Heidi Ryder Photography: The Blog » Southern California and Destination Wedding Photography

Hey, y’all – I’m in Memphis! I have the distinct honor of spending the weekend in Elvis’ hometown to photograph Dorie and John’s wedding. The wedding is tomorrow (or today, depending on which timezone you’re in), but today the festivities started with a really great rehearsal dinner. I don’t get to shoot rehearsal dinners a lot, so this was particularly fun for me. It’s really wonderful to get to meet close family and friends before the wedding so that on the big day, people who know I am and they’re already comfortable with me and my camera. Love it!

It’s definitely out of the norm for me to blog images the day they were taken, but I wanted to rest up before the wedding and there’s not much else to do in this hotel room, so of course I had to spend the evening processing photos.

I went to the wedding venue to check out the grounds while Dorie, John and their wedding party were there rehearsing. I can’t wait for the real event!

I loved the details Dorie and her mom put together for the dinner. All of the tablecloths are vintage and belonged to Dorie’s grandmother. They were beautiful and were such a great way to personalize the tables.

Here’s Dorie doing her best Elvis impersonation

But then this guy tried to show her up. I have to admit, he gets extra points for the outfit.

I discovered babies are skeptical of Elvis impersonators. Go figure.

John is a musician – as are several of his friends – so to close the evening out, guests were treated to some acoustic songs by candlelight. Even though it was pitch black out, I purposely didn’t use my flash in order to capture the mood and ambiance of this impromptu concert.

Dorie’s dad was totally feeling it.

I am so excited for Dorie and John’s wedding tomorrow – it’s gonna be amazing!

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When Rachel first contacted she said she wanted engagement photos taken in Long Beach because she wanted the photos to represent her and Ryan’s life at this point. They live in Long Beach, just a stone’s throw from the pier, and so we decided we would wander around their neighborhood and capture their love, just as it is now. They’ll be getting married next year in Hawaii, which is where they are from, so I loved the idea of their engagement session being a reflection of this stage in their lives.

I had such a fun time wandering the streets of Long Beach with this adorable couple. I saw parts of that city I had never seen before and now have a new appreciation for the area. After the sun set Rachel and Ryan treated me to an amazing dinner, complete with an ice cold beer. Clearly, they know the way to my heart. This session was the perfect ending to my busy weekend and I only hope Rachel and Ryan had as much fun as I did.

Here are just a few of my favorites.

Rachel and Ryan – you two are AWESOME and I am so glad that we got to spend the day together. Thanks for showing me around Long Beach, I hope we get to hang out again soon!

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Annie and Robin’s Los Angeles Arboretum wedding was nothing short of amazing. You may remember this beautiful couple from their Huntington Gardens and Malibu Beach engagement session. I’ve already told you how much fun that session was, so needless to say I couldn’t wait for their wedding!

Cat and her team at Lemon Drop Socials Weddings & Events pulled all of the details of the day together – and what beautiful details they were! I would be remiss in not thanking Jen Berry and Ala Cortez, my second shooters for the day. Thanks, girls!

The other vendors who made the day possible:
Caterer: Grace Catering (who cooked a ten-course traditional Chinese meal on-site!)
Florals: Cat Tuong Flowers
Lighting: Mobile Illumination
DJ: Ernee Felix
Cake: Amor Bakery
Hair and Makeup: Joyce Luck Style

The day started with two Chinese tea ceremonies, which I was excited about. Robin and Annie’s families are fun and rambunctious, but the meaning of the tea ceremony was not lost on them and  I loved watching them start the day with such a beautiful tradition.

Right after the tea ceremonies, Annie prepared for the wedding ceremony.

To say Annie looked stunning would be the understatement of the century. See for yourself.

Loved, loved, LOVED Annie’s shoes!

The Arboretum was a great place for wedding party and bridal portraits. There’s no shortage of scenery!

The ceremony took place in the Arboretum’s rose garden, which provided a perfect backdrop with gorgeous light.

I was standing close to Robin as Annie began her walk towards him down the aisle. The moment he saw her he said, “Oh, wow. I’m going cry.” I turned around and snapped this shot. He managed to keep it together (mostly), but I love how you can see the pride, love and excitement on his face.

A Japanese sensei performed the ceremony and it was quite beautiful.

After the ceremony I took the newlyweds around for some portraits. These two are seriously fun to photograph, so I may have gone a little overboard.

This is probably my favorite from the day. It just feels so quiet and peaceful.

The reception was awesome. Not only did Annie and Robin incorporate elements important to their culture, but they also made it very personalized. The place cards were small potted flowers for each guest too keep, which I thought was lovely. Also, I was pleased to find they they got good use out of their engagement photos with a sign-in book, in addition to a photo family tree and a large framed print at the entrance. Perfect examples of ways to utilize your engagement photos!

