Jill Scott, Bring it On!

This month, our studio has been running at full steam creatively. By the look of things, it's probably not going to slow down anytime soon. We started the month with the release of YWD Magazine Fall/Winter 2011 issue hitting the news stand featuring our photography of these wildly creative out of the box wedding bouquet design ideas. Next up, we photographed a wedding on a yacht then flew over to Cabo, Mexico for a magical destination wedding.

Then I got a phone call from Hidden Beach Recordings telling me that they are releasing a new Jill Scott CD titled "from the vault". The CD will be featuring tracks that was previously recorded for her debut album but did not make it to the original release. I am sure this CD will be filled with gems. We were ecstatic to find out our iconic archived images of Jill Scott will also be accompanying this release...woot woot!

I remember back in 2000, when I was handed an advanced copy of "Words and Sounds Vol. 1" from Hidden Beach after our initial creative brief. I became an instant fan after listening to the intro track and was totally hypnotized by her beautiful and effortless vocals on "Gettin' in the Way", "A Long Walk" and "Brotha".

Being such a huge fan of Jill Scott music, I am honored to have the chance to meet and photographed miss Jill Scott for her first album "Who is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1". During the production of the photo shoot, I spend the whole prep day touring and location scouting the streets of Philly with Jill (which was alot of fun). We even visit her family in the neighborhood. When the album dropped, it hit double platinum and earned several Grammy nominations and eventually winning a Grammy Award for best urban/alternative performance.

With so much excitement and activities in and out of the studio, we are ready for many more blessing coming our way now. Bring it on!

Cabo Magical Wedding

This past weekend San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, a typically hot location got hotter than ever with Michelle and Richard's destination wedding. These two brought their New York chic aesthetic and sprinkled it all over Cabo starting with three stunning private modern villas as the main ingredient to their celebration. The pool side wedding ceremony was breath taking with the Pacific Ocean serving as the backdrop. At the reception, guests welcomed the newlyweds with sparklers as the couple took the dance floor for their first dance. The night ended on a high note with endless dancing under the stars. making this fabulous event memorable and magical.

The Cabo dream team:

Wedding coordinator: Karla at Karla Casillas Weddings & Events
Catering: Lazy Gourmet

Venue: Cabo Lifestyle Villas / Anne Lie Villa, Villa Serena, Villa Amanda

Jeanne + Russ Stunning Wedding

We just got back from an amazing destination wedding shoot this past weekend and was so stoked to see our photography featured on Picture Perfect Events' latest blog, yippie! We had so much fun photographing Jeanne + Russ romantic wedding at the Hotel Casa del Mar in Santa Monica. The day was filled with so much energy and excitement from the guests and the entire creative team behind the scene making things happen all under the guidance and vision of Kelley Gin at Picture Perfect Events. Enjoy these out takes from J & R's luxurious wedding celebration.

 

 

 

The creative team:

Wedding coordinator: Kelley @ Picture Perfect Events
Floral design: Fleuretica
Custom invitation design: Tiselle
Hair & Make-up: Theresa @ TH Makeup Design
Videographer: Living Cinema
Cake design: Vanilla Bake Shop
Ice Cream Sandwiches: Cool Haus
Venue: Hotel Casa del Mar

YWD Out Of The Box Bouquets photograph by Steven Lam

Yeah, YWD Fall/Winter 2011 issue is finally hitting the news stand this month. We had a great time shooting this beautiful story for Your Wedding Day magazine back in June with creative director Cathryn Vanbreene and Stylist Krista Jon at Seven-Degrees in Laguna Beach. We want to share these stunning non-floral fresh idea bouquet designs with brides to be. This is an amazing collection of unique bouquets showcasing so many wonderful concepts from vintage items to feathers and gemstones to seashells. We also have added additional out take detail photos featuring each bouquet to show the intricacies of these labors of true love. There were too many great photographs and we wanted to share it all with you. Lastly, we want to give a special thank you to Thea Hargrove, publisher of YWD for inviting us to be a part of the contributing team for this issue. We hope you will find these alternative modern bridal bouquet inspiring.

For more info, visit YWD Blog about this story and pick up a copy of YWD fall/winter 2011 for complete details.


Enjoy.

 

Our photograph featured on the table of content page.

Opening spread.

 

Vintage Flea Market Bouquet / $500 / Design by R. Jack Balthazar (previously featured on our blog Parker Palm Springs Bling.) Made with book pages, Scrabble pieces, crocheted details, fabric and button roses, vintage postcards, black and cream ticking ribbon, skeleton key.

What a Gem bouquet / $300 - $600 / Designed by Noaki Jewelry. Made with fabric hydrangea petals, rich pearl heirloom brooch, one-of-a-kind pearl and rhinestone estate pieces.

Handheld Harvest bouquet / $250 / Designed by Belle of the Ball Designs. Made with walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, cinnamon, curly willow, pheasant feathers, bird's net, chocolate ribbon.

La Boheme bouquet / $ (price upon request) / Designed by Dolce Designs Studio. Made with natural and white goose feathers, colorful brooches, delicate ostrich feathers.

