I'm starting this feature with my most favorite images from the day. Once we found this big wooden chapel door, Mexico couldn't get any better!

And as always, Kate totally rocked the camera with those fabulous eyes and her perfect "come hither" smile.

I don't think I've ever met a guy as charming and lovable in front of the camera as Josh. I love this guy!

So I know you've totally seen this already, but I love this image to death. So here it is. Again.

This is where we actually started the session, so as you can see, these guys were amazing right off the bat.

Love it.

Yes, we had to shoot these from multiple levels of the building. We're totally photo ninjas when we're in Mexico. And when we're anywhere else too.

Right now I'm shooting from two floors above them on someone's balcony. And I locked myself out. Woops.

Jeff, however, chose to shoot on top of the banister which was a good twenty feet from the courtyard below. I was a little nervous from my balcony above.

Here's his shot...

And here's his crazy ninja skilz. And yes, I swear he was really high up even though you can't see it here. I swear.

And of course, we couldn't leave Cabo without a walk on the beach. We were all trying not to get too close to the GINORMOUS waves that were gonna swallow us whole if we stepped too close, so along with lovely calm shooting, there was also a lot of squealing and running!

Another beautiful sunset.

Perfect day.

This is why I love Italy. People use wine crates as bike baskets to hold their jug of whiskey. Need I say more?

And then they use Scotch cans as their water bottle holder. I wonder if one of these could fit on our scooters? When the owner of the cafe saw us taking an interest in his bike, he gave Katie and Ally some Scotch which they downed like the Scottish champs they are! I love it!

This is my favorite series ever! How cute is this little corner? This is the kind of corner that Anthropologie spends hours trying to recreate, and yet this is the real thing people. To the phantom resident that decided to wash dishes and dry their matching dishtowel with cute matching clothespins in our perfect little corner, we thank you.

Gorgeous.

I love this one!

Oh! I love these ones too...

And especially these two...

And this is pretty fantastic I must say...

Katie loves arches, so we kept searching for the perfect arch around town. I finally spotted this one inside a garden, but a small corporate reception was taking place off in the distance, so a big thank you goes out to Katie and Ally for sneaking in with me, deciphering my silent miming hand gestures, looking awesome, and running out in a matter of seconds!

After our stealth shooting, we headed up to the wall that circles the town.

As the sun sank down with that gorgeous Tuscan sunset, we asked these guys to basically be awesome. So they did.

Some details of Ally's kilt. Ready for an American attempt in kilt vocabulary? First, these are his kilt hose and garter flashes...

Then his sporran with his wedding band to accesorize...

His Ghillie brogues...

And his white Scottish legs... I mean, red Scottish knees... hee hee...

We decided to wrap it up when the kilt started coming up! There was plenty of that at the wedding, so we had learned our lesson already! Ha! I love these guys.

Ally and Katie: You know when you've felt like you've met kindred spirits from across the world? Well, don't be surprised if you catch our giddy American faces on your London doorstep sometime soon! Lucca was a BLAST, and your families and guests made us super optimistic and energetic Californians feel right at home! We'll never forget all of the amazing people we met and the crazy fun times we had with you guys! Love you!

Hugs,

Erin

Our final installment featuring Chuck and Laura comes today with their fabulous Day After session in the streets of San Jose, Costa Rica. Most people would think of Day After sessions as "Trash the Dress" sessions, but Jeff and I aren't  firm believers in trashing wedding dresses. As a former bride, I am part of that bridal camp that gets severe tummy aches at the thought of ruining my beautiful wedding dress. But a photo shoot in the coolest parts of Costa Rica that we couldn't go to on the wedding day? Now that I can get behind...

We started our time at an old gothic church in Coronado, and we instantly fell in love with these silvery-blue doors that just so happened to match Chuck's outfit purrrrfectly...

A little breezy-breeze always helps!

I told Chuck that he looks totally GQ in these images. And then I had to explain to him what "GQ" meant, and I just said, "totally studly."

My favorite image of Chuck of all time. Yeah, that's pretty stinkin' GQ.

Sometimes people ask us how we manage to never have people in our images in the backgrounds. Well, we either politely ask them to move for a few seconds, crop them out while taking the image, or in this case just bring a bride around and they tend to get out of the way pretty quick! Works like a charm.

After hanging around the church, we drove down to Barrio Amon to a completely deserted street filled with everything we could ever ask for in a Day After session in Costa Rica. Chuck kind of rocks at scouting locations in his hometown. And he also rocks the sunglasses pretty hard too!

Work it Laura! I think her inner supermodel is starting to come out!

