Gather Your Community

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone! There is simply nothing better than gathering your friends and firing up the BBQ together, so I hope everyone is cleaning off the grill and calling their friends for a good ‘ol time tonight. Jeff and I got to sit down with some of our best friends last night for the kind of four-hour gourmet meal that will go down in The Youngrens history books – thank you Dave and Jenny for bringing us along! The food, the wine, the chef – it was nothing short of completely epic. My tummy is still smiling.

But the best part? Getting to sit across the table and be with each other. In this past year filled with busyness and travel, I’ve come to truly treasure that little thing called community. Not just friendships, but truly being in community with other people. I’m probably going to expand on this in a future blog post (it’s been on my mind a lot lately) but I just want to say that it’s so important to take advantage of weekends like this. Take a break, gather your friends, and just hang out together.

We’ve got some gorgeous shoots and adorable couples coming to the bloggy-blog in the next few weeks, so here’s yet another taster of what’s to come – Kent and Jacqueline’s Newport Beach engagement session. Just drink in those shoes ladies, because there’s a lot more of them to come!

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Hugs,

Erin

The Races and a Sneak Peek

It’s off to the races today! Jeff and I are taking a much needed break from the office today to do two things: (1) hang out with our most favorite hair stylist in the world, Miss Gretchen, to tame the crazy poofs that are currently ruling our heads and (2) try out our luck at the Del Mar Horse Races. I mean, the last time we went to the races we won a whole $2.80, so we’re slowly working on our fortune folks. In fact, our goal is to be able to buy TWO ice cream cones at McDonald’s instead of just sharing one. You might want to brush up against us sometime cuz our crazy winner’s luck just might rub off…

To kick off the weekend, I’ll leave you with a little appe-teaser for what’s coming your way this next week – the lovely Jen and Troy with little Brady on the way and their too-cute-to-be-true beagle Lucy. We’ll catch you over the weekend!


Hugs,

Erin

Chris and Dena, Part Two | San Juan Capistrano, CA

Can I just begin today’s feature by saying how simply adorable these two are??? Now that we have that out of the way….

After a quick shoe change (yup, Dena is a girl after my own heart) into some boots that Chris bought her (and Chris is a guy after Dena’s heart for sure!), we brought out this cute vintage recipe book that Dena brought along for their shoot. Can I just say how much I love little cute props like this? Props and accesories like this can take any session from awesome to crazy fabulous!

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So what’s the recipe for this session? Well, let’s start with those fabulous eyes…

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Toss in a few laughs…

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Throw in a couple of cuddles…

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A few kisses…

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And that amazing ring…

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And you’ve got yourself a whole bunch of awesome-sauce.

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Ha! Definitely one of my favorites!

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There’s nothing better than a table for two with your sweetie.

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I seriously can’t get enough of those boots.

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Or Dena’s eyes!

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Once we sufficiently photographed the beans out of the benches, we headed towards what looked like an old outhouse. Purrrfect.

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Of course, the amazing Chris and Dena can even make an outhouse look pretty fab!

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The last prop they brought along was the letter “R” for their last name, which we definitely had to make good use of.

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Major props go out to Chris because he was the one that hung the R on the lock. Genius!

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So cute!

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Chris and Dena: You guys rock our socks off, and we are seriously blessed by you guys. We can’t wait until the wedding in just a few weeks so we’ll keep our cameras warmed up until they get to see more of your gorgeous smiles! Love you guys!

Hugs,

Erin

Chris and Dena | San Juan Capistrano, CA

Chris was tired of relationships when they met. There just didn’t seem to be a the kind of girl out there that he was looking for. One that would understand his heart, that could feel what he was feeling. That felt right. So he wasn’t out to impress anyone when mutual friends introduced him to Dena at the pool in Palm Springs. He didn’t tell her he was a fireman. Instead, he wanted to see if she would still be interested in him if he had no uniform, like working for the water company. And this cute girl with deep brown eyes kept chatting with him. She kept smiling and laughing and listening to every boring detail about his fake job. So they chatted, and he smiled too. And then she gave him her phone number.

“Call me at the concert tonight,” she said with a wink and a smile at the adorable water company employee she found incredibly charming and definitely not boring.

Knowing she might meet up with the great guy she met at the pool, Dena dressed up extra cute for a night out with her girls at the concert. This guy felt different to her. There was something so sincere and real about his personality, and even though it was a short conversation, she couldn’t help but feel like something truly authentic lay deep beneath his adorable smile and strong eyes. She pulled on her best boots, complete with three-inch heels and a lot of sass. It turned into an evening of singing and dancing and laughing the night away – until one of her three-inch heels broke off. Lopsided and stumbling, Dena ran into the cute guy at the pool and (in her words) found exactly what each of them had always been looking for – she needed a piggy back and Chris was more than happy to offer her one.

This is what I love about my job – we get to meet so many amazing couples that have the HUGEST hearts, and Chris and Dena are definitely in the running for being some of the most authentic and real people we’ve ever met. I felt like they’re hearts were meant for each other and even I was tearing up while hearing them talk about what they love about each other. Where he feels weak, she makes him strong. Where she falters, he picks her up. Or in this case, gives her a piggy-back ride. They just fit with each other, and that is the best kind of love that there is.

Friends and Family: To be notified when the rest of the images are online, please sign the guestbook here.

We met up with Chris and Dena to shoot their engagement session in the colorful and lovely historic district of San Juan Capistrano, and it didn’t take long for our cameras to warm up to the complete gorgeous-ness that is Chris and Dena…

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Chris kept saying that he had to keep up with Dena in front of the camera, but seriously, this guy wasn’t lagging in the handsome department whatsoever!

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I’m loving the adorable shoes and Dena’s dress from Anthropologie. Not gonna lie, I totally want to go buy it… oh wait, I totally did a few days after the session! Ha!

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Seriously? So adorable!

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Ummm, could I get me some of that fabulous hair? Yeah, thanks…

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Lovin’ Chris’ smile…

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And Dena’s eyes…

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And those LASHES. Va-va-voom!

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Cute, cute, cute.

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And more cute.

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And then there was handsome as well.

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Dena, you crack me up!

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A few one-on-ones.

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I know it’s hard to believe, but my favorites from Chris and Dena’s San Juan Capistrano engagement session are still to come, so don’t forget to stop on by tomorrow too and give these fabulous peeps a holler. We’ll see you tomorrow!

Hugs,

Erin

When I Laugh…

When I laugh, I feel beautiful. I feel like I’ve been given permission to be that free little girl I was meant to be. Or that classy, elegant woman that I want to be. Or that nerdy, neurotic person that I am.

When I laugh, I feel like life will be ok. That it is ok. That there’s goodness and peace wrapped up around me like a soft sweater just out of the dryer. It’s so simple, but it’s so relaxing.

When I laugh, I feel loved. Like I’m giving myself a big, warm, impulsive bear hug just because I can.

Jeff is gone for the weekend, and when I was crawling into bed alone last night, I realized that Jeff always makes me laugh when we’re going to bed. He tries something different every night, but it always works. And I always feel beautiful.

Jeff is coming home later today and I’m so excited to give him a monstrous bear hug at the airport. Even though he’s only been gone for the weekend, Gracie and I miss him bunches. In the meantime, to make this Monday a little less Monday-ish, here’s a sneaky-peek of Chris and Dena’s engagement session in San Juan Capistrano, coming to the bloggy-blog later this week.


Hugs,
Erin