A year ago this week, Annie and Brian tied the knot at a small church in Palm Springs and threw a gorgeous party at the Parker afterwards. For these two, who live in San Francisco, escaping to this charming spot in the desert has been a really fun and relaxing part of their relationship, so it was only fitting for their wedding. Root 75 put together the pretty, neutral-toned florals and the amazing team at Bash, Please brought together everything else. I hope you’ll enjoy!
ANNIE + BRIAN // PARKER PALM SPRINGS WEDDING
February 19th, 2016LA CHUREYA PALM SPRINGS // WELCOME PARTY
February 15th, 2016To kick off their wedding in February of last year, Annie and Brian invited family and friends to a “music festival”-style welcome party at gorgeous estate La Chureya in Palm Springs. The cool evening temps, Mediterranean-feeling backyard, relaxed live music, colorful pillows and blankets set out across the lawn, and creative touches by planners Bash, Please set a great tone for this lovely couple’s weekend. Enjoy!
DOUBLE HAPPY NEWS
March 17th, 2015The word is starting to be out among family and friends, so it feels like time to share some news – I’m pregnant! And it turns out we’re having TWINS!!! Crazy and awesome and wonderful and whoa!
Pretty funny when the ultrasound lady showed us the heartbeat and it was thrilling to hear and then she said “oh and here’s the other one.” We really thought she was joking and she had to tell us (and show us) over and over again! My mom’s a fraternal twin, so apparently it ups your chances big time when it runs in the family like that. Thanks Mom! This sonogram is their first photo together, from week 8, alongside the cutest little stuffed animal buddies I found recently.
We’ve been hoping to start a family (okay, add to our fur family member, Homer) for a while now and couldn’t be more thrilled that everyone’s healthy so far. The babies are due in early September, but twins come about 3 weeks early, so realistically more like mid-August. Which means we’ll (hopefully) be having a couple of little ones in Bermuda! It’s been a little hectic getting all the big things organized and bought in time to go into our container next week, but the good news is we’ll get there with all our stuff and most of the research and shopping prep work will be done, hooray!
I’m starting to get really excited that this actually seems be happening to us. At the same time, for those of you who are reading this and feeling a jumble of happy for Andrew and I, but at the same time also a little ugh/why isn’t it working for us/heavy feelings in your heart, I totally get you. We started on this journey back in the spring of 2013 and in November of that year, discovered that we were pregnant for the first time. We found out while on the road for a few weeks and we were excited before even having been to the doctor. When we did get to the doctor to check things out around week 6, the numbers didn’t look so good. I started going in for more blood tests and then in week 7, one day, I started feeling pretty bad.
Waves of pain built throughout that awful day and by midnight, I was lying in bed in major sharp pain, googling what could be wrong. The interwebs (not always right, but helpful!) pointed to either an appendix issue or an ectopic pregnancy, where an embryo starts growing anyplace outside the uterus. My appendix has been gone for years, so fearing the latter, I called up my wonderful parents in-law in the middle of the night (Andrew was in Miami for work) and we headed to the hospital. I’m so glad we did, because it turned out that’s exactly what it was. Our little one had been growing inside one of my tubes and had burst through, causing internal bleeding.
So, after one (thankfully very successful) emergency surgery a few hours later, I came home with a very hurty midsection and a heavy heart and Andrew was on the first airplane home. It was a tough thing to recover from, and yes it hurt physically, but more than that, emotionally. It hit us both hard to lose our first pregnancy like that. Over time, the scars started to heal and things got a little easier, but seeing lots of friends and facebook people seeming to become pregnant so easily and appearing to having problem-free pregnancies and flawless babies made me thrilled for them, but also inexplicably sad at times. It was hard to explain to Andrew too, that it wasn’t jealousy necessarily when a publicly shared ultrasound or baby photo would leave me in tears, more just aching at our loss and what might have been.
I’ve debated a lot whether to share our experience so publicly, but mostly, I want to tell everyone who’s gone through or is quietly going through some sort of pregnancy troubles, anguish, or loss – I feel your pain. And whenever you need to, talk about it and let all the feelings out, even if they aren’t pretty. For me, more than anything during that time, just being able to talk (and occasionally ugly cry) about it with those who knew helped a lot.
After a year of some heavy life experiences (and some really good things too!) and lots of love and patience from the close friends and family who shared this ride with us, we’re just super duper excited that things with our twinsies seem to be going well. We haven’t found out genders yet, but would love to. In the meantime, we’re thinking healthy thoughts and crossing our fingers for this new adventure!
