11Apr

Lavish Indian Weddings

By, April 11, 2014

Wedding traditions vary from culture to culture, and each tradition is unique to its own roots. One of our favorite cultural celebrations is an Indian wedding. We love the excitement of the crowd, the traditional costumes, the abundant food, and the entire celebration.

From our experience, Indian weddings can take anywhere from 1 day to 3 days depending on the customs of the families involved. Each event can have from 100 to 1,000 guests, which keeps us on our toes as photographers. Each of our photographers has a depth of experience with Indian weddings, and a commitment to elegant, artistic and joyful wedding photography.

Indian weddings are bursting with colors, which go hand-in-hand with our style of photography. The outfits, jewels and flowers are about as vibrant as colors can be :) Take a look at some photos from our recent Indian Weddings.

Indian-1Indian-2-3Indian-4Indian-5Indian-6Indian-7Indian-8-9Indian-10Indian-11Indian-12Indian-13Indian-14Indian-15

Want to see more? Check out more images from recent Indian Weddings!

20Jan

Hard Rock Hotel San Diego: An Amazing Race Wedding!

By, January 20, 2012

After writing blogs about so many awesome engagement shoots and weddings, it’s time to share the story of my own big day!  About two years ago, my now-husband and I went on a life-changing adventure around the world on the CBS reality show, The Amazing Race 15.  Being chosen for the Amazing Race was always a dream of ours, and we feel so fortunate to have won the whole thing. Only a few months after winning, we were engaged. We knew exactly who we wanted to photograph our once-in-lifetime celebration – True Photography!  And the story gets better… not long after hiring True for our wedding day, True Photography hired me onto the team! I absolutely love working with all of our brides and grooms, and sharing their weddings on our blog.

Check out the January cover 2012 cover of Exquisite Weddings Magazine to see one of our favorite photos by True Photography! I hope you enjoy the recap of my wedding at the Hard Rock Hotel. Feel free to let us know what you think!

San Diego Wedding Photography: Amazing Race Meghan and Cheyne wedding on the cover of Exquisite Weddings by True Photography

Cheyne and I knew from the beginning that we wanted our wedding to be a party. We wanted our guests to feel like this was an all-out celebration of “Team Meghan and Cheyne!” We chose the Hard Rock because we felt that it was a contemporary venue that optimizes the “rock star” party atmosphere that we were going for.  We stuck to a color palate of dark blues, shades of gray and a touch of white. I wore a Romona Keveza dress and the bouquets by Blush Botanicals were beautiful with white peonies and anemones with deep blue centers.

San Diego Wedding Photography: Meghan and Cheyne Amazing Race Wedding at Hard Rock Hotel weddingA Romona Kaveza wedding dress with a bridal bouquet of white peonies and anemones

We’ve always loved the Beatles, and because our wedding was at the Hard Rock, we incorporated a music theme throughout the festivities. We hinted at the Beatles in our invitations, which were screen printed with guitars and tied with “All you need is love” tags.  There was even a Beatles guitar pick tab on the inside of the invites. We also played “All You Need is Love” as the recessional song during our ceremony. And of course, we couldn’t leave the Hard Rock without Aaron getting a great shot of us in front of the Abbey Road wall.

Beatles themed wedding invitation and All you need is love quoteSan Diego Wedding Photography: Meghan and Cheyne Amazing Race beatles themed wedding at the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego

Cheyne and I were born and raised in San Diego, and have been friends ever since elementary school.  San Diego was an easy choice for the location of our wedding, but we wanted it to be in an energetic atmosphere that was representative of us.  We chose the rooftop of the Hard Rock Hotel, overlooking the buzzing downtown crowds during a Padres game at Petco Park, in the heart of the Gaslamp.

