Sonja + AJ's Engagement in Goleta, CA

You know the look that couples get in their eyes when they are sharing a special moment together?  Well, we got to share a lot of special moments with Sonja and AJ during their engagement session.  They have that way of looking at each other where you can that these two are brimming with love and passion for one another.  Plus, they both have a great sense of humor, and check out Sonja's hair!  Yup, it's all real (I asked).  Lucky girl.

Sonja and AJ chose Stow House and the old train station in Goleta (just a little north of Santa Barbara) for their engagement shoot.  Since Sonja is from this area, she used to romp around all the grounds surrounding the ranch while growing up.  We had a great time romping around the grounds with them during our session.  There were so many fun places to shoot: Stow House, the South Coast Railroad museum and Lake Los Carneros with a wooden bridge through the reeds.  We're really looking forward to their September wedding in Santa Barbara.

Dana + Marc in Santa Rosa, CA

Dana and Marc were married in late June at Kenwood Depot, an old train station in Santa Rosa.  When I arrived, I was immediately greeted by a flurry of family and friends who were helping decorate and set up everything for the ceremony and reception.  You can't come away from this wedding without feeling the immense love not only between Dana and Marc but also for Dana and Marc by their friends and family.  So many people happily pitched in to help out with the wedding - from good friends acting as parking attendants to helping set up and clean up to DIY reception decorations made by the mothers to heartfelt beautiful toasts by close friends to the lovely bouquets made by Dana's sisters to Marc's brother as the MC and train conductor extraordinaire to the gorgeous quilt used for the Chuppa and made by Marc's mother.  I don't normally blog a lot of details, but since there were so many that were so personal to this couple, I've included a number of them in this post.  Additionally, Dana and Marc had the best ceremony intro - a complete recreation of the marriage scene in "The Princess Bride."  Everyone involved in the ceremony was in on the skit and had their own line.  Here's a snippet to refresh your memories:

"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...  And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva...  So tweasure your wuv."

OK, enough yammering.  Dana and Marc, I wish you two all the best with lots of laughs for years to come.