Wild at Heart bouquet / $425 / Designed by Dandelion Ranch. Made with dried plants, feathers, kried king protea, pheasant feathers, dried loofah, rams head, kiwi branches, faded peacock feathers, lotus pods, dried rubrum luecadendron, dried mini safari sunset luecadendron, okra shells, pussy willow, grass bundles, dried pecans, eucalyptus pods, trumpet pods, palm cups, reindeer moss.

Succulent bouquet / $295 / Designed by Krista Jon, also the stylist for this fabulous story for YWD. No succulent description available.

This one is a bonus bouquet detail shot. Too bad this bouquet did not make it in the story but we also love this bouquet. Sorry we don't have the designer's info or materials. Still, a gorgeous creation with seashells, sand dollars, ribbons and gold buttons.

2VIE - Art Auction Benefit & Exhibition July 9th, 2011

2VIE – Silent Art Auction Benefit Event is organized to help cover our dear friend Vee Vitanza’s remaining medical bills from his acoustic neuroma brain tumor surgery. Please join us to celebrate life, its endurance and  the friendships… that help us go through it all.


P.S. Our studio has donated a one hour photography session valued at $400 that will be part of the auction to help raise money. 
So come on down and help support a much needed cause while you shop for some beautiful art.


See you there!!




More info at: http://vartmuse.wordpress.com


Event Date: Saturday July 9th, 2011
Fees: Free to the public
Event location: Leanna Lin's Wonderland
Address: 5024 Eagle Rock Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90041
Tel: 323.550.1332

Steven Lam featured on Papercuts

We are so stoked and wanted to share a few of our detail photos from Cathy + Vernon's wedding in Beverly Hills. Cathy + Vernon worked closely with Cathe (pronounced Cathy) at Feterie to come up with a beautiful modern custom invitation design theme based on the Craspedias aka billy balls for their beautiful spring wedding. More info on Feterie's blog Papercuts.

More info on Feterie's blog Papercuts

Marcel's Quantum Kitchen "Rules of Engagement"

Congrats to our friend Summer Simmons of Hullabaloo Event Design and Eddie Zaratsian of Tic Toc Couture Florals on their fabulous collaborations on the second episode of Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, "Rules of Engagement" which was aired last night on SyFy. We were thrilled to photographed the details from this event.

For more details, visit Tic Toc Couture Florals blog and Hullabaloo blog

click on the link to see the complete episode of Marcel's Quantum Kitchen "Rules of Engagement"

Credits:

Florals by Tic Toc Couture florals

Custom invitation, menu and graphic design treatment by Annie Carolin of Flite Design

All rentals by Classic Party Rentals

Parker Palm Springs Bling

Happy Valentine's Day love birds. We hope Lisa + CJ's fabulous wedding at Parker Palm Springs will help inspire you to create your own one of a kind wedding experience. Mazel tov!



The creative team:

Wedding Coordinator / Alexandra Kolendrianos

Florist, Set and Lighting Design / R Jack Balthazar

Venue / Parker Palm Springs

Murphy Fitness Puts Olivia Wilde In Shape For Tron: Legacy

Hey peeps, catch our pal Patrick Murphy in action on KCAL 9. Celebrity fitness trainer Patrick Murphy worked with Olivia Wilde to help her get in top shape preparing her for the demanding physical role as Quorra in Tron: Legacy. Patrick's workout routine will help keep you looking great on the red carpet or down the aisle of your wedding ceremony. Click here to view Patrick's workout advice on KCAL 9. Additional, visit To Live And Diet In L.A. blog for details of Olivia Wilde's workout regimen.



Items needed for workout:

Jump Rope:
- High calorie burner (more than cardio equipment!), establishes coordination, strengthens your cardio respiratory system!

Dumbbells:
- Great for compound exercises
- Dumbells allow for endless amount of options for exercises — many more than what a typical gym machine would offer you

Bands:
- Another great option for resistance training, bands are great for fixing posture (hello desk jockeys!)
- Can be wrapped around items at home (desk, chair, door handle) to create unique moves.

For more workout and membership info, visit MurphyFitness.com

Click here to view Patrick's workout advice on KCAL 9.

Click here to view Olivia Wilde's workout routine on To Live And Diet In L.A.

Photos courtesy of Disney

Embroidery Props!

Our studio just received a sweet and heartfelt compliment from Danielle + Derek and we wanted to share this with everyone:

"Steven & Carmen

Derek and I are loving the pictures from our July wedding - you guys did an exquisite job. I was actually inspired by one of the photos you took to embroider a cover for our album. I belong to the Southern California chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America (long name, I know) and we're putting some of our work in a display at the Pasadena library for the month of February."

How awesome is this? We always knew we have the best clients in the world but this totally proves how creative and talented our clients are. This embroidery master piece took Danielle twelve hours to create, no small feat folks. We have also included the original image captured by Carmen Lam. Mahalo!






























Album info:
Album made by Kolo available at Papersource and Amazon.com
Album style: Newport
Album color: Ocean (Blue)
Photo corner made by Kolo available at Papersource and Amazon.com

Wedding info:
Private resident, Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii

Exhibition info:
Souther California Chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America (SCCEGA)
Exhibition dates: February 1st - 28th, 2011
Location: Pasadena Central Library
Address: 285 East Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA 91101
Website: cityofpasadena.net/library