The reception’s kick off was a Chinese lion dance, which was so unbelievably awesome. That’s how you start a party, people!

Robin is part of a Taiko drumming group who also performed. They invited Robin to join them, who  of course had to show his bride how it’s done! So cute.

I have to stop myself here because I could go on and on about this wedding. Annie and Robin, thank you for letting me share in this amazing day with you. You are amazing people and I am so honored to have been a part of this chapter in your life.

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Last week I had the pleasure of spending some time in the park with this beautiful family for a portrait session. Baby Charlotte was not only one of the most gorgeous babies I’ve had the pleasure of photographing, but she was also one of the happiest! She literally spent the entire session smiling or laughing or giggling or just kind of staring at me like I was crazy, which I’m totally used to. So, basically, Charlotte needs to be a Baby GAP model, ASAP.

I had a smile on my face the entire time I was editing these photos. Charlotte is just that cute. If you don’t want to melt into a pile of goo due to an extreme overload of cuteness, look away now.  You’ve been warned!

Her eyes are GORGEOUS. Look at ‘em!

It was so awesome to see Charlotte’s bond with the family’s sweet dog, Kylie. They are already best friends!

Charlotte’s grandma also came along and I love these sweet shots of the two of them together.

So it’s clear Charlotte comes from a long line of beautiful women. It’s no wonder she’s so gorgeous! Here’s Charlotte with her mommy and grandma.

Didn’t I tell you this was a beautiful family?

I can’t look at this next one without cracking up…so cute.

Usually I see things in color, but every once in a while a shot will speak to me in black & white. That happened with these next two.

I love photographing beautiful families. My job is so fun. Thanks so much to the DeFrehns for hanging out with me!

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Heather is a friend of Jessica’s who needed some new actor headshots. When she saw Jessica’s shots she loved how they turned out and so she hired me for hers. Love when that happens! Heather needed the same sort of deal that Jess did in that she needed headshots that were more fitting for guest star types of roles (think nurse, lawyer, funny neighbor, etc.) so her look for these headshots was very natural – she let the natural wave of her hair shine through and wore very little makeup. And yet, she still looks gorgeous. How do they do that!?

Here are a few of my favorites of Heather’s headshots:

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So, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am friends with an Emmy nominee. I know you’re impressed, and you should be – it’s impressive. It was a long, hard road to get to where I am today and I’d like to thank all of the little people who helped me along the way: my agent, my husband, my family…

Oh, sorry – just daydreaming there. Yeah, so my friend Josh Fialkov did some writing on Afro Samurai: Resurrection, which was nominated for an Emmy. He and his wife Christina got to get all dolled up for the Creative Arts Emmys this past Saturday and they asked me to come take some photos of them since they don’t get to dress up often. It’s not every day that I get to photograph an Emmy nominee, so I happily obliged.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Chris and I knew that this day wasn’t too far away, but we had both hoped we were at least a year or two from having to say goodbye to our beloved Frasier.

I’m looking at the previous post on this blog and I can’t believe it was barely a week ago that the three of us spent some time in the park. We knew at the time Frasier wasn’t feeling well, but we didn’t realize how serious it was. Early this morning we called our vet to get the results of some blood work and were surprised and saddened to hear that Frasier’s kidneys were failing and that there wasn’t anything that could be done to save him.

I honestly can’t believe I’m writing these words right now.

We love this dog immensely and today has been one of the saddest of our lives. But, we are so thankful that we had such an amazing animal as part of our family. We really are lucky that we got to share our lives with him. We’re also lucky that we got to say goodbye to him the right way, before he really started suffering. After we got the news we cuddled with him and cried for a bit and then we took him on an extra long walk, allowing him to stop and sniff what literally felt like every square inch of our neighborhood. That’s a good day in Frasier’s book. He was exhausted when we got back and while Frasier and I cuddled on the couch, Chris went to the store and picked out the nicest cut of steak money could buy from the butcher. We cooked it up for our dog as his last meal and hand fed it to him while he laid on the couch. It was a sendoff made for a king, and rightly so.

I took tons of photos of Frasier’s last day. He showed a little more pep today than he had in the previous week which was both uplifting and completely heartbreaking. I was just glad that we have these images to remember him by and that he doesn’t look too sick or sad. I’d like to think that his last day was one of his best.

Thanks for being the best curmudgeon of a dog, Frasier. Your dad and I love you very, very, very much and will miss you more than you could ever imagine.

Here’s Frasier’s last day in photos…

PS – I wanted to again extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to the friends and family who have offered their condolences. We have felt so tremendously loved today and it really makes us feel so good to know that so many people cared about the well being of our grumpy little dog. Seriously, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I would like to show you Frasier’s dog tag. Chris took care of the engraving at the pet store and was so pleased with himself for getting “I AM AWESOME” in there. I had to admit, it was a nice touch. It wasn’t until we got home that we noticed Chris had forgotten a letter in Frasier’s name. We started calling our dog Frazer as a joke. This tag is now hanging in our kitchen and I know I will smile every time I look at it.

