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(fyi: everything on this blog was posted before 11-8-07. except for maybe a few comments from our peeps.)

well, we held out as long as we could. while it is still nice here in san diego, my calendar tells me it is officially november. sadly, the time has come to say goodbye to summer. we begrudgingly mutter hello to fall, but before we wave our last goodbye to summer 2007 we present this, our ode to one of the best summers ever. thank you to everyone that shared it with us. it wouldn't have been so awesome without you.

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click anywhere to see the slideshow

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a special heartfelt mahalo to* yuki & alex, patti, noah, linda, claudia, joey, dino, nate & jac (since we spent most of our time not working with you).

aloha oi summer. catch you on the flip flop, laterrr.

*a huge amount of our summer fun is due to you guys! xoxoxo

we just want to wish our good friend alex (aka poppy jakudu & too many other alias names to list) a very happy birthday. since his birthday falls on halloween he dresses up every year to celebrate. this year he's dressing up as alex (for the 35th time). :)

now, you didn't think we were going to let alex off that easy did you? it's time to throw alex (& ourselves) under the bus for a very important p.s.a. here we go. (names have been changed for dramatic effect.)

meet joe #1 (aka alex). he's just like lots of guys. not the sharpest tool in the shed, but a good tool nevertheless.

alex, i mean joe #1, likes to go trick or treating with his friends on halloween. good times.

joe #1 played it smart & stayed safe on halloween night.

he carried a flashlight & watched out for motorists when crossing streets.

joe #1 made it back home to his loved ones & shared his candy.

everyone was happy.

now meet joe #2 (also aka alex). he's like some guys out there that aren't the sharpest tool in the shed, but they're tools nevertheless.

joe #2 went drinking with his bros on halloween night. not neccessarily a bad thing by itself, but when joe #2 is involved things could get ugly.

uh oh. look out joe. it's time to call it quits when you see old e & swisher sweets on the table & your friend is wearing a raiders hat.

uh oh

here's our pal joe #2 not feeling very well from all the spirits he drank. poor joe. if he's smart he'll just stay indoors & sleep it off.

sadly, joe #2 didn't stay home & sleep it off. he decided to hit the streets, full of kids out for treats. lucky for everyone, the police caught up with joe fast & put him in a place that kept everyone safe. *alex portrait by april*

***parental advisory***

the following images may be disturbing to ALL viewers.

everyone will be safe, now that joe #2 will be spending the night behind bars.

here's some of joe's troublemaker friends. they'll be keeping joe company in the big house tonight. this one, aka lil juk juk, looks especially menacing. even her hickeys look mean.

all the bags of sweets will be safe too because "the cupcake" will be left in the oven.

believe me when i say everyone should be thankful that this piece of work won't be walking the streets. she's so tore up she doesn't even have an aka. yikes.

and here's the twisted mastermind behind joe's ill conceived plans. i don't know about you, but i will definitely sleep better tonight knowing that this...this won't be walking around. just seeing this picture gives me the creeps.

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all characters are fictitious & are the result of staying up too late & having too much fun with makeup. thanks for the makeovers yuki :)

seriously though, watch out for each other tonight. i wish i could say that everyone out there will be driving a little bit safer than usual tonight, but i know they won't be. sadly, some kids have been killed in previous years in our neighborhood by cars. stay safe everyone. we want to see you again, not just to bring flowers. *image by alex while in ireland*

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

ring...ring...hello.

yeah, we're ready for mama's birthday.

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plug into the matrix here to see a completely self-serving slideshow of images that make kim (& us) happy.

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Happy Birthday Kim! We lobe you long tim.

I couldn't just get kim a slideshow for her bday. here's some of the other goodies she got.

this was "mainly" for the HD DVD playing factor. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)

new shooz!

vans rule!

kim's version of robot pirate island.

