Candace, remember not to laugh too loud on the first date. Don’t eat all the cookies before your date gets their fair share. Don’t talk too much.

In case, I forget to remind myself of the last one, Vitaliy always does.

Meeting with Amy and Ryan was a typical blind date. We waited for them to arrive and I forced myself to withhold from eating the cookies. We chatted for a bit as we got to know each other and then we asked them to share with us the story of how they fell in love. I remember thinking, as I listened, these two people have the prettiest smiles I’ve ever seen. Then they reached the part in their story when we found out Ryan is a dentist and Amy is a dental hygienist. The more they talked and the more they smiled, I knew we were a match made in heaven. In case you didn’t know, it’s very important that you and your wedding photographer are a match made in heaven. As the meeting came to an end and the cookie plate was empty, I sat there like most girls on a blind date wondering what my date thought of me. Would they be interested in a second date?

And in fact, they most certainly were! Amy and Ryan ended our date with asking us to be their wedding photographers. I told you – we are a match made in heaven!

Amy and Ryan, it has been such a blast getting to know you guys on this journey towards your wedding day. We had so much fun trekking around San Francisco with you for your engagement pictures. Your smiles were as delightful as they were on our first date. We can’t wait for your wedding!

Lots of love to you both!

~Candace and Vitaliy

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We started Amy and Ryan’s engagement session at Crissy Field. I’m so in love with this first picture that I can’t even talk about it. I’m just going to be quiet and go back to enjoying all of its goodness.

Oh the hair, Amy! It’s so long and beautiful and flowing.

See how much fun these two are — always full of smiles.

Nothing like a good ol’ piggy back ride!

Ryan, I told you that you were going to love being photographed. Look at you working that camera! Mr. GQ!

Amy and Ryan love to read together so we had a little fun in a near by bookstore.

I’ll end with this. I love the random guy who walked into our picture. I love the cuddling up with a book. And I love the laughter that it all brings out in Amy and Ryan.

Happy Wednesday!

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Here are a few of the lyrics.

The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You’re barely waking
And I’m tangled up in you
Yeah

I’m open, you’re closed
Where I follow, you’ll go
I worry I won’t see your face
Light up again

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I collide

As I watched Tim and Christine flying their kites together, I couldn’t help but feel the romance. I had trouble putting my finger on why it was so romantic until today. When these lyrics played over in my mind, I finally knew why. The wind blows the two kites and every now and then, you’ll find that they collide. Tim and Christine have found themselves tangled up in their love. I’m sure at times they will fall, but soon enough a strong gust of wind will soar in lifting them up to the beautiful blue skies, whipping and weaving them through life together.

Tim and Christine, thank you for letting us document your love. I’m so happy you guys chose something that you love to incorporate into your engagement session. Vitaliy and I are totally stealing this idea for our next date night. I hope that you guys stay tangled up in each others love until death do you part. We can’t wait to photograph your upcoming wedding in June!

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We started off Tim and Christine’s engagement session near their apartment in San Francisco.

One of my favorite pictures from the session. Just makes you feel happy to look at it.

But then again, there’s this one. And well, this is why I can’t pick favorites from our shoots.

We like to walk around a location because you never know what kind of sweet spots you’ll find hidden away.

I’m so in love with Christine’s cheeks. When she smiles, they form these perfect round circles. I just went and checked — I’ve got no such circles.

Beautiful.

I’m so happy to live in California. Flying kites in Missouri did not look like this. Sorry dad.

It has been absolutely delightful to read all of your comments on the blog the past few days. One of my favorite parts of a wedding day is to listen to the toasts given to the bride and groom during their reception. Reading your comments was like listening to a bunch of mini toasts only I was missing a glass of champagne to raise to the lovely bride and groom. Thank you, thank you for visiting our blog, enjoying the pictures, and leaving some love before you go.

I’m sure that all of you who are close to Matt and Claire will easily see their personalities shine through in the following series of images. I couldn’t loop them in with the last post because they must stand on their own. They’re too great! Vitaliy and I crack up every time we look at them. These two are a class act! Enjoy!

To view Matt and Claire’s slideshow, click here. It has a bunch of goodies you haven’t seen yet.

Happy Wednesday!

~Candace

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Claire started her story with, “It’s a tale of two cities really.” You see Matt is a southern boy from a country town in Virginia. I don’t really know if it’s country, but since it’s Virginia and I like stories, country paints a prettier picture for me. His accent immediately gives him away, but I’m quite certain it’s what caused Claire to fall head over heels for him. Claire, on the other hand, was homegrown in the San Francisco Bay Area, but to me, she looks like the quintessential southern belle. From opposite ends of the U.S., it was God who brought them together. No literally, they were at church in the middle of a worship song.

Claire was on stage singing in the worship band. As she peered out into the crowd, she noticed a new face. Being the social butterfly that she is, it obviously perked her interest, but the thought immediately escaped her mind when the following happened.

As Claire was leaving the stage, her pastor and longtime friend, came up to give the sermon. Before beginning, he transitions with, “Wasn’t that a great song from Claire? It’s been amazing to watch her grow up in life and in her walk with the Lord. All you single guys, you should know that she’s still available.” Though obviously mortifying, one could argue that his words were almost prophetic.

After the church service Claire went to lunch with a bunch of friends and to her delight the “new face” she spotted while at church happened to sit close by. She finally got to put a name with the face. She found out that he was “Matt from Virginia” and that he is quite rigid and shy at first. Being the bubbly person she is, she spoke more and laughed louder in hopes to loosen him up. After prying more information out of him, they found out they had one thing in common — the Food Network. That’s all it took. Once they found that common ground, the new face quickly became a new friend.

As they told the story of how they grew closer in their friendship, Matt and Claire seemed to move closer to each other on the couch. He naturally placed his hand on her leg as she spoke and you could see by his gentle touches that they were madly in love. I didn’t need to hear the rest of the story. Their glances, their touches and their laughter said it all.

But to my delight, she continued and shared about a pivotal point in their relationship when their friendship turned into something more. Matt hand taken her to a dinner party which, to me, already indicates something more than friendship. But you know us girls, we need to hear them say it. This was a make it or break it evening for Claire. If he didn’t tell her he was interested, she was going to just give up. They had a lovely evening together followed by a great conversation overlooking the view of the city, but he said nothing. It wasn’t until they were sitting outside of her house and she was about to get out of the car that it happened. Claire was fed up and was just about to speak her mind when Matt instantly cut her off. Finally finding the courage and filled with emotion, his phone flew from his hands as he screamed out, “I like you! I like you a lot!”

They laughed with each other and at each other as they brought their story to an end. And that is exactly why we love them. I enjoyed every minute of their story and I asked a million questions after they were finished. I’m sorry, but I’m into details. As they left the meeting that day, I couldn’t decide if I was more excited to have them as new clients or new friends. Thankfully, they are a two for one deal.

Matt & Claire, we are so excited for the opportunity to photograph your wedding and even more excited to have become your friends. Your love is plainly written on both of your faces and I can only imagine how wonderful your future together will be. Your ability to laugh with and at each other will get you through the difficult times. We can’t wait to see where the next chapter will take you. Congratulations again! ~V&C

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We photographed Matt & Claire’s engagement session at Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz, CA.

We started at the near by train tracks for two reasons. 1) because I’m in love with old things and train tracks bring your imagination to a whole other era. 2) because we thought they perfectly represented their story of two roads coming together to become one.

Matt and Claire showed up to the engagement session with a truckload full of props to use in their pictures. It ignited my imagination and made me fall even more in love with these two.

Matt & Claire took dance lessons together. They are going to be totally set for their first dance on the wedding day.

We could photograph those eyes all day and don’t even get me started on the hair. Do not!

One of my favs — that look says it all.

This one makes me smile. The others make me laugh, but this one just makes me feel so happy.

Claire was not the only one working the camera that day.

Embarking on a completely new journey in life, it was only appropriate to document it.

Another one that really speaks to me.

Greg & Allison: Candace and I had such a great time photographing you. We can’t wait for your wedding day to roll around. Thankfully, it will be here in no time!

~Vitaliy

But for Allison and Greg, the month of October means so much more. From this year on, the month of October will take on new meaning for them. Their minds will no longer be distracted with thoughts of pumpkins and turkeys, but instead they will be focused on celebrating and remembering the day that they became one. This October, Allison and Greg, will commit to share the rest of their lives with each other, and after getting to know them a bit,  I am assured that they are going to have one fabulous life ahead. Their love for each other is real and it runs deep. But one of my favorite things about them is that their relationship is filled with laughter. Whenever I attempt to give any kind of marriage advice, I always recommend a high dose of laughter for anyone’s marriage. As funny as Greg is, I don’t think they will have a problem in this area.

Allison and Greg — we cannot wait to photograph your special day. You are each so special individually that I’m amazed at what the union of the two of you will bring to this world. I’m so excited that you will get to spend the rest of your days with the love of your life and your best friend. I pray that you will each continue to love and sacrifice for each other each and every day.

~Candace

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This engagement session was so special because Allison and Greg chose to incorporate so many things that were unique and special to them as a couple. We started at the location they first met — the University Cafe in Palo Alto.

One of my favorite images from the day.

Something else special to them are their hats. I absolutely loved how fun and playful Allison’s hat was. But I am a girl. Maybe Vitaliy particularly liked Greg’s.

This is another one of my favorites because I love that my eyes are naturally drawn to the union of their hands.

If you are not familiar with the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, you should be. It plays old Black and White films which automatically creates romance. We got some inspiration from the movie posters in the theater’s windows for the following pictures.

Anther one of their favorite things — their hoodies. I personally have to agree with this because hoodies are so comfy, cozy. They are the perfect clothing attire for cuddling.

I had been waiting for our Florida vacation not only to lay on the beach for 6 days straight, but even more so because Keith was getting engaged. I had known about it for what felt like forever and I constantly wondered how it would all go down. All I did know was that I wanted Vitaliy and I to capture as much of it as we could. Little did I know that we would not only be the photographers of the event but also deliver a little part of the surprise for Krystal — the picnic basket (or bag in this case because we were without our usual resources on vacation) for the sunrise picnic breakfast he had prepared for her after the proposal. Yes, it was a sunrise proposal!

Keith and Krystal — I love you both so much! You had a beautiful engagement and Vitaliy and I were so happy to be a part of it. Now I will be impatiently waiting for your wedding day!

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We didn’t photograph the actual proposal as that is a pretty private and intimate moment, but we did sneak up and photograph their sunrise picnic after the proposal. This is the view from Vitaliy’s hideout.

After the picnic was over, some of our family all ran down to the beach to congratulate the happy couple with this sign and we all shouted “OMG, Baby!” It turns out that Krystal says this quite often. hehe!

This is Keith pointing to where he proposed; they walked down the beach together while the sun was just coming up. How romantic!

This is Krystal jumping up and down with excitement as she recounts the proposal to all of us. I love it!

A few of my favorites from the morning. Such sweets moments!

This was an amazing family moment that I’m so happy that we were able to capture. My uncle Dave (Keith’s dad) recently lost his battle to cancer. They huddled as a family and dedicated a moment to Uncle Dave. “We love you, Uncle Dave!”

I love this moment between Krystal and her soon to be Mother-in-Law. She is blessed because my Aunt Terry is the best!

And a big congratulatory hug from her soon to be Brother-in-Law Kyle. Once again, she is blessed. I love you Kyle!

I just love this moment! We were on our way back to the condo from the beach about 6:45am and there was Krystal walking up to strangers, “I just got engaged! Look!” And the craziest part is that Keith told me she would be doing this all day. He sure knows his fiance because she started with the first person she saw. I just love her!

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When you are around Peter, you naturally yearn to be a better person. I don’t know if it’s his casual conversation about theology or his way to find laughter in any circumstance. You cannot walk away from time spent with him without a “little kick in your step” because life is good and a feeling like you know God just a little bit better than you did before. But there is nothing that challenges you more than the way Peter loves. His love is unconditional and non-judgmental. He is the kind of friend who you really could trust your life with. Peter, if we had ever gone to summer camp together, I so would have let you catch me in the Trust Fall. So naturally, with a friend like this, I was not ready for him to do any kind of falling that could risk his life–especially falling in love. That is one of the most dangerous falls of all!

I sat on my couch anxiously waiting to see what my future held. Peter was definitely going to be a part of my future and if this girl was “the one” she was going to be a part of my future too. Oh! how I feared who would walk through the door! Ok, I’m lying. I was afraid of her possibly being dreadfully difficult to be around, but in reality I was afraid that she wouldn’t love Peter as much as he deserved to be loved. It wasn’t far into their visit that I was absolutely 100% convinced she was THE ONE. All it took was to see the way she looked at him and hear the way she talked about him. This girl loved Peter and that’s ALL I needed to know. Well, it also didn’t hurt that she was absolutely WONDERFUL to be around. It wasn’t long after that trip that Peter asked Kris to be his wife. And since Peter and Vitaliy have THE best girls on the planet, here are photos from a surprise trip Kris and I planned for Vitaliy to visit Peter in Dallas for his birthday. But of course, we also planned it for an engagement session. And they did not disappoint.

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Oh! And did I mention she’s beautiful?

I had so many other favorites, but this one has skyrocketed into my Top Five List from this session. Yes, I have ratings and lists for our pictures. I can find a competition in just about anything.

We had a change of wardrobe and things only got better!

There is one of those looks that I mentioned convinced me how much she loves him.

I could tell an entire story about this image, but this is a blog which is meant for short snippets, right? So I’ll leave it short — I LOVE this image.

Yes, she’s that beautiful!

To be continued…