Goodbye, sweet dog.

I found myself without a shoot today – the first Saturday in a while that I’ve had free! To celebrate, Chris and I decided to take the dog to the park and just enjoy some free time on a summer day. It was quite lovely to get out of the house and not have anything whatsoever scheduled. The world was our oyster, and we were deliciously lazy. Hope I get another day like this before summer is over.

I’ve been teaching Chris about photography recently. He gets as excited about going out to shoot as I do these days, which is so. much. fun. Here’s my student, capturing a dog in the wild.

When my best friend Kim called me to tell me she was engaged, one of the first things we talked about – after squeeing into the phone for five minutes – was who her bridesmaids were going to be. Kim and I have known each other since we were 12 (I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask me how long ago that was!) and talked about being in each other’s weddings well before either of us were even close to being married.

Kim was the maid of honor at my wedding and I was looking forward to being a bridesmaid in hers. As our conversation progressed, the topic of wedding photography came up and Kim said to me, “Can’t you be a bridesmaid and the photographer at the same time? I don’t want anyone else to shoot my wedding!”

While I appreciated the gesture, I had been gearing up to be a bridesmaid in this particular wedding since I was 12 and there was no way I was going to work it as well! Normally I absolutely love shooting friends’ weddings because it allows me to really be a part of the day, but this is the one friend’s wedding I did not want to photograph. So, I plainly answered Kim’s question with a simple, “Um, no.”

So, we agreed that she would hire another photographer and I would just enjoy the day as a best friend and bridesmaid. Mark Leonard was hired as the photographer for the day. It was an interesting feeling not walking around at a wedding with all of my camera gear strapped to me, but I managed. And, I have to admit I did have my camera nearby most of the day and captured a few moments. I am used to seeing the world through my lens, after all, so it wouldn’t have felt right to go the entire day without making any images at all.

So, here’s the wedding of Kim and Johnny as seen through the eye of a bridesmaid. Kim and Johnny, I love you both so much and cannot be happier that you’re on this lifetime journey together. Kim, you are my oldest and dearest friend and I don’t know where I would be without you. Johnny, thank you for taking care of her so well.

Love,

*ME*

Love these shots of Kim’s sister and brother (who are, for all intents and purposes MY brother and sister) getting ready.

And how beautiful is my best friend? Right?!

This shot of Kim’s grandpa seeing her in her dress for the first time brings tears to my eyes every time. Kim and her grandpa have a very special relationship so I know how amazing this moment was.

This adorable little guy is Kim and Johnny’s nephew, Lyndon. He is the most smiley baby ever, I loved him!

Lyndon looked quite dashing in his kilt. Here he is with his proud grandma Linda and aunt Kimmy.

I was kicking back watching Mark take some portraits of Kim when I caught her mom watching them and fighting back tears. That’s her baby girl in a wedding dress, about to get married!  Such a beautiful moment that I don’t think Kim was even aware happened.

Kim wrote her vows out on a pad of paper she found at the hotel. I don’t know why I think this is so awesome, but I do.

From the sneak peek…

And probably my favorite image from the day…

And look! I don’t have any photos from the ceremony because I was in it! Weird. The reception got under way and the normally subdued Johnny got a little, um, freaky with it.

And Kim wasn’t exactly a wallflower…

So there you have it, my best friend’s wedding. It was a truly great day.

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I don’t think I’ve ever done a sneak peek on this blog, because I am an impatient person and think it cruel to tease clients with just one image. But I wanted to share something in particular today, and it doesn’t have anything to do with images.

So, I am forced to blog a sneak peek image of a post that is coming tomorrow. I can’t help it! I can’t write a post to my photo blog without a photo! Besides, the sneak peek isn’t for a client, it’s for my best friend. I wasn’t her photographer, I was just a bystander with a camera so technically this sneak peek doesn’t count.

I was listening to my iTunes playlist, as I am wont to do on a day like today, and a song came on that I love. I’ve listened to this song at least a hundred times before, but I never really paid attention to the lyrics. Well, I must have been subconsciously waiting for the day they would really resonate because today I paid attention, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

I wanted to put a snippet of those lyrics here for safe keeping. The song is “Give A Little Love” by Noah and the Whale.

Well if you are (what you love)
And you do (what you love)
I will always be the sun and moon to you
And if you share (with your heart)
Yeah, you give (with your heart)
What you share with the world is what it keeps of you

And now I’ll leave you with that sneak peek I mentioned. My beautiful friend married the love of her life. It was a very special day and I was so grateful to be a part of it.