Vibiana Wedding Photography – Los Angeles – Brandi & Court – 08/07/2011

This past Sunday I had a blast capturing Brandi & Court’s wedding at The Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles.  You may remember Brandi & Court from their amazing engagement session posted here on my blog a few months ago.  Their wedding day was even more amazing!  Keep reading for more details about their day and some of my favorite images.

The Vibiana, which opened in 1876, was the official cathedral of Los Angeles for over 100 years.  In recent years it has been converted into a beautiful event space that hosts many weddings, special events, and Hollywood parties.  You can read more about it’s history here.

I am so thankful for the talented Justin Gourley and Christian Bugay for coming out and giving me a hand at this outstanding wedding.  The day wouldn’t of gone as smoothly and been nearly as much fun without their help. 

The amazing vendors from Brandi & Court’s special day
Wedding Coordinator: Stacy Porras Weddings 
Venue: The Vibiana
Catering: Gourmet Gourmet
Rentals: Imperial Party Rentals
Florist: Blooming Flowers
Lighting: Jeff Ferrero
Cake: Sweet Art Cakes

The day started off with capturing the girls getting ready at the Vibiana.

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I love this shot Christian captured while Brandi was getting her hair done.

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After having a little too much fun the previous night the guys are taking it easy, before needing to get ready, by watching the hilarious “Talladega Nights”

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Just before the ceremony

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Brandi & her dad

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I love the way Brandi is looking at Court

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The rings

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Just Married!!

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Brandi looked stunning

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Court managed to crack a smile after asking if he was all partied out from the previous night.

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Just a quick traditional portrait in the middle of doing group shots.

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Court and his guys

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Brandi and her girls.

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This wedding party shot is ready to go in the album.

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A few more of Brandi & Court.

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I love this moment Christian captured.

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The next few are from the end of the night.

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Brandi & Court making their entrance into the reception

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A couple from the first dance.

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Brandi’s dad talking about when Court came into his office to ask for his daughters hand in marriage.

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I love this moment captured by Christian during the Best Man toast.

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Christian also captured this great shot during the father/daughter dance.

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A wedding is not complete without belly dancers. Here are just 2 of my favs.

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The party was rocking!

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Just a few of the vibrant colors we saw throughout the night. Thanks to Justin for capturing these.

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The details

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Justin ran around capturing some detail shots while I was shooting Brandi & Court.

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One captured by Christian.

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mojdeh mirsadeghiSeptember 25, 2011 - 10:47 am

I just saw the pics from Iran….. such a shame I wasnt there to share this beautiful, lavish and elegant wedding with my very good friend Mahin and her handsome boys. Congradulations to all of you, especially to you courtney and your gorgeous wife. Thanks for these magnificent pictures, your photographer is a true artist…..I felt all the moments sitting in my kitchen 6000 miles away!

Barbara McWilliamsAugust 10, 2011 - 7:49 am

What beautiful photos. You captured everything so wonderfully that if I didn’t attend her wedding(although I did) I felt I did. What a wonderful way to enjoy the moment again. Your photography and Christian’s are top notch. I would recommend your company above all. Thanks for the memories. Barbara McWilliams

Beverly Hills Wedding Photography – Joe & Paula – 07/16/2011

This past weekend was very surreal in LA. The expected “carmageddon” ended up being a non-event leaving nearly all the roads in LA free of traffic and allowing Joe & Paula’s wedding to go off without a hitch.  The day started off with an intimate late morning ceremony and lunch at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills. Keep reading below for more details about the day and some of my favorite images.

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A few important details

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Paula getting ready

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The ceremony space at Lawry’s is gorgeous!

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Nearly all ready for a great lunch at Lawry’s

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Joe & Paula making their entrance for the first reception of the day.

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A toast by the best man

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After a 5 hour break it was time for the second part of Joe & Paula’s wedding day. We met about 1.5 hours before they were scheduled to make their entrance into their reception at The Standard in Downtown LA.

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Just before we headed out to Union Station for a wedding day photo shoot with Joe & Paula a future bride and her girls had to congratulate Paula.

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Paula wanted to have her ceremony at Union Station but it didn’t work out. I am glad Union Station is mostly photo-friendly so we could still get some amazing shots of her and Joe there. We started outside and used the sun before it went behind the buildings.

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After sweet talking the head of security for the area we were able to get into a space Union Station reserves for special events. Here are some of my favorites along with some portraits of Joe & Paula.

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A few last ones in the lobby before heading to the reception

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Joe & Paula making their entrance

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A couple of my favorites from the first dance.

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The party was rocking!

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Just a few of the yummy treats from Joe & Paula’s wedding day!

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My Gear – Canon Specialty Lenses

You might remember last year I posted about my Canon L prime lenses and my Canon L zooms.  This is the third post talking about the tools I typically use at a wedding and many of my film projects. You might remember how much I loved my Canon L primes lenses from my previous post, here are my specialty lenses pictured below.

Shown from left to right are the 15mm 2.8 Fisheye and the 100mm 2.8 Macro.

I refer to these lenses as my specialty lenses since they have limited uses and give specific looks. Both lenses offer some great advantages compared to everything else in my bag, that is the reason I use them at every wedding for specific shots. Keep reading below for a few notes about each lens and a few favorite images I took with it.

Canon EF 15mm 2.8 FisheyeIf you are looking for a fun lens, a fisheye is one of the best! Due to the shape of the glass in this lens you get a huge amount of distortion which can be fun, but it isn’t flattering if used improperly.  My Canon 15mm Fisheye gives me a 180 degree field of view and allows me to focus as close as 8 inches.  With this huge field of view you really need  watch your edges to make sure your foot or other body part is entering the frame.  I mostly use my fisheye lenses for overviews of a wedding ceremony and for capturing fun images during the reception.  Every once in a while it comes in handy when shooting a fun group shot.  Check out the images below for a few examples. 

Canon 15mm fisheye

Canon 15mm fisheye

Canon 15mm fisheye

Canon EF 100mm 2.8 Macro  I mainly use my macro lens at every wedding for ring shots and occasionally getting ready shots. This lens allows me to focus as close as 12 inches (film plane to subject) so I can capture the smallest details on a wedding day. When shooting details at the minimum focus distance, the depth of field is very shallow a 2.8 so I often bump it up to 5.6 or 8 which requires more light.  Because if this, I always try to get details done early in the day using natural window light, if that isn’t possible bouncing a flash works well.   Here are a few examples of images shot with my Canon 100mm macro.

Canon 100mm macro

Canon 100mm macro

Canon 100mm macro

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