Walnut Grove Wedding - Candice + Warren

Oh.... Candice and Warren... <3

Their wedding day started with Dodgers and ended with In-N-Out burgers. Ladies, forget the cute bathrobes or Kimonos when you put on make-ups and do hairs on your wedding day; here goes a customized Dodgers T-shirt (with your name in the back) for everyone and after your wedding, who doesn't want to walk in In-N-Out in your wedding dress? It was the cutest moment I've witnessed. And since then, it's become my ritual to eat In-N-Out burgers (or at least McDonald's lettuce wrapped BigMac) after photographing a wedding 10-12 hours nonstop. It's the best.

I love how Warren makes Candice laugh and how she makes him a little more emotional. Candice is the most chill and fun friend/bride you can ask for, and Warren is someone who would watch your back and make sure you're well. And oh boy, can they DRINK!? Every time we hung out, we drank and talked about food; and engagement session and wedding were no exception. (No wonder we get along so well!) In fact, that's how Candice and Warren first met - they were "drinking buddies" in a marathon team with their mutual friends. I don't know anyone else who drinks as much as they do but then stays active and fit (they do serious stuff too - marathon is no joke and mountain hiking is just another one). They constantly inspire me to enjoy and live your life and I'm so happy to share some of my favorite images from their wedding. The couple got ready at Westlake Village Inn while the ceremony and party were at Walnut Grove.

Malibu West Beach Club Wedding - Nicole + Scott

This happy couple - Nicole and Scott - met in 2013 and now lives in Singapore. They work in finance industry and had two "destination weddings" - one in California where Scott is from and the other one in Malaysia where Nicole is from. The guests could choose which one they wanted to come. How flexible is this? I met a lovely friend of theirs from London saying he's never been to California so coming to Malibu was no brainer for him. Nicole and Scott didn't know what "first look" was - the trendy phenomenon in our wedding industry where the bride first revealed herself in wedding dress for the first time to her groom on their wedding day. "I already saw her dress," Scott said. "Is that a thing?" So they got ready together at Malibu West Beach Club. There is only one room - a bridal suite - at the venue, so Scott casually put his suits in a storage there, and you know I went bananas for this; I LOOOOOVED it. And talented Brett Butterstein joined me to document this afternoon fun-filled wedding last fall.

Candid Redondo Beach Historic Library Wedding Photos - Cheryl + Scott

It was about 1.5 years ago when I sat down with Alli and Chris at a coffee shop in downtown LA and wished I had hidden in the corner when Chris had proposed to Alli. To Alli, it was a normal day. Chris and Alli visited the hospital where her mom worked (maybe her mom's partner - my memory slightly faded this part... oops) for a casual heart check-up UNTIL Chris abruptly popped the question; of course, Chris had set everything up in advance with her mom. Because they were hooked up to heartbeat monitoring devices, their heart rate was recorded - Alli's went through the roof as she had NO idea about the proposal, while Chris' was a relatively pretty calm wave. Guess what now, they have these heartbeats tattooed on their arms - Chris tattooed Alli's crazy wave of "OMGGGG Yes!" while Alli has Chris' calm yet nervous graph of "Will you marry me?" and this is the coolest thing ever. Literally.

My Wedding Photojournalism in Redondo Beach

I think I cried (not surprisingly) during my candid wedding photography because I felt their love so strongly that it was honestly weird. I loved that Alli and Chris didn't mind being vulnerable with me, sharing their personal stories, those moments of ups and downs, and how they're extremely lucky to have found each other. "I know something was special," Chris told me. I'm seriously the luckiest person on the planet because I got to be the one who preserved special memories for these two, surrounded by the most fun and loving friends and family. It was a lovely, emotion-filled, a little hot September wedding day at Redondo Beach Historic Library.

Check out my wedding photojournalism collections and pricing today!