Everything

Find me here

Speak to me

I want to feel you

I need to hear you

You are the light

That is leading me to the place where I find peace again

You are the strength that keeps me walking

You are the hope that keeps me trusting

You are the life to my soul

You are my purpose

You are everything

And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this

You calm the storms

You give me rest

You hold me in your hands

You won't let me fall

You steal my heart and you take my breath away

Would you take me in

Would you take me deeper now

'cause you're all I want

You are all I need

You are everything, everything

as if carla & todd's engagement session here in sd wasn't fun enough, they also hired us to shoot their destination wedding (our first) in puerto nuevo mexico. fun was definitely on the menu in mexico.

jesus was in the house.

the wedding was held at a sweet spot overlooking the pacific ocean in puerto nuevo mexico. the location was awesome & so was the langostino (lobster). mmmmm.

tha shooz.

carla was looking hotter than the mid-day sun.

it's all about the clams. :)

all the stogey fans in attendance were well taken care of.

wait!!! before that last dance...

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click here to see the slideshow with more images.

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hasta luego compadres.

muchas gracias carla & todd for being so fun & for having an awesome wedding in mexico! we came away with some great memories (including one of a certain toll booth.) :)

And many thanks to rowena for coming out with us and being such a good sport about the tollbooth incident :)

***don't forget to see the slideshow by clicking here***

today was much more sobering than most mondays. after spending an awesome weekend in mammoth & yosemite for april's birthday...

we woke up to this.

that orange glow is supposed to be beautiful san diego sunshine. just when i got the smokey smell out of my kitchen (see previous fire post from sept 5th) i wake up with the taste of campfire in my mouth, again. this shot was taken at 7:15am this morning as i was leaving for work. sadly, this is straight out of the camera.

no, this isn't a swamp, it's the bottom of our pool.

our whole yard & pool are coated with ash & debris right now. poor ducky. :(

just so everyone knows, we are safe from the fires (for now). the closest evacuation area to us is still about 5 miles away. our prayers are with everyone that is affected by these fires. if we can offer any help please give us a call.

all that green stuff is smoke from the fires. we're somewhere down in there. cough cough. for all the latest developments click here.

our goal for the rest of the year... no more fires.

UPDATE as of 10:10pm 10/22/07 it's starting to get a little tense. everywhere around us has been evacuated. we're in a major residential area. i'm praying that the flames don't turn this way. so many people have already lost their homes & sadly, we heard of 1 fatality.

that's right. this sunday our sweet little april will be 91, i mean 19. :)

we will be out of the office all weekend celebrating this major event at mammoth with our good friends alex, yuki, pattipoo & noah. we can't wait to get out & take a whiff of that fresh mountain air. the only drawback is that the air will be somewhere between 30 & 50 degrees. that's pretty much arctic air for us san diego-uns. we're all going to be wearing about 30-50 layers of clothes. :) hopefully we'll come back with some rad shots to share. while we're out, please enjoy my favorite picture of april. it was drawn by rain a while back on a day when april wasn't being all that nice.

EDIT: editd:

edit: In my defense :]

(this image illustrated by april, posted by april, for april.)

d

is it just me, or did this summer fly by like a comet. it seems like june 19th was just last week, but it wasn't. it was months ago. that's when we first introduced you to natalie & scott. well, here they are again, only this time it's for keeps. yep, they recently made it official.

the spot where it all went down was the Cabrillo Pavilion Arts Center, right on the beach, in santa barbara ca. i love beach weddings.

natalie looked absolutely beautiful.

of all the people wearing tuxedos on the beach, scott & the boys were the best looking.

natalie had one last moment alone before...

being whisked away to marry the man she loves.

of course dad was right by her side...

joking that this was her last chance to run. :)

dad walked his little angel slowly down the aisle to join scott.

the ceremony was so wonderful. i'm hoping that by the time i have to walk my daughters down an aisle i will have seen this happen enough times to be totally desensitized, but i doubt i will.

it gets me every time.

"take my hand, we'll make it i swear. oh, oh, we're livin' on a prayer."

words to live by.

this was a cool little book of their engagement story. as the sign says, it is definitely "a treasure."

if you're in to climbing like natalie & scott, then this cake topper will "rock" your socks! :) if you're not, you have to admit it is still pretty cool.

the first dance

not the first tear mom cried. every time she'd cry, i'd cry, we'd all be crying. it was like we were in one big onion peeling factory.

this little girl was soooo cute. she had the most beautiful smile ever.

i don't dance. i drink lemonade. that's what i do. that's what all the cool guys do.

after a little dancing, a little night life, natalie grabbed scott & headed back out on the sand for a few pictures before the sun went nighty night.