So Laura is completely joking around in these images, but she can totally pull it off! HA! I love it!

These are no doubt my favorite images from the day, and probably from all of Costa Rica (although the green wall was pretty good too...) I don't know - Laura is pretty stinkin' gorgeous in these!

And now for Chuck's turn. Again, he can work the beans out of sunglasses!

We flew down to Costa Rica a few days before we had to start shooting Chuck and Laura's destination wedding, so we spent the weekend in a little mountain town called Monteverde that's tucked away in the cloud forests of Costa Rica. Many people call this town the greatest experiment in sustainable ecotourism, and I truly think this experiment just may work. Everything here centers around sustainability, from the protected rain forest reserves to the local coffee growers cooperative for Fair Trade coffee to the locally produced souvenirs available to tourists. We learned a ton about the theories behind ecotourism, but even more than that, we learned about the good that can come out of a community dedicated to protecting their culture and their land.

So what were our favorite things about Costa Rica? Glad you asked...

1) Pura Vida

You see this face below? Yeah, that's a face of happiness. This, my friends, is Pura Vida ("the pure life"). Its what Costa Ricans live by, and while this motto and easy going way of life can be extremely annoying to a freakishly type A American girl, its can also be extremely liberating. And it was. For both of us.

2) Speaking Spanish

The first thing we learned about Costa Rica is that the people are called Ticos, they're constantly pushing the whole Pura Vida thing, and we could actually understand a lot more Spanish than we thought we would. Its been a good five years since I've spoken any Spanish. I studied in Southern Spain for four months in college, and the "spanish" that I spoke then? Well, it wasn't exactly good. It was mostly a mixture of trying to lisp with a thick Andalucian accent ('andaluTHian'), while trying to conjugate 'hacer' and throwing in a couple of nonchalant slang words to make me feel cool. Basically jibberish.

In Costa Rica, though, the Spanish is beautiful. It's smooth and clear and completely lovely. AND Jeff finally got to use his favorite phrase from Spanish class in high school, "Mi cabesa esta en el puerta del ascensor." ("My head is stuck in the elevator doors." Don't ask).

3) The textures

I've talked about how we sometimes like to give ourselves little personal photographic exercises while we travel (which only shows just how nerdy we truly are), and Jeff decided to photographic monochromatic colors while in Costa Rica. How did he do?

4) The coffee

Yup, its true. Costa Rican coffee is delish! Monterverde has a Fair Trade cooperative, and we stopped by their coffeeshop to taste the local coffees and learn about what it actually means to be certified Fair Trade.

5) The food

I know, I know. We always say we love the food whenever we travel anywhere, but that should only tell you what our true priorities are: food and photography. If I could be eating one of these tacos while shooting a wedding, I would. But people think that's weird so I don't.

Anyhoo, Jeff and I lost about 25 pounds between the two of us in Asia because we walked everywhere and ate nothing but rice and chicken. I gained five pounds in Costa Rica. No we didn't walk as much, but we still ate a bunch of rice and chicken. Hmmm... are Tico chickens fat? Even if they are, there's no way I'm gonna stop eating this amazing food!

6) Ziplining

The. Best. Ziplining. EVER. They have a Tarzan Swing (I'll keep that one a surprise) and a Superman Zipline where you fly face down, hands free across the rain forest canopy. Need I say more?

7) Horseback riding

I had to BEG Jeff to go on a five hour horse back ride with me, but my wifey puppy eyes prevailed and we got to ride through the back country of Monteverde to hike to an enormous waterfall in the middle of the cloud forest. Was it worth the excruciating pain in our butts the next day? Every bit of it.

See the clouds in the distance? That's the cloud forest. It's literally a forest that sits in the clouds at all times. Its the most humid place I've ever been (although its fairly cold), but its also one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

The entrance to the trail is owned by a local resident, and we had to stop at his farm, leave our horses, and walk from there.

Which brings me to my own personal favorite thing about Costa Rica...

Carina the Chihuaha

The farmer had the CUTEST DOG EVER! I'm sure our guide, Alvaro, thought I was a completely nutso American, but when a dog this cute comes along, I just have to play with it. The best part was that Carina only understood Spanish - ha! - so I told her to "dame besos" a bunch!

9) The Cloud Forest

Its a dripping muddy mess this cloud forest thing. My poor TOMS shoes were ruined in the thick muddy forest floor, and we had to be really careful changing lenses in the humidity, but everything else about this place was magical. Absolutely, fairytale, everything-you've-ever-heard-about-the-rain-forest-x5 magical.

