Double Rainbow

It’s been raining here in LA.

A lot.

But I love it. Let everyone else complain. Having grown up in
Southern California I see water falling from the sky as either a
Hollywood special effect or some kind of crazy miracle where God says
“Hey, you know that stuff that comes through your faucet if you pay your
bills? I can produce it out of thin air, no charge.”

Rain is pure, cleansing. It makes the flowers grow.

And if you’re very patient, it can play with the sunlight to give you this:

two full rainbow arches, aka a double rainbow

After
five days of rain, the sun broke through the clouds late Wednesday to
create a brilliantly lit full rainbow arch. As it grew brighter and
brighter, a second one formed above it. That’s right … double rainbow.

Twitter blew up with thousands of tweets from across LA calling out
the spectacular spectrumed duo. But I think the wittiest notation came
from LeVar Burton, who quipped “The very elusive Double Reading Rainbow…
http://twitpic.com/3ij4r4

Even with my 24mm lens, the double rainbow was too big to capture in
one shot, so I took a panning series of four and spliced them into this
panorama in Photoshop.

I counted my lucky stars that I had my 5D with me, as earlier this
year another radiant rainbow showed up in the exact same spot, and all I
had was my point-n-shoot. Still, I think I put together a pretty fun
composite of the shots. Here’s the one from February (see more shots in my post from February 10, 2010).
full rainbow arch in north hollywood, ca

So, double rainbow. To borrow from the YouTube guy, “What does it mean?”

I prefer to think that here in the advent of Christmas, God is reminding us that he fulfills promises.

Pasadena Wedding: Anna + Zeke

You might remember Anna and Zeke from their engagement session in the Venice Canals back in October.

The first time I met Anna, I remember her gushing about Zeke and how
after four years together, she still gets butterflies when she sees him.
These two are so fun together; they drop all inhibitions around each
other. The word serious is not in their vocabulary … which is funny,
because they love Scrabble, and I’m sure that word’s gotta be worth some
good points with the u.

Their wedding ceremony and reception were held in Pasadena, California at the newly opened Noor Restaurant.
I got to go to their grand opening last month, where I got to taste
first hand the superb Mediterranean fare their kitchen will soon become
famous for, not to mention an outstanding assortment of desserts from
pastry chef Vanessa Collins. See photos of her and her amazing pastries
from the grand opening party.

The whole day was gorgeous, and so much fun. It was my last wedding
of the year, and I’m so happy to have ended off with such wonderful
people. The wonderful Jessica Auten was my second shooter, and rounded out the photographic story of this wedding beautifully.

bride's jewelry and purse

 

I love the tenderness of this shot by Jessica. Anna's niece was the cutest thing, and she was transfixed by the veil.

I love the tenderness of this shot by Jessica. Anna’s niece was the cutest thing, and she was transfixed by the veil.

bride portrait at Westin Pasadena

Anna
got ready at the Westin Hotel, Pasadena. The grounds are stunning (not
to mention the bride — I love that coy look she’s shooting the camera).
And it’s only blocks from City Hall and Paseo Colorado.

bridal part at Westin Hotel Pasadena

 

bridal portrait at Pasadena City Hall

We
took a stroll through Pasadena City Hall on the walk to the ceremony
site for a couple quick portraits. It’s quite the photographic
playground; we saw another bridal photo session happening, along with an
engagement session, and one or two family portraits.

groom portrait Noor Restaurant Pasadena

Zeke pouring a little cheer for his groomsmen — and best lady — from behind the gorgeous bar at Noor.

courtyard ceremony - Paseo Colorado wedding in the fountain courtyard

The
fountain courtyard right outside Noor is lovely. With some strategic
lighting additions and drapery, it was an idyllic setting for a wedding
ceremony. Thankfully, they turned off the fountain to keep everyone dry,
which had the added benefit of giving a clearer view of the amazing
tile work inside of it.

I love the billowy curtains their decorator hung around the courtyard. They looked so pretty lit up at night.

I love the billowy curtains the couple’s decorator hung around the courtyard. They looked so pretty lit up at night.