we may have stayed out a little too long, but it's hard to stop taking pictures when you have good light & a beautiful bride to work with.

sticking with the rock climbing theme, guess what the rings are on.

there comes a time when every party must end. that time is usually when everyone lines up & starts blowing bubbles & saying good-bye. that's my experience anyway. :)

thank you natalie & scott & everyone that helped make the day wonderful. we wished it could have lasted longer. congratulations & may God Bless You with a long happy life together.

i believe ron burgundy said it best when he said...

i am completely miserable san diego!

for years now we have given our support & affection to our home team padres & chargers. in return they have taken us to mountainous peaks of joy & through valleys of despair. the past few weeks have mostly been the latter of the two with monday bringing us, hopefully, to the valley floor. i don't want to feel lower than this. i know it may seem silly to some, to invest yourself emotionally with a sports team, but we love our town. we love everything about it, & right now our town is hurting. i hope the chargers can carry us out of our funk this sunday. thanks for the shoulder everyone.

we were blessed to be nominated as one of san diego's best photographers. if you don't have anything else to do we would love it if you would vote for us. how's that for campaigning? you can vote for us here: 10news.com mahalo plenty!

welcome to the show!

what show you ask?

the tereza & jason show.

grab a seat, it's about to begin.

let's see, how does it go again? oh yeah.

something old...

something(s) new...

something borrowed...

some kind of brew...

something smokey...

and a best man too.

i may be off a little on that, but that's how the tereza & jason show goes anyway.

i was stoked to get to shoot "the show" with colorado's own james christianson. he was super cool & so were tereza & jason.

tereza was lost in thought just before heading out to see jason for the 1st time on their wedding day.

ready to go, tereza patiently waited until it was time to see jason.

before we knew it, the time had come.

(this is the best part.)

jason's eyes were fixed as he watched his angel approaching.

the stars of the show met with a long embrace & sweet smiles. there may have even been a tear or two. (told you it was the best part)

they were so happy they seemed to waltz their way to the ceremony.

one quick pose before walking down the aisle.

after the ceremony all the guests headed inside to kick off the reception.

meanwhile, we hit nearby manhattan beach for a couple shots in the setting sunlight.

in photographer's language this means "take pictures here."

i love photographer's language.

still following the painted instructions in the upper right, we shot there some more.

sunsets somehow seem better when you're with the one you love.

translation for this sign..."we're outta light. let's get back to the party."

thanks tereza, jason, & james. you all made this show awesome.

fact: bears eat beets.

bears, beets, battlestar gallactica.

after an extremely busy weekend of shooting back to back weddings in manhattan beach and santa barbara?

we crank up our spa under the stars, kick back, & soak it all in. ahhhh. :)

san diego summer nites, drink it in...always goes down smooth .

these have been on the back burner for a little while & since our stove burned up a couple weeks ago there's a very good chance these would never get done, so here they are. these are all shots from this year's pictage partnercon in l.a.

our good friend alex came along. these shots kill me. this trip was a chance for us to meet lots of other photographers (as seen below) that we had known only through the web until then.

who's that guy with the halo? :)

hey, i know that girl in the bottom right!

???

i don't think the hat was working for me. and for the record, neither were Jasmine or Sara. :)

the many faces of april

we sat down for lunch at an empty table. actually, there had been people sitting there but they were gone getting some grub. all they left was this clue.

as it turned out we had sat down at the same table as the fabulous jules bianchi. this girl is an amazing photographer (& a wonderful person). i absolutely love her images & her electric personality.

on the other side of us were the talented two (aka rudy arpia & sean azul). never mind that m&m eater in the foreground. i have no idea who she is. :)

how cool is this!? sara & jonathan, whose wedding we shot on 9-1-07, gave us further proof that they are the most awesome couple on the planet. they called us the other day & asked if they could drop by to give us something. of course we said yes (& then asked if it was a puppy).

it wasn't a puppy.

they kept us guessing until they knocked on our door with this. they brought us a HUGE picnic basket loaded with goodies.

the best prize of all was a hand-written thank you note that was filled with words that warmed our hearts & made our eyes water (i think someone may have been chopping onions while i was reading it).