LAUREN + RYLAND // FEATURED ON STYLE ME PRETTY
March 13th, 2015Native Californians Lauren and Ryland are two of the most easygoing people and their rustic, outdoor wedding totally reflected that. Lauren enjoyed crafting and pulling together pretty details, including amazing florals by The Little Branch. The couple’s sweet pup made an appearance walking up the sunlit aisle and throughout the day, you could just see that these two were having the best time celebrating their new life together. Their wedding was recently featured on Style Me Pretty, so go see more goodness there!
ALICE + DAN // FEATURED IN SOUTHERN WEDDINGS
March 3rd, 2015What can I say? Sometimes going the classic route with a few unique details is the was to go. Arney at Pineapple Productions combined the bride’s vision of a classic look accented with soft pink touches and the groom’s desire for lots of dancing and a great band at one of the best east coast venues, The Inn at Perry Cabin in Maryland. Alice and Dan are such a sweet couple and you should definitely check out that pale pink cake… never seen one like it. I’m honored to have had this one featured over on Southern Weddings recently, so go see more from the day here.
JOSHUA TREE ROAD TRIP
February 10th, 2015After a swim and a sleep in Palm Springs, we got up early and ventured on to Joshua Tree National Park. Man is that place weird and amazing! I’m dying to go back and spend a couple of nights camping to properly get a feel for it all…
Since we couldn’t bring Homer into a national park, we picked him up for the next leg of our trip that afternoon. Here’s his over-the-shoulder skeptical hound look:
From Palm Springs, we drove around the Salton Sea and it felt kind of like an abandoned place. The sky and the water were so still that the horizon almost blended away, even in the bright sun.
For our last (and possibly strangest) stop en route back to San Diego, we drove out to Salvation Mountain. It’s this wild folk art installation on the side of mountain, in the middle of nowhere in the desert. It was created by a local man who used adobe, straw, and thousands of gallons of paint to get his message out to the world.
If you live in LA or SD, or just feel like a road trip, I’d say Palm Springs-Joshua Tree-Salton Sea-Salvation Mountain is a pretty good one. Such a fun way to see some desert weirdness and experience a whole different side of Southern California.
PALM SPRINGS ROAD TRIP
January 26th, 2015This past year, there’s been a lot of travel, especially for Andrew for work. When we’ve taken real designated time off together lately, we just haven’t been feeling the energy to plan a big trip. So one Wednesday last fall, we went on a little jaunt out of San Diego to show Andrew and Homer (the hound) some of my fave spots in Palm Springs.
We made a stop to check out the weird and huge dinosaurs along the way at Cabazon, got some amazing (vegan!) date milkshakes with yummy locally grown dates at Nature’s Health Food + Cafe, spent a lazy day at the Ace, and wrapped it up listening to records in front of our firepit with a bottle of wine.
My two sweeties by the fire, looking thrilled to be in a photo…
The next day we headed to Joshua Tree National Park…more on that coming up.
ANNIE + BRIAN // ENGAGED
January 21st, 2015For these two lovebirds living in San Francisco, the Parker Palm Springs is their place to get away from it all. So for their engagement photos, we sipped some lemonade and strolled the maze-like gardens there and then explored a nearby canyon. Next month they’ll be bringing all of their favorite people to the desert to see them get married and I absolutely can’t wait!!
SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE // 25 BIG IDEAS SHOOT
January 13th, 2015It’s been really fun to work with the editors and designers at San Diego Magazine on a bunch of different features and articles since I’ve moved here. Executing a concept/visual alongside someone who’s worked on the idea from the beginning and will be designing a page using the images we create afterwards is such a fun complement my other shoots. I love being able to take a little time on a shoot and collaborating with other people makes the experience ever-changing.
I recently shot a few portraits for the January 2015 issue’s 25 Big Ideas story. I met up with a wide variety of people all over San Diego and shot in some strange places, including the middle of the San Diego river, a Golden Hill yard with chickens running around, and a couple of slope-y East Village rooftops. Here’s a handful of outtakes that didn’t make the print edition…
A few pages of the final layout as it appeared in the magazine:
Check out the full article and with lots of amazing ideas for the future of San Diego here.
CAN’T WAIT
December 23rd, 2014i’m so excited to take a little break over the next few days and spend some time at home with my two favorites.
hope your holidays are wonderful!!
photo by the lovely megan guerrero