A disclaimer about the photos: Its really tough to take pictures in forests. The colors tend to be extremely muted and what light gets through the thick canopy is always coming from straight above. We had a hard time capturing the essence of the forest, so sorry for the lack of picture! Here's a few though.

I promise the waterfall is much bigger than it seems in this picture. It's actually twice as tall, but we only brought our 35mm and I couldn't fit the rest in. Oh and the water is freezing because we totally jumped in with our skivvys (no pictures of that I'm afraid!).

10) Chuck and Laura

How can I talk about Costa Rica and not mention these two? Chuck (actually pronounced "chook") brought us into his Tico culture like old friends, putting up with us pointing at objects and exclaiming their name in Spanish ("look, un arbol!") and constantly repeating our favorite Espanol phrases ("Cuidado! Piso mojado!"). Instead he took us under his wing, taught us Spanish, showed us his city, opened his family, and loved on Laura like a man totally, insanely in love in front of our cameras.

So in tribute to these two lovebirds and to the coolest Tico we know, here's a quick sneek peak from their Day After Session in San Jose that we'll be featuring next week.

For our final shoot in Venice, we wanted to do a creative and unique Lifestyle session with John and Christie, and we had heard fantastic things about the island of Burano. Burano is a small island in the Venetian lagoon located just a short ferry ride from the city of Venice, and it is famous for its lacework. While true Burano lace is rare these days, the real draw for us was the rainbow of colorful buildings that cover the island. The legend goes that in order for fisherman to find their way back to their houses within the thick lagoon fog, they had to paint their houses a different bright color from their neighbor. Now, I'll admit, as a pessimistic tourist I figured that there would only be a few houses that were actually colorful just to draw wide-eyed Americans and their pocketbooks to the island. I was so wrong! As we approached the island, pinks, greens, blues, reds - every color imaginable - materialized through the thick, gray fog. We had found a crayon box!

These two pictures were taken in Venice on our way to the ferry, but I just had to include them! Especially to see the contrast between the Venetian landscape...

...and the Burano backdrop! Literally every building is a different color, and I swear that everyone matches their laundry to their house! This is my view.

And this is Jeff's view.

Just a few feet away from the first series. I've never had so much fun in a one mile radius!

The fog surrounding the island made for perfect ambient light, but it was cold! I have to give John and Christie a LOT of credit for hanging with us in the freezing temperatures of the lagoon!

I like to think that I matched my Shootsac to the laundry.

I know that I'm a severe Anthropologie fan, but I felt liek I had walked straight into an Anthro ad when I saw the laundry hanging everywhere. I loved it!

Oh Jeffy-Poo.

We ran into a small gaggle of cats that were too cute to pass up.

Jeff fell in love with this one and wanted to keep it!

Amazing!

Jeff's view.

My view.

I love this garden that we found on the outskirts of the town with some Christmas stuff still hanging in the tree.

My favorite part of the day! This black cat kept following us around, so we finally decided to put him in the picture. He only stayed in the basket for a second, but it was enough!

So cute!

Near the ferry landing, the landscape changed dramatically, and we suddenly felt like we were strolling through Paris on a foggy winter's day.

Back in Venice. We're seeking out a warm restaurant to thaw out.

And we ran into this! I'm still not sure what "sere" means though...

After hours of fun in the Venetian streets during the afternoon, the four of us retreated to our hotels, danced with delight, took a quick siesta, and waited. Every evening, during the magical twenty minutes after sunset, God creates Twilight.  In those few moments after the sun disappears beyond the horizon, the sky reveals the depths of it color spectrum. Every minute reveals a different blue, purple, or indigo, but this progression is best seen on film as its difficult to grasp with the naked eye. So we took John and Christie back out to St. Mark's Square during the last light of day and waited for that magical moment.

We began in the hallways outside of Doge's Palace.

I love the classic feel to this image.

And just a few minutes later, the sky turned beautiful!

I love watching the progression of the sky as the light slowly fades.

After wandering the alleyways surrounding St. Mark's Square, we finally made our way to the majestic and picturesque Rialto Bridge that overlooks the Grand Canal in central Venice. Like St. Mark's Square, this bridge is normally a sea of tourists and shoppers, but we were fortunate to only have a few onlookers that were kind enough to stand behind us during our shoot. Everybody was so nice!

I think these are my favorite series from the day. Its actually about 2pm in these photos, and the winter sun was at the perfect angle at this time due to the northern latitude - especially since there was just enough cloud cover to create the ultimate softbox!

The view of the Grand Canal from the Rialto. But seriously, who's paying attention to the view?

Perfect light and perfect girl. Amazing.

These two were so cute walking around everywhere. Christie was such a trooper and loved every second of playing in her dress!