honestly, it was one of the nicest things we have ever received. we were completely humbled to receive such a sweet, thoughtful, personal gift.

although we tried, we could not thank them enough. we ended up hanging out & talking until almost midnight. being around them is like being with friends you grew up with. the time simply flies by. we are so glad that God allowed our paths to cross & blessed us with their friendship.

thank you so much sara & jonathan. we absolutely love your letter & gifts, & love your friendship even more. now if we can just find some time off to put that picnic basket to use...:) someday soon, i promise we will. hasta luego.

carla & todd's love story goes like this. they are both hospital corpsmen in the navy. they met at work through a mutual friend's chain messages. one day carla jumped the chain & wrote todd directly. it was love at 1st write.

speaking of mutual friend's, emily was the one that introduced carla & todd to us. (thanks emily!) it's no wonder these two have a lot of friends. it only took us a few minutes to know that they are both super nice. it took even less time to know they are both totally in love (as seen here) :)

aboo snuck this one in when they weren't looking. actually, they weren't looking a lot of the time. on shoots we encourage couples to just act like we're not there, but to give us fair warning if things are going to go beyond an R rating. :)

carousel shots are always fun. you can't help but to feel like a kid every time you're on one.

fun with mirrors

even as carla walked over to get tickets for the giant dipper rollercoaster todd could not take his eyes off of her.

it's go time!

(notice rain's head in the background.)

i know from personal experience that when you're in the navy, life isn't always fun & games, so we made sure this night was. it was so nice to be able to get these two out on the boardwalk to take a short break from the stresses of military life & just have fun. we all had a blast hanging out at belmont park.

just as it started getting pretty dark, all the lights on the boardwalk came to life & warmed up this fun little moment.

and this one. carla & todd are such a fun, cute couple.

todd & carla went old school with the classic star wars pose.

luke...

i am your photographer. :)

as we were winding down they snuggled in the darkness. so in love.

we'll be heading down to Puerto Nuevo Mexico to shoot carla & todd's wedding later this month. if this engagement session was any indication, we're in for some serious baja heat in old mexico, & i'm not just talking about the weather. we can't wait! hasta luego

once again our extended ohana has sent us blessings in the form of treats. macadamia nut cookie treats to be exact. :) our friend & fellow photographer NELY sent us this sweet gift.

she recently helped us shoot sara & jonathan's wedding & totally rocked it. she is so awesome! make sure you go check out her blog & share some love. thank you so much nely. your gift (& your shots) were yummy.

it has only been about a month since we shot jonathan & sara's engagement pictures & now they are married. they tied the knot at the beautiful San Diego Country Club. The scenery was beautiful, but we added some kids to make it even better.

jonathan & sara picked up right where they left off at the engagement session...

so in love. one minute with these two & you'll know how in love they are.

they also really know how to make everyone have a great time. they made all of us put our cameras down for a bit & dance with them. it had been a while, but i still had it. i broke out the moves that dazzled kim the 1st time she saw me. she fell in love all over again. :)

this kid was so cute. he was bummed & sitting on the stairs all by himself. we changed that real quick & turned his frown upside down. at the reception he was hammin it up. i think he was showin off on the dance floor for all the beautiful little ladies that were there. check out nely's blog for one of his signature dance moves. the dj rocked it with good jams all night long.

btw, that texture is from our little kitchen fire dealio last week. this shot was just begging for it, so i obliged.

the patented jonathan maneuver. don't try this at home kids.

this cake was SO good. It was almost as sweet as the two other talented photographers that were there shooting with us:

Nely & Melissa.

they were both so nice to work with and super hilarious! click on their names to be magically zoomed over to their blogs so you can see their incredibly awesome shots.

gotta give props to the guests. they kept the party jumpin all night. super fun group all around.

a baker's dozen plus one equals fun fun fun. take a good look. can you see the energy beaming from them? no, those aren't just sun beams. they're fun-filled energy beams. believe it.

say this with that movie trailor guys voice. "ONE MAN...caught in a tug-o-war." :)

someone had to win. i think jonathan did. he now has 2 beautiful women that love him more than anything on earth. (his mom & his wife)

speaking of sara. here she is now. ready for her close-up.

not that she isn't every day, but sara was especially stunning this day. muy bonita.

