While out in NYC for the last engagement shoot up on my blog, I like to take a day walking around shooting photos. It was the first time I've been in New York while it was snowing. Central Park was stunning, I loved the streets, the buildings, and the cars in the snow (coming from a sunny California boy). I hope you enjoy these photos like I do. Do you like the black and white or color shots? Would love to know people's opinions. Any photos stand out to you? Why? Thanks for the input!!

To view more from this shoot, hear more of the inspiration and see the full menu, visit Design Sponge!! The shoot took place at an amazing new venue in downtown LA called the Carondelet House!

I love this venue. There are huge trees, a pond with and old house on it, zebra, horses, hills, and lots more amazingness. I would highly recommend a wedding there.

SharkPig was their videographer. He shoots in Super8 and his films are awesome. Here's a link to check out the video he made from Viveka + Matt's wedding. http://www.vimeo.com/17463444 - the password is: Saddlerock

The first shot is of the bride's stunning Vera Wang Dress! The rest are of the city. Enjoy!

"My favorite thing about our wedding is that it means I am now married to the most incredible man alive.  My second favorite thing about our wedding is the people who were there.  We had the most amazing energy created by the most amazing friends and family---a room full of down to earth, fun and all-around good people.   My other favorite things are all of the hand-made details. Not only do I love them because they were uniquely us, but because of all of the love with which they were created.  My mom did a beautiful job with the blankets we had for our guests, and we had a very special afternoon of bonding working on the (incredibly tedious) programs together. A parent of one of my students made the insanely gorgeous guest book pages with some of our engagement shots and other creative embellishments.  And I can't mistake that my life is blessed with true and beautiful friendships, based on all of my friends' willingness to engage in slave labor for anything I needed."

In regards to style of their wedding, "I knew I wanted an element of rustic simplicity.  My two rules were Nothing Shiny and Nothing In the Shape of a Ball.  I like natural shapes and textures.   The phrase I used to communicate with vendors was "Antique coupled with a touch of rustic elegance and eclectic bohemian accents.""

Kristin did so much of the wedding and details herself, from her own headband, to the invites, the seating chart...Kristin said, "The programs were made of recycled paper (www.frenchpaper.com) cut lace, twine and a personalized stamp we ordered on Etsy.  The seating card board was sort of a tribute to my grandmother.  I had her send me one of everything from her sewing box, and I ended up with buttons, laces and trims spanning about 60 years.  I made the pew-bows using rolls of artificial moss and ribbon.  I purchased the twig flower girl basket and then pasted artificial flower petals on it and wrapped it in artificial Spanish moss."

Being into design, Courtney chose the Parker Palm Springs, a hotel totally re-done by Jonathan Adler with a mid-century modern feel to everything. Just look at the lobby to get a good feel for how rad this venue is. Courtney has her own design company you should check out called Coco Sea Studio.

Hitched Palm Springs from Shark Pig on Vimeo.

This was a party styled by the uber talented Jesi Haack and Carissa of JL Design. I loved this table they put together!

Both of them work for different news stations in Spokeane so I flew up there to document them where they're living and doing life. Spokane is a fun little town with beautiful surroundings. We spent the day shooting and I love what we came away with. Very excited for their wedding this year in Oregon!!

But back to weddings. I had the pleasure of documenting Sareth and Matt's wedding held at Il Cielo in Los Angeles. It's a beautiful location for a smaller, more intimate wedding. The feel of their wedding was elegant, soft, and pink. I love how eveything came out. Such a beautiful bride.

Then there's the question, do I just share one photo vs a whole wedding or shoot? Sometimes I think yes, other times no.

Here is one photo from a recent wedding. We ended up with rain in June. Crazy. But with weddings, some of my favorite photos are the ones that catch the moments between the moments. Like walking back to the car, heading to the reception. Something about this photo grabbed me. Hope it grabs you too.

Here is an example of a very cute flower girl and ring bearer!

Reflections from Emily, "I owe a lot to my mom, she did most of the collecting and organizing. We bought the flowers at the LA flower mart and did them ourselves, with the help of my dear friends Rachel and her mom Wendy. I really wanted peonies for my bouquet and they were no where to be found that time of year. When we went to the mart the Thursday before the wedding, one vendor had some, they were a fortune but we got a few and that was my bouquet. Seriously, I tied a rope around a few of them 20 mins before the ceremony, they opened beautifully! We also owe a lot to our friends and family, they were incredible and worked so hard to help cast our vision, we did everything, hulled it all up in my dads truck and spent 2 days putting it all together. So the only vendors we used were Classic Party Rentals and then our caterer Tammy, a local chief and restaurant owner of Osteria Grappa, she was amazing and I would highly recommend her. The food was amazing and affordable, she uses all local ingredients, and truly cooks from the heart. The rest was done by the help of friends and family.

Dress and Shoes - "My Dress was a Spring 11 runway Fend dress, my shoes from Barneys, my headpiece was given to me from a dear friend/ vintage collector Valarie"

Their suggested dress code was americana. In the invite, it suggested to 'think Jonny Cash meets John Wayne'. Their guests nailed it. Probably the hippest crowd I've seen at a wedding.

The wedding was held at the Dent House in Ojai, CA. I LOVE Ojai weddings. Every venue has so much aesthetic and so many options to shoot. The Dent House fell into this same category.

I'm going to be posting this wedding in parts so make sure to check back to see more. If you head over to the Green Wedding Shoes blog, they just featured this wedding and the post looks great. Make sure to take a peek over there.

Vendor Info:

Emily's Dress was a Spring 11 runway Fend dress, her shoes from Barneys, her headpiece was given to her from a dear friend/ vintage collector Valarie, it was a very old vintage wax floral headpiece from Czechoslovakia

food:  OSTERIA Monte Grappa  (805) 640-6767