lauren nygard photography: March 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

La Jolla DOUBLE Wedding

Yes, you read that correctly! Earlier this month, Stephanie Zyga invited me to photograph a very special wedding with her on the beach in La Jolla, CA. She had been contacted by a beautiful bride, Christina, who had met her fiance, Brooks, while they were both at the Naval Academy. As the conversation continued, Stephanie learned that Brooks' sister, Shannon, was also going to be married to her fiance, Robert, at the same time!

The day started at a rental house near Sunset Cliffs, where all three families stayed and got ready together. It was a relaxing morning and you could just feel the love among everyone there!

Brooks and Robert made some mighty delicious mimosas to start the morning off right! Here's Christina enjoying one while Shannon had her hair done.

While Christina was getting her hair and makeup done, Shannon relaxed in the kitchen with a good book.

I love that Brooks was able to watch on as Christina prepped for her wedding day. Check out the smile on his face!

Brooks and Shannon's mom created programs for the guests.

That morning, a skywriter was above to deliver a message: "WE <3 U!" How appropriate!

Christina and Shannon carried gorgeous bouquets!

It's not everyday that a photographer is able to capture TWO sets of wedding rings together!

Robert and Brooks's moms watched as Christina's mother zipped up her dress.

We headed to Scripps Park early in the afternoon to capture portraits of the couples and their guests.

Isn't Shannon just glowing??

Christina was feeling adventurous and hopped up on this rock. Brooks followed suit, so we asked Shannon and Robert to step in too!

It was a small, peaceful ceremony on the beach at Scripps Park, followed by an intimate dinner at George's at the Cove. As you can see in the following set of images, the wedding drew quite a crowd!

Thanks again to the lovely brides and grooms for allowing me to be a part of their very special day! Congratulations to them and their wonderful families!

Happy Spring, everyone!

xoxo,
Lauren

Friday, March 4, 2011

Oceanside Beach Just for Fun Session: Sonnia

Stephanie Zyga and I headed back out for a little sunset-time practice last night. I invited my awesome (and gorgeous!) friend Sonnia, who you saw with her amazing family here. This time, we headed to the water at Camp Pendleton's Del Mar Beach.

We were a little strapped for time, so we were moving fairly quickly through the handful of techniques we wanted to practice. We started off shooting with just natural light. The marine layer was headed in already, so the sun wasn't beating down on us. Here you can see that we faced Sonnia towards the sun as it was setting.

This one is still natural light only, but I blew out the sky because I was shooting towards the sun (and converted to black and white in Lightroom).

Then we added a nice, gold reflector to the mix. Yummy!

And finished up with some flash! :)

Now wasn't that fun?!?

Thanks to Sonnia for putting up with us (again)! She's the best! (No, really--she is--she brought me lunch today at work! How sweet is that?!) And it's always awesome to get some Stephanie in my day. :) See y'all soon!

xoxo,
Lauren

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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

La Jolla Just for Fun Shoot - Kayla

Is there really any better way to spend the afternoon of a rather unfortunate day than grabbing a couple of friends, heading to the beach, and shooting away? I didn't think so.

I was so happy when my good friend Stephanie Zyga invited me to practice some shots at the scene of a wedding we're shooting together this Saturday! She brought along her friend Kayla, and, well, take a look at what I got! It was so much fun!

It's hard to shoot when you're hungry, so we started off with lunch at one of my favorite spots, Burger Lounge, before heading to Scripps Park to get to work. Here are Stephanie and Kayla in action!