sara wasn't the only one. she rolls with a whole bevy of beautiful women. don't stare at them too long. they're so hot they'll give you heat stroke.

i know what you're thinking. no, it wasn't the mothership.

just a pretty glow to go with sara's pretty face. (and jonathan's manly face.)

ooh. ooh. the rings!

sara & jonathan had a super sweet ultra-stretched hummer limo swing by to roll out in style. this thing was plushed out. normally seats 26, but on this night, it only had room for 2. :)

sweet dreams you two. thank you for such an incredible evening. welcome to our ohana. we absolutely adore you both. congratulations. may God Bless You & always keep you safe.

generally, mondays are my nemesis, but not this monday. this monday brought a mysterious package to our door. a glorious, enticing, mysterious package. (insert movie references here. can you guess which ones?) what's in the box? if it's a severed head i'll be very upset. what's in the box!?

here's what was in the box. delicious treats from a super sweet friend (& fellow photographer) Rowena. she totally hooked us up with a wumbo size box of cookies & brownies. both mine & kim's weakness respectively. We recently invited Ro to 2nd shoot with us as a way to not only hang out, but to pay forward what so many photographers have done, & continue to do, for us. it was & is such a huge boost for us to work with other photogs & we want to do all we can to help our peers build successful businesses of their own. i can't take credit for this concept. we learned it from people like nate & jaclyn kaiser, mike colon, dane sanders, jasmine star, sara france, meishach moore, & Jesus. we owe everything to those that have helped us to get this far on our journey. their huge hearts have humbled us as well as taught us. through them we learned that everyone benefits when you share & love one another. because of them we do not see other photographers as competitors. we see them as brothers & sisters...as ohana.

we are so blessed to have such a wonderful extended ohana. as your tag says, thanks for everything Rowena. even the tag works for both of us. :) your gift really made our day wonderful. mondays aren't so bad. especially when they bring a box full of blessings from our ohana. God Bless You & your Ohana Ro. Mahalo plenty.

(almost forgot. the answers to the movie refrences are se7en & wayne's world.)

back before the great kitchen fire of '07 we went to Sea World for an end of the summer break on the last weekend before the kids went back to school. (we weren't the only ones.) Journey to Atlantis was packed all day. we had to wait until after dark to get on. (more on that later.)

fish hook!

unfortunately for april, i had just applied some sunscreen. apparently, sunscreen isn't very tasty.

we were busting with anticipation waiting for our good friend alex to join us.

he finally arrived bearing gifts from "aunt yuki" who couldn't make it.. she was taking a break on a 4 day deep sea fishing trip. the kids were bummed and we were too, so she sent the next best thing. rice krispy treats. mmm...krispy treats.

i tried to swipe rain's, but decided not to.

i choose life.

since we were in the middle of a gnarly heat wave we decided to hit shipwreck rapids first. (for those who don't know, it's a water ride in a jumbo life raft thingy.) all was good until we read this sign & looked around.

this is why you should NOT go to Sea World on labor day weekend. i think half the free world was there with us.

even this sign could not deter us. we came seeking fun, and fun is what would be found. in 2 hours.

95 degrees f plus 2 hours in line plus delirium minus anger = fun!

the cool water from the rapids helped too.

looking to add to our thus far fun-filled day we decided to blast some other unsuspecting "invaders."

now that's what i call fun.

after blasting our fair share of invaders (and running out of quarters) we headed over to catch a show with the "amazing creatures" of Cirque De La Mer. alex is a big fan of all the amazing creatures...why you ask? because they're amazing of course.

we wandered around a little bit to see some of the flora & fauna.

aye! sea turtles.

next on the schedule was the Forbidden Reef. "uncle alex" was kind enough to purchase some cold dead fish for april & rain. not to eat, but to feed the bat rays.

isn't it cute? :) it was really cool getting this close & actually being able to touch the rays (without getting stung).

???

in case you didn't know, april is a milk drinking freak. her bones are probably as hard as steel. she pounds about a gallon a day.

i played the roll of pack rat for the day.

