Action packed July 4th weekend in LA

So this time next week I had arrived in LA. And upon arrival I headed to SoHo House with my wedding industry friends Brooke and Rebecca to celebrate Brooke's bday.

At 10pm Brooke told us she was kidnapping us to take us to a secret place for an epic time.

I heard a rumor that she was taking us to The Abbey and asked her, "Are you taking us to the Abbey?"

And she was like, "uh...yes...have you been?"

Which I thought was the stupidest question ever, because pretty much anyone and everyone in LA has been to the Abbey at least once or twice or a hundred times in their life. It's the biggest, most-popular bar in all of West Hollywood and has been for at least twenty years...

So I was like, "uh...duh...YEAH...hasn't everyone?"

And she was like, "oh...well my uncle owns it."

...............so we went to the Abbey with David Cooley's niece. Amazing.

We got to sit at Mr. Cooley's owner's table and had three dedicated gogoboys/servers.

It was epic. Never have I gotten bottles at the Abbey.

And so right when I thought I'd experienced everything West Hollywood had to offer, Brooke's birthday brought it to the next level.

Yay!!!!

Then, for July 4th (Friday). We headed down to Long Beach, where Lady Di (in town from Arizona) had rented a beach house for her birthday weekend.

I never knew there was a fancy part of Long Beach!

Happy Birthday Diana/America!!!!

Don't you just loooove the baby superhero/American flag shirt I found on shirtwoot?

Sunset prettiness!

We DEVOURED that epic cake.

Then on Saturday morning I woke up and drove to Malibu where we started preparations for the beautiful beach wedding I was shooting.

Hair and makeup took place at this epic mansion in the gated hills of Malibu.

And my bride and groom were so sweet!

And at there wedding was a surprise celebrity attendee...Miss Brandi Glanville from the Housewives of Beverly Hills!

Oh I also forgot to mention I did two crazy amazing engagement shoots for two crazy beautiful couples whose weddings I'm shooting later this year.

Wally and Kate, who are getting married in Palm Springs in October...

And Michael and Jamie, who are getting married in South Carolina in December.

After the wedding, I woke up first thing Sunday morning and jumped on an 8am flight to Maui.

More on that later...I'm about to go diving. I'm in Belize!!!

Gays to the Rescue / Pasadena Wedding

The wedding we were at Sunday was really fun. Although it started with a tiny snafu.

It was a daytime wedding, ceremony was at noon. So we started hair and makeup at 6am. And they were keeping it simple so there was no bridal party. So the morning was quiet. Just me and the lovely bride and makeup artist/hair stylist.

At 8am, 2 hours into hair and makeup, the bride's INSANE aunt/mother-figure walked into the room.

And what does she say? "Oh my god, your hair looks so UGLY! It looks like a rat's nest!"

Her hair looked wonderful. It was teased a bit for volume, so up close the little flyaways and tendrils looked maybe a little messy...but the shape was great and the intricate updo looked fabulous.

I was like, "Um...Aunt Christy...can we please NOT use the word UGLY to describe anything related to the bride ON HER WEDDING DAY?!?!?!?"

"No no no! We have to do it over. Like this picture!" She says to the makeup artist, showing her a grainy-ass picture of some random chick where you can barely make out the hairdo...

Within minutes, poor Liz was in tears. 

 I stood by...somewhat helpless to do anything...as we started re-doing the hair from scratch...

I sent out an SOS/Mayday Mayday...

Within the hour, the gays arrived with champagne and Whitney Houston playlists, becoming Liz's impromptu unofficial bridesmaids and LITERALLY saving the day.

(I honestly think we deserve the congressional medal of honor.)

The venue, the Athenaeum at CalTech, was gorgeous...

And the couple was happy and beautiful.

So glad everything worked out in the end!

Of course the gays MADE the party!

Such fun. Congrats Liz, David, Smileyjohn and **Dannysmith2!!!!!!!!!

** - not to be confused with DannySmith1

LA! / Annie & Eric's Wedding

So I was supposed to stay at my friend/former headshot client's house when I arrived in LA. But the night before I found out he had just been burglarized. So I was like, hell no I am not staying somewhere where my tens of thousands of dollars of equipment and priceless memories might get stolen...

So I posted on facebook, "Need place to stay in LA., who wants to host a giant?" And soooo many lovely people responded! I ended up staying with Matt and Adrian one night. And then for the rest of my time I stayed with William up in his epic new home in the Hollywood Hills.

Situated behind the legendary Chateau Marmont, the view was siiiick...

I was in LA for AnnieAli's wedding. But happily I also managed to schedule a bunch of headshot shoots as well during the week.

Wedding day came and Miss Ali looked like the most beautiful bride ever. And this was BEFORE hair and makeup!

She had gotten cute robes and parasols for her bridesmaids...

And her sisters/maids of honor wore matching yellow dresses.

So stunning...

Here's when Annie and Eric had their first look. SO cute.

And then after doing some normal boring family photos, we wanted to have a little more fun...

We tried a few various "tough" poses. And then I had an idea and was like, "Tatyana, can you squat down in front and cross your arms all tough-like?" 

And Tatyana was like, "...you mean you want me to do PRISON POSE?!?!?"

LOL, and I was like, "uh...yes...?"

And she NAILED IT.

Boom! Married!!!!

In order to make her wedding ultra fabulous, Annie had invited the gays.

Of course we knew our role!

There were lots of Brown people on hand as well!

And LAKU.

Jesse and I accidentally wore matching ties. Oops!

The entire wedding was stunning and SO fun.

All in the privacy of their own backyard!

Thousands more photos...but honestly, who knows when or if I'll ever get to blogging those...

Sunday night I took the redeye home to NYC. Landed at 6am Monday. Grabbed my car. Booked it back into the city for a 9am wedding consultation. Then did an actor's headshot shoot at 10am. Met up with Conlix for lunch. Then hopped in my car and drove 5 hours down to Delaware where I've been shooting product and model photos for Smathers and Branson the last couple days. Tomorrow is our last shoot day and I'll be heading straight back to NYC for another wedding this weekend. And then taking off for San Francisco for a wedding next week!

Whew! Whirlwind! Can't believe I actually got the time to even post this entry.