San Diego Wedding Photography: A wedding ceremony in downtown San Diego on the rooftop of the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego Wedding Photography Meghan and Cheyne Amazing Race 15 walking down the aisle

We also wanted to somehow represent our adventures on the reality show at our wedding.  We had clay characters made of us in our backpacks and outfits that we wore on the show to top our cake from Sweet Cheeks Bakery! The escort cards were mini passports that lead guests to their tables, which were named after locations we traveled to on the Race, along with a picture of us completing a challenge. Not to mention, six of the 18 members of our bridal party were contestants we competed against on the show, and have now become friends for life!

Meghan and Cheyne in an Amazing Race themed wedding cake topper, Passport escort cards and funny bridal party photography in downtown San DiegoSan Diego Wedding Photography: Meghan and Cheyne Amazing Race wedding downtown San Diego with bridal partySan Diego Wedding Photography: Photos of bridesmaids at Meghan and Cheyne from Amazing Race wedding at Hard Rock Hotel San DiegoSan Diego Wedding Photography: Photos of groomsmen at Meghan and Cheyne's Amazing Race wedding Hard Rock Hotel San Diego wedding

To add to the party atmosphere, a custom monogram dance floor and dramatic draping was set up in the Legends Ballroom by Concepts Event Design.  Also, Tim Altbaum Productions amped up the excitement with tons of uplighting, a light show, and a video DJ that allowed guests to watch music videos on the big screen as they danced the night away.  Our centerpieces by Blush Botanicals worked perfectly with the feel of the room. Everything was better than we could have imagined, as people of all ages were breakin’ it down on the dance floor!

San Diego Wedding Photographer captures candid photos on the dancefloor with bright colored uplightingSan Diego Wedding Photography: Hard Rock Hotel Wedding of Meghan and Cheyne from the Amazing RaceSan Diego Wedding Photography: Sweet Cheeks Baking Cupcakse and Art Carved Rings  San Diego Wedding

What I’ve always loved about True Photography is the way that color and emotion is captured in each photograph. Because our wedding was in the hands of True Photography and Aaron Feldman, we knew we had nothing to worry about but having fun. I feel so lucky to have these photos to remember the details of our wedding day, and I’m equally proud to be a part of a company that provides that gift to every bride and groom who chooses True Photography.

San Diego Wedding Photographers downtown San Diego Hard Rock Hotel with bright lightsThe bride and grooms first dance at their wedding reception at San Diego's Hard Rock Hotel Bride and groom at Float rooftop lounge pool at the Hard Rock Hotel

To view more images from this Hard Rock Wedding, click here!

Photography: True Photography

Venue: Hard Rock Hotel, San Diego

DJ and Lighting: Tim Altbaum Productions

Decor: Concept Events Design

Florals: Blush Botanicals

Wedding Coordinator: Amore Events, Jennifer Molloy

Cake: Sweat Cheeks Baking Company

Rings: Art Carved

 

02Aug

A Vietnamese Wedding Celebration Goes Glamorous

By, August 02, 2011

After two Vietnamese tea ceremonies, a western ceremony at USD’s Immaculata Church, four outfit changes, two choreographed dances, and a reception at the US Grant Hotel downtown, we’re amazed that Cheryl still has the energy to tell us all about her and Minh’s 15 hour celebration! After two years of preparing for their wedding, this fun couple pulled off an amazing day of events. We’re excited to share this wedding with you and there’s no better person to give us the scoop than the bride herself. Let’s let Cheryl take it away!

Since our parents’ houses are two blocks away from each other, we were fortunate enough to continue with our Vietnamese tradition by having the groom’s family walk over to the bride’s house. Each groomsmen and additional family members carried dowries wrapped in red cloths, while the rest of the family trailed behind, as the procession made its way to the house. Fire crackers were set off once the Groom’s family arrived, and again at the end. Each side of the family introduced each other, the two of us prayed to my ancestors, and finally, we served tea to our elders as a sign of respect. We then repeated this process at the groom’s house to pray to his ancestors.

