was extremely quiet… to the point where we were a little spooked! However, I love not having people around, we were able to take command over any location we wanted without people getting in the way.

Love her pink shoes! This is what I’m talking about in terms of accessories!

These chairs and umbrellas looked very European

Beautiful back lighting!

Does anyone else think she resembles Keira Knightley? I think it’s in the eyes

Yes yes, shoes again

Sultry

Man, the weather that day was so good

See more photos from the session here. Thank you Rachel for such a fun afternoon! Good luck next year (I’m sure the kids will ADORE you)!

Lisa and Javier | Boston Wedding Photography

In the famous words of one of their friends, Lisa and Javier are one gorgeous couple! I’m so blessed to have been able to be part of their beautiful, beautiful wedding in the middle of…. Boston Public Gardens! No joke, there was actually one other wedding happening around the same time, and their justice of peace accidentally walked to our wedding first! hahaha!

Pauline, their talented friend, playing great classical music

Lisa and Javier walking towards the wedding

The guests were obviously excstatic

During the ceremony, I saw Javier’s parents shed some tears…

Sharing a laugh after the kiss

Swan boats going by and congratulating the couple

The reception was beautiful. Simple and elegant, very reflective of both Lisa’s and the hotel’s style

The gluten-free cake!

Some more photos inside the hotel

What a great family!

Vendor information:
Ceremony: Boston Public Garden http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/weddingpolicy.asp
Reception: Nine Zero Hotel, contact Kristin Alley
Dress: JCrew
Suit: Marshall’s
Cake: Vita Cohen at Celia Cakes
Make-up: Makeovers by Ligia
Hair: Malika at Dellaria Salon (Summer Street, Boston location)
Shoes: DSW
Rings: Barmakian Jewelers (Downtown Crossing, Boston)
Florist: Cassandra Liu
Justice of Peace: Jean E. Ellis-Labossiere

See more photos here. Lisa and Javier, congratulations! And thank you so much for making our time together so wonderful, I had so much fun, and was also nearly moved to tears by you guys’ honestly beautiful vows and readings to one another.

Sweet Cupcakes

Oh. My. Goodness.

I’m normally not a sweets fan, really, I prefer bbq chips and buffalo wings and oysters over chocolate cake or cookies. However, I’m recently on a cupcake kick, and after many many days of never making it out, I finally got to visit Sweet in Harvard Square. Are these not DIVINE? Okay, a little sweet, a little pricey, but hey, if anyone wants to bribe me in the future, I’m sure you could totally do so with a dozen of these delights. * wink * The only kind of flavor I might not like is chocolate.

Anyway, I’ll admit, I’m behind on photo editing. I’ve been getting home from work (my actual full time job) after midnight most of this week so I’m trying to sleep and preserve strength to photograph during the weekend. Don’t worry though, they’re coming along, you will see them soon! My Mom (I LOVE HER SO MUCH) is coming this Saturday to help me get some more furniture into my condo (I’m still sleeping on an airbed, soo bad for my back), and take care of a lot of little things that I’ve neglected. I’m also getting some more administrative help this summer so that I can take some time off. I’ve been having a very emotional past couple of weeks. I like my day job and it’s not as intense as some private equity or doctor friends I know, but even so, not getting home for weeks straight until 10PM or later leaves very little time for socializing. Don’t get me wrong, I am so, so grateful for everything that has happened in my life so far and I’m amazed and flabbergasted at how quickly my bookings took off. However, I need to also focus on the important people in my life, like God, my boyfriend, my friends, my parents, and I would really love to successfully apply to and get into business school for entrance fall 2010! This is the reason why some of you are not getting sessions with me until September / October when you requested summer sessions. All my open slots have been booked, and the rest, I’ve had to close off so that I won’t go crazy. Having more me-time in between allows me to stay sane and for your photos to be good!

By the way, Lisa, one of my brides, set me up with a Yelp page! Thanks so much, you rock!

[ homepage | facebook | yelp! ]

Vicky | Harvard Senior Photography

I have to admit, I’ve been Vicky’s secret admirer for a while… on top of being a full-time Harvard student, she’s a part-time model with Boston’s Tonn Model Management… and I’ve always wanted to have a session with her just because she’s too cool for school. Vicky was pivotal in the 2008 production of Harvard’s Identities, an Asian fashion show that I’ve covered. Imagine my glee when she approached me with a senior session request!

Like Edlyn, Vicky also brought her graduation robe… er… just the mortar board. To be honest, Harvard robes (at least for undergrads) are pretty boring… just black. We don’t even get a colored tassle. You figure for a gouging price of $45 (or whatever it is now) you’d get something better than a polyester potato sack… But this photo is really fun. This was right before commencement so they hung all the banners at Widener Library

Deep down inside, we’re all big nerds.

A Harvard Square look

We crossed the busy crosswalk a couple times to get these action shots. Probably got a couple of stares from others. I LOVE them!

Candid. I’ve walked past that green door probably hundreds of times but it finally… spoke to me. Okay I sound crazy

This is near Kirkland. Yep. The site of the shooting.

It started raining so we went inside for some laundry room fun!

So hot!

Vicky, good luck in Hong Kong, please come back and visit sometime! See more of her session here