The Knot Magazine!

Pick up a copy of The Knot, S California Fall/Winter issue 2007 (isn't it summer right now?!) and you can see one of my weddings featured on pages 72-76! You'll have to read it for yourself, but it was a beautiful wedding in Paso, at Chapel Hill & Canyon Villa B&B. The bride had exceptional taste - after all she hired me - he,he just kidding - her details were awesome and it was of course gorgeous! I don't have a scanner, so I tried taking photos of the pages - but there was a light glare - I guess this is why I take pictures of shiny happy people and not product!
Happy 4th of July weekend! ~allyson

"Little" Henry

Dan and I spent about 7 years in the town of Santa Cruz, CA. That's where we went to school, got married and started our careers. One day on his way to happy hour at the Santa Cruz pier on his bike, he rode past a cute 2-bay auto shop - I know it's hard to imagine a cute auto repair shop - but this one really was!! He decided to stop in and ask if they needed help. Well, it turned out that they did, and so began the start of Dan's automotive technician career and the start of our friendship with Henry & Lisa Carter and their family. This little guy below is named Henry after his Papa or grandpa Henry. He's a pretty fun & funny little character. I shot these while up in SC a few weeks ago.....

The funny part of this story is that just today we had a kid stop in who is on the same path as Dan was, and while he wasn't on his way to Happy Hour for the $1 margarita's, we hired him just the same!

Marlee 7 months

I shot Marlee for the first time back in December when she was just a few weeks old, and I don't remember if I blogged about it or not! Either way, she's a cutie pie with a big time personality. Time flies and she's already 7 months! Sitting up, making noises, responding with great expression, making noises - she's going to be full of personality!! Here are a few from the shoot we did for her 7 month shoot.....

Mary Kate + Brian | Paso Robles

You might remember Mary Kate & Brian from their engagement session on the horses back in December. They got married at Mary Kate's parents ranch outside of Paso - such a beautiful location! I tell you, I just must be one of the luckiest girls on earth to get to do and see where my clients take me - beautiful venues, beautiful people, beautiful flowers, delicious food, all this makes me happy, and happy photographers, make happy clients!!! OK back to Mary Kate and Brian, the horses did not show up at the wedding, to my disappointment, but we had a good time without them, as you can see! Congratulations Mary Kate & Brian!

No more ranch weddings for a while - check back, we have lots of good stuff in store for you!
~allyson

Hsiaolei + Scott | Santa Cruz

Hsiaolei & Scott are getting married next month in beautiful Carmel. They live in the Bay Area and choose Santa Cruz for their engagement session, where they were engaged. Scott proposed under the Cypress tree you'll see in the background of a few of these photos. These two were a perfect 10 when it comes to expression, they were glowing with excitement and joy for their upcoming wedding. We'll be documenting their special day in just a few weeks from now and are very much looking forward to sharing in their celebration and meeting their families! Congratulations you two!

New Prop!

If you know Dan and I, we like cars! So when we had the opportunity of this lovely old metal beast, we couldn't turn it down! It's a complete restoration project for us, but we're quite excited about it. I'll be blogging the process as we go along.

First things first, when your husband is a tech, all he cares about is the engine, how it sounds and how it burns out. So naturally, the first upgrade was the cherry bomb exhaust. Stop by anytime after work and you can participate in the burn-out contests we have regularly in the shop parking lot, if you miss it, you can always see the evidence on the asphalt!

We got a newly re-built motor, thanks to our good friends at Water Star Motors! The car came running, but we soon found out it needed a valve job, so a rebuilt motor will save Dan some major time!

Our long-term plan is to restore the car, but in the meantime I plan on using it for photo shoots! So if you have one coming up or are planning a session with yours truly, let me know, I'd be happy to make arrangements! To my loyal blog-fans, I've been having trouble uploading photos to blogger, hence the delay between posts, I'm pretty sure I've figured it out, so hopefully I can be more consistent from now on!

Kandie + Jason | Paso Robles

Kandie & Jason are high school sweathearts and have been together for 7 years! It was finally their day and boy did we experience some WIND!

Kandie and Jason are true sweathearts in every sense of the word. you know when you meet someone and you can just tell they are kind to the bone - well in this couple they both are!

I learned after the ceremony that Jason's Aunt has played the organ at Dodger stadium for 30 years!!!! 30 Years - that sounds like forever!!! SO, they incorporated her and she played the organ at their wedding via keyboard! As they were announced and getting ready for the recessional, she started playing the "charge" theme they play at the base ball stadiums - too funny!

Also, Jason and his buddies built the gazebo thing they stood on for the ceremony, complete with burning the wood in some special process to give it a really cool effect - pretty awesome!

Everyone had a great time celebrating their committment at Kandie's parents ranch in Paso Robles. Ranch weddings tend to be some of my favorites, and I have been up to my ears in them lately! I think 80% of the weddings I've done so far this year are on ranches, I think I might start to call myself the Ranch Wedding Specialist!

on deck...
new prop, super cool
ethan turns one
little henry
hasiaolei & scott engaged
mary kate & brian, married at last

I know I lagged since my last blog post, but promise to try and keep up better!