I had to throw in some more of John because he looks so good!

Christie and I were joking around about how much we LOVE Venice!!

Jeff snuck in a couple of me while I was setting up. Our Shootsacs made it so easy to shoot in a location like Venice where bridges, cobblestones, and tiny alleys make a rolling camera bag difficult to use. We love them!

Gotta love the pigeons!

And now the best part - the gondola! As soon as we decided to go to Venice with John and Christie, all I wanted was to get Christie on a gondola in her dress. It was an amazing 45 minutes floating through the canals of the most romantic city on earth. Our gondolier was awesome  and let me hop out a few times to catch some overhead shots.

Jeff is such a stud! Although I was a little nervous because the gondolas, as stable as they are, tend to tip from side to side when you're standing up!

John had to get some romantic shots of us too!

Gotta love the 15mm Fisheye with the Rialto bridge.

Awww...

John had this super cheesy Venice picture on his iPhone counting down the days to the honeymoon, but when we tried to recreate the pose, it came out super cute!!

The last shots of the afternoon. She's so gorgeous!

There are still plenty more pictures to come from our time in Venice, so stay tuned for more posts throughout this week and next. Yes, we definitely took them out to St. Mark's Square at twilight...

Hugs,

Erin

Now I know what you may be wondering, because the biggest response we've gotten when we tell people about our Honeymoon Shoot is, "Really? They wanted you to come on their honeymoon? Awkward!!" I always giggle when we get that response because, yes, it isn't your typical photo shoot. But here's the thing: John and Christie honeymooned in Venice for ten days, and we were with them for four of those ten, meeting up for photo shoots off and on throughout that time. And since we've grown to be good friends with these two (which is typical for us, we have the best couples!!), we got to share the experience of cool restaurants,  amazing museums, and wandering canals with another couple that loves each other as much we do. Besides, Christie got to run around in her wedding dress in Venice - need I say more?

But enough of my blabbering, on to the images!

***Since Venice is one of those places that is beautiful around every corner, and since we did about 4 or 5 shoots total in Venice (not including all of our personal photography from our two weeks in Tuscany and Rome), we will be spreading out our Italy blog posts over the next couple of weeks. This will be the first installment of many!***

We began our time in John and Christie's romantic hotel room at Hotel Concordia. This is the only hotel that overlooks St. Mark's Square and they stayed in one of only a handful of rooms with the view!!

Most of our time in Venice was overcast or rainy, but on the second day God parted the clouds and revealed the warmest sunshine we had ever experienced! It was phenomenal!

Gotta have fun in your dress and tux!!

So romantic!

Not only was it enormously cold in January in Venice, but the normally crowded, elbow to elbow city was eerily empty of any tourists! We could wander the streets without seeing any tourists at all. But when we brought Christie out into St. Mark's Square,  a number of tour groups that streamed out of the woodworks and became mesmerized by what we were doing! So here I am moving the crowds out of the shot. Go me!

John is such a stud.

FAVORITE SHOT EVER! If you ever doubt a Honeymoon Shoot again, just imagine twirling in your dress in St. Mark's Square with no one around! Absolutely gorgeous!

We then moved on to the utterly breathtaking maze of bridges and canals throughout the city.

Just when we thought it didn't get any better, a gondola floats by...

This is definitely a favorite. This is our ultimate Venice shot - the poles, the bridge, the canal, the balconies, the buildings, and of course the beautiful couple.

But my favorite part is Jeff taking the picture! A tour group happened to be walking by and stopped to watch!

My view of the bridge.

And Jeff's view.

Ha! Everyone was having so much fun!

Gondolas, romance, bridges, cafes, balconies, canals, and most of all, “amore” surround every corner of this small and yet fantastically monumental city. This is John and Christie, and this is Venice, Italy!!

Jeff and I just spent the most wonderful four days of our lives with newly married John and Christie in Venice, Italy, on their honeymoon. Yes, you read that correctly, their honeymoon! We will be posting MUCH more later when we return to the US, but we wanted to post a sneak peek for all of those out there who I know are dying to see some of the images!

Jeff and I are spending our last night in Venice tonight (Friday), and we will be relaxing it up in a villa in a Tuscany until next Friday – wahoo! We may be able to post more images while in Rome next weekend, so stay tuned!

For all of our wonderful clients and friends, we will be returning to the office on February 3 and will be able to return any phone calls or e-mails at that time!

Hugs,

Erin

As soon as I laid eyes on this perfect little orchard, a tiny piece of my heart flitted into its golden deliciousness and planted itself there.

And as always, we like to have fun!