Shamu's Happy Harbor is always fun. there's a huge net that kids (& adults) can climb. it's been a favorite of mine since i was rain's age. (it was called Captain Kid's World back then.)

the Shark Encounter is also a rad spot. there's a huge glass tunnel that goes through a massive tank filled with sharks. it's definitely safer than seeing them while surfing.

the light in there is really cool too.

as the sun set we headed over to Shamu Stadium to see the new show "Shamu Rocks."

we opted to sit in the soak zone.

danger is my middle name.

i am still completely blown away every time i see these magnificent animals. i hope someday i have the opportunity to see them in the wild. that would be awesome.

fortunately we (and my camera) were stage left of this massive deluge.

i love orcas.

finally! just before closing time we got on Journey to Atlantis. it's a short roller coaster / water ride. kim got this shot of all of us looking crazy.

next time you're in "America's Finest City" make sure you stop by Sea World. it's always a fun day.

tuesday 9-4-07 began simply enough. rain started 3rd grade & the rest of us continued our usual routine. it was mid afternoon when i received a call i will never forget. it was my wife kim. she was absolutely in a state of panic. i could hear the piercing sound of sirens getting ever closer to her phone. the words she would say to me instantly filled my mind with fear.

"Our kitchen is on fire!"

i immediately raced home (trying my best to obey all traffic laws). by the time i arrived the fireman had gone & the flames had been extinguished. the damage to our home had been done, but my family was safe.

kim had been warming some oil to cook some delicious lumpia. in a flash an oil fire erupted on our stove causing flames to shoot up to the roof.

rain was first to see the flames. without hesitation she knew exactly what to do. she yelled "fire!" to alert kim & april, then she got out of the house & ran to our neighbors to call 911. sdfd arrived minutes later. i am so proud of rain. she stayed calm & did exactly what she had learned. our hero.

our prized above-stove stainless-steel microwave was completely destroyed.

the surrounding cabinets were also torched.

we've been trying to keep our spirits up with our usual sense of humor & by realizing that only material things were destroyed.

apparently, our stove was a little too advanced. i just thank God that kim, april & rain are all ok. they were all in the house when the fire started. i would be lost without them. they are my everything.

as april helped me clean up some of the mess i stopped to get this shot of her with her super cool gloves that didn't even keep her hands dry. they were probably cut. the glass from the microwave exploded sending shards everywhere. the explosion knocked a pair of our ukuleles off the wall, melted 2 strings & knocked a starfish out of it's bowl about 6' away from the microwave. again, glad no one was around when that happened.

kim was actually the one that extinguished the fire. the firemen tried to kick her out, but she was not about to let our house go up in flames. she was filling cups of water & throwing them wherever needed. she unfortunately was barefoot while fire fighting & cut her foot on the glass shards. if you don't already know, one of kim's favorite movies is die hard. now she's gonna be running around saying she lived the scene where he is running barefoot through all the broken glass. she's hardcore like that (except for when she asks me put band aids on all her boo boos). she's not quite rambo. she's my kimmi. :)

p.s. if there is a bright side to all this, we got some really cool new texture shots for upcoming photos ( a la jesh de rox ).

***if you don't have a fire extinguisher, GET ONE. if it's not easily accessible, MOVE IT. ours was in a cabinet right in our garage, but if you're in panic mode it can easily be missed***

in honor of today being my birthday i dug out this old photo of myself. i was much cuter then. just look at how rad my hair used to be. i wish i still had that hot wheels shirt.

wanna know what i got for my birthday this year?

i got a fire in my kitchen. sadly, that's not an innuendo. :(

if you hop in the not-so-way-back machine & look on our july 15, 2007 post you can see jennifer & joe's engagement session.

fast forward to present day & here they are, all growns up & getting married. april & i were joined by a fun and talented fellow photographer rowena to capture all the details. thanks rowena!! you rock!

i never get tired of outdoor weddings in the warm california sunshine. jennifer & joe picked out a sweet little spot on the church lawn to do their nuptuals (just minutes from cardiff by the sea).

jennifer's shoes were playing chopsticks while she slipped into something a little more weddingy.

here's jennifer's lovely wedding uniform. (coming soon to a trash-the-dress session. stay tuned.)

semper fi. joe paced quietly on the lawn, ever vigilant, watching & waiting for his beautiful bride-to-be.

after she came out he was all smiles. (so was jennifer) :)

and so was...

well, i'm not sure