A Vietnamese Wedding and Tea Ceremony in San Diego with Fire crackers

We, along with our wedding party, had so much fun shooting with Aaron! We loved him. We all were at ease, and therefore, we felt he became one of the group!  He is phenomenal at what he does. Now, the only problem we have is narrowing down the final pictures. We just have too many to choose from!

wedding couple laying on a couch at the Us Geant hotel, San DiegoWedding couple kissing after ceremony at USD Immaculata church


Our theme was Old Hollywood Glam. We wanted our reception to feel like we were going to the Emmys or Oscars. We incorporated many crystals, pearls, and lace with some soft colors. For our centerpieces, we had alternating crystal candelabras and crystal vases. Each centerpiece had hanging pearl strands, crystal garland and white ostrich feathers inside the luscious flowers. The flowers were mainly white roses, with touches of cream and pale pink sweet akito roses. To acknowledge our parents, I made chandelier centerpieces for their tables, covered in an abundance of white phalaenopsis orchids. Our head table linen was a beautiful, custom-made ivory lace overlay, with a white bustle and underlay. We centered our 4-tier cake on stage, and included a plethora of candles of varying heights. We also added white decor, such as the dancefloor, lounge furniture and uplights, to set the magical and enchanting ambiance and complete the “Oscar” look.

pink and white floral arrangement and candles at US Grant wedding

During the wedding festivities, I changed into a total of four outfits. I wore my white dress in the beginning, and then I eventually changed into a flowy soft pink dress for my first dance. It is customary in our culture to greet our guests at their tables in a traditional Vietnamese dress, so I changed into a full beaded fuchsia traditional dress, which I also wore for the tea ceremony in the morning. Finally, for our second dance and for the rest of the night, I wore a modern white traditional dress.

A bride with multiple dress changes for cultural wedding reception at US Grant

Not only did I have multiple outfits, everyone else had multiple outfits too!  For the groom’s tux, Minh wore a very traditional white tailed tuxedo with vests, matching the theme of each portion of the day: fuschia pink for the morning ceremony, white for the church ceremony and regal gold for the reception. The groomsmen wore charcoal gray suits with soft pink vests during the tea ceremony, and regal gold during the church ceremony and reception. The bridesmaids wore custom-made dresses with gold silk Charmeuse fabric, purchased from the prestigious Mood Designer Fabrics, known for carrying designer fabrics for Project Runway and the Apprentice.

San Diego wedding photography of bridal party outfits

We wanted to captivate our guests as they enter the ball room, so the first thing we wanted them to see was our custom white logo, a design we created using our own signatures merged together. This was very special for us, and we wanted to make use of it everywhere! Minh’s car, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, was even decorated by my bridesmaid the night before with our custom signature logo decal, pink pom poms, and the “Just Married” sign.

Wedding rings and wedding monogram at a US Grant wedding in San Diego

For my bridal bouquet, I had large pearls pinned in my white and pale pink sweet akito roses and gardenias. I also had my grandmother’s real 18K gold chain hanging out of my bouquet as my “something old.” The groom also matched with my bouquet; he had 18K gold chain that belonged to my mother.

White bridal bouquet and a boutonnière with a white tuxedo at a San Diego wedding


We had two dances. For our first dance, we chose the song “Walking in the Air,” by Celtic Woman, and for our second dance, we chose “Allegretto,” by the Violin Guy. They were both choreographed and we had been practicing for about 9 months. The first dance was a slow, romantic, and breathtaking dance incorporating different dance styles such as Viennese Waltz and Foxtrot. The second dance was an intense and lively Tango. We performed two dances because we wanted to keep the excitement going continually throughout the night.

A coreographed first dance at a San Diego wedding

The most memorable moment was when Minh and I took a peek at our ballroom for the first time!  We stood there in awe for several minutes.  We had planned our wedding for nearly two years, so to see our dream become a reality, exactly how we envisioned it, felt so amazing. At that moment, we felt so accomplished. This is our favorite picture. It pretty much sums up the moment.

Bride and groom in ballroom at US Grant ballroom

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