The Wedding Party Bridal Show

Well, after many hours of planning for this bridal show the day arrived. This past Sunday was The Wedding Party Bridal Show at the Hyatt Regency in La Jolla. It was unlike any bridal show I had been to. It was organized beautifully and felt very boutiquish (if that's even a word).
My best friend Stacy and her mom Kathy helped me "man" the booth. I could not have done this without Stacy. She has been such a support and help through this entire process. She is a genius with creative design and floral arrangements. I am going to post on her floral arrangements for the show soon. I have to premise by saying that I had no choice in the table cloths. The theme of the show was "That's Amore" so they had specific colors. Just in case you were wondering why the orange was so bright :)


Stacy had the brilliant idea of setting up some of my cards in coffee beans. I loved it. Didn't it look great?


-Here are Kathy, me and Stacy in front of the booth. We all had matching outfits on. We thought it would look better. It did attract more attention that way :