Briana's Quinceanera

Last Saturday my friend (and awesome photographer) Kym Ventola asked me to photograph Briana's Quinceanera at the Glendale Renaissance Hotel with her. This was my first quinceanera. And it was a blast!

At the beginning of the reception, Briana's dad changed her shoes from the tennis shoes to the high heels, a symbol of her leaving her childhood behind. Not bad shoes to start your adult life in!

No more tennis shoes for Briana...

Getting ready time is always my favorite time of the day. The calm before the storm :)

During portraits, while Kym was working her magic on the rest of the family, I stole Briana away for a second. Thanks for sharing Kym :)

This is Briana's youngest brother and ohmygosh, he's the cutest! He held the bouquet for me and took his job very seriously!Also during portraits I looked over and saw Briana's cousin lending a hand (or actually both hands) to help out the ladies. What a great guy!

I really enjoyed the church ceremony. The priest shared some very wise words and had some very good advice.

Before the ceremony Briana had to wait for the grand entrance. She was getting a little anxious and I was feeling really lucky that the room we were in had this really cool yellow wall:
Dancing with her dad. So adorable!

After dinner, Brianna made sure to start the party right. She performed with her friends and showed off some really cool dance moves:

Yep, there was a VIP area:

I love to dance and they had an amazing band playing all kinds of latin music and it was almost like torture not being able to dance. Although I can't promise that I didn't let a few tiny salsa moves slip out.
Kym and Mackenzie, you two are always so great to work with. Thank you!

Alpha Kappa Camera

I am at the airport right now. I am headed to South Carolina for a full week of fun with 8 other fabulous girl photographer from all over the United States. Allow me to introduce them to you:
Trina from Utah, Joanna from Texas, Kara from Michigan, Sam from Maine, Shea from Tenessee, Lee Ann from North Carolina, Amelia from Alabama, and Lisette from Georgia.
And I also have to give major props to Rachael Earl for our awesome logo. Rachael is a photographer but also very talented with all things design.
I'm boarding. See you all soon!

Soo blessed!

How do I get the nicest, sweetest, most gorgeous brides ever?! 

I'm really not sure, but I do feel soo blessed!

In between trips this summer I had the pleasure to have my brides over for a little get together at my place to celebrate their engagements (or newlywed status) and it was so great to get to know everyone better and I think they also had fun getting to know each other.

I didn't really think to take any pictures until everyone was leaving, but Trisha got this photo of me with Mary, Rachelle, Nicole, and Kristina that I just had to show off. Yes, I'm proud of my brides.

I had so much fun, I think I'll make it an annual "Cristi's Brides Get Together" or hopefully come up with something that sounds better than that! Any ideas? I obviously need help.

Thanks to everyone who came (including those not pictured-of course) and a huge special thanks to the best friend a girl could ever ask for. Trisha helped me get organized, made chocolate covered strawberries, answered my phone calls from the grocery store, and even stayed late and helped me clean up. All while wearing a huge and very attractive knee brace. 

For those of you who couldn't make it, I wanted to say that you were missed. And I can honestly (and proudly say) that I feel so blessed that each and every one of you have chosen me to document your wedding day. Thank you!

Grand Canyon

Last weekend my in-laws came to visit us and we drove up to the Grand Canyon.

Awesome self-portrait. Yes, I'm a professional:

My in-laws are super fit and had us hiking all over the place. Just two more miles. I promise. My mother-in-law repeated it over and over again. 

The next day we hiked in Sedona, but I was smart enough not to bring my 10-pound camera with me. Therefore, no pictures. 

Pam and Bill, thank you so much for the awesome bootcamp weekend. I haven't moved from my desk chair since Monday. And Pam, I just know you slipped the front desk girl a little cash to get our rooms on the 3rd floor. No elevator. But, I still love you.

Italy Part V - Pompeii and Naples

Our last day in Naples we took the train to Pompeii and spent the day there. I really have no words to express how amazing this experience was. 

Just in case you were wondering how cool I looked on my last day of my 2-week vacation living out of one tiny carry-on. Here it is:

Back in Naples we had dinner at the famous "Pizzeria da Michelle"

It's like the In & Out Burger of Italy. Their menu is simple and to the point. Love it.

Ciao!

Italy Part IV - Naples and Capri

From Rome we took a train to Naples, the most chaotic place I've ever been to (and this is coming from a girl who grew up in Sao Paulo). We stayed in a really cool Villa outside of the city and had the most authentic italian dinner in a little restaurant near our Villa. It was for sure one of the highlights of our trip for me. The next morning we took the scariest train ride of my life and the walked to the port to take a boat to Capri.

Here's the view from our room:

And these were the views from our balcony:

After we checked in, we headed straight to beach and then went for a little walk to explore for a little bit:

The next day we rode the city bus to Anacapri and went on the lift "Seggiovia Monte Solaro":

The views from the top:

Instead of taking the lift back down, we chose to hike down this beautiful trail:

I know I didn't have the right lens to take pictures of little insects, but I am going to make you look at my photos anyways. 

Because we took forever to hike down, we were cutting pretty close to the time we had to be in Capri for our boat ride. Everyone kept cutting in front of us to get on the bus, so one of the locals showed us a way to get to Capri. They have these stairs all throughout the island for pedestrians since there are no sidewalks but the entrances are hidden and they do not share this information with the tourists. I thought this guy was pretty nice to share this information with us, that is, until we started climbing stairs! Europe does not believe in handrails. It took us about 35 minutes to get all the way down I think, but we made it in time.

We charted a private boat for 2 hours that took us all the way around the island. It was so amazingly beautiful! We got to swim inside a green grotto and just relax and bask in the sun!

Here's a shot I took during our boat ride:

That night we had dinner in Capri and then thought it would be great to take the stairs back up to Anacapri to take the shuttle back to our hotel. Grrreat idea! I really don't even know how long it took us. 

Curt and I are convinced we are definitely beach vacationers. This was an amazing trip altogether but our favorite part was probably laying around in our bathing suits and enjoying some sun. 

Tomorrow I will post the last installment of our trip - Naples and Pompeii!