Wedding in the courtyard

 

wedding sermon

The
officiant quoted the marriage speech from Princess Bride. ‘Mawage.
Mawage is what bwings ufs togewver … todaaaay.’ Classic.

the rings

 

the kiss

 

Ella Ballroom at Noor Restaurant

The sexy Ella Ballroom’s bar at Noor Restaurant.

gentle kisses

 

tuna tartare, fig toasts, steak

Since
I bonded with Anna and Zeke over food, and because they picked Noor as
their wedding location because of it, I simply had to document the tasty
morsels from the evening. Clockwise from top left, we have appetizers
of tuna tartare on potato crisps and something I’ll call mushroom
tortes. Dinner was tender steak and wonderfully flaky salmon followed by
a goat cheese and fig toast with micro greens.

scrabble cake

They
had a three-tier chocolate wedding cake for the traditionalists, and as
a special celebration of one of the activities that bonded them when
they first dated, a Scrabble cake. Can you believe all the love-related
words they got on that thing? It’s like they hired New York Times puzzle
master Will Shortz to bake it for them. And it’s completely edible,
right down to the tiles. I’ll be honest, even as someone who used to
make his living writing, Scrabble is a complete mystery to me. I play at
the level of a fourth grader. And believe me: monosyllabic words win
you no games.

throwing rice (not really rice)

Instead
of rice, Anna somehow got a batch of the fake snow they use to dress
movie sets for Christmas movies for her guests to throw at the grand
exit.

Blessings in your marriage, my friends. Anna and Zeke: the love that
reaches from A to Z. Oh, hey … that makes the Scrabble cake make even
more sense!

Sunset Cliffs Wedding: Bill + Marylou

I first met Bill just under a year ago on Christmas day. Marylou
is an old college friend and she’s come to my mom’s annual “orphans”
Christmas dinner for people without family in town. When she showed up
with Bill, we could tell he had his sights set on her, but Marylou swore
up and down that they were just friends.

That continued on for months (and months, and months) with them
spending a lot of exclusive time together. It turns out everyone knew
they were now officially a couple … except for Marylou herself. When she
finally realized what we had been trying to tell her, it was a quick
jump from “I love him!” to “We’re engaged!” to “I do.”

I think it’s their natural ease of being together that blocked the
obvious from Marylou’s eyes for so long, and that same ease that gave
her such clarity for the future once she realized the depth of her
feelings.

Getting to know Bill this year has been a pleasure, and I know he will be an amazing husband to my friend.

Their wedding day saw downpours of rain and choppy seas, but both
Marylou and Bill were the picture of tranquility as their assuredness
quelled any jitters.

They rented the oceanfront Sunset Cliffs Estate
in San Diego’s beautiful Point Loma neighborhood for the ceremony. I
used to surf at sunset cliffs all the time when I lived in San Diego;
that area is one of the most scenic in the country.

I can’t say enough about what an amazing place the estate is.
Spectacular view of the Pacific aside, the Spanish-style house itself is
stunning inside and out. With all the bedrooms, you can house family
who are coming into town for the event, which worked out nicely for
Bill’s parents, sisters, and their families.

What a great evening it was. The ceremony, the reception, the food,
the band … too many moments to share here, but all-in-all, a great start
to a great life.

Sunset Cliffs Estate, Point Loma

Sunset
Cliffs Estate during a dramatic, if brief, break in the otherwise rainy
day. The sky was naturally that blue without any post-production help
on my part. God has a better set of watercolors than I do anyway.

The dress

 

Suit and dress

I
love Bill’s boutonniere and tie. The little bit of blue in the
hydrangea blossom and ribbon was an elegant touch by florist Nicole
Ferrari.

Wedding bouquet by Nicole Ferrari

More of Nicole Ferrari’s stunning floral work.

Stunning bride

 

bride and rain

 

indoor wedding ceremony

The
ceremony was supposed to be outside until a storm rolled in that
morning. They moved it to the estate’s living room with the couple
framed by a raindrop-stdded bay window overlooking the ocean.

wedding rings on a pillow

 

wedding kiss

The first seconds of wedded bliss

bride portrait

Marylou was radiant even without the sun’s help.

Voyeur photography

 

Gorgeous couple

 

I had to share a picture of these raspberry mousses because ... it's me. I find good food, and I have to share it. The catering was fantastic, but especially these little guys.

I
had to share a picture of these raspberry mousses because … it’s me. I
find good food, and I have to share it. The catering was fantastic, but
these little guys were especially luscious and visually striking.

The couple

 

Pasion

 

Wedding Glimpse: Anna + Zeke

I shot my last wedding of the year last weekend. It was a great end to an amazing year.

While the wedding is over, the editing continues (believe your
photographer when he or she says that the majority of their work is done
after the event date).

So while I’m getting caught up, enjoy this snippet of gorgeousness of my bride Anna, and the debonair groom Zeke.

At the Westin Hotel Pasadena

At the Westin Hotel Pasadena

A pre-wedding toast from the groom-turned-bartender

A pre-ceremony toast from the groom-turned-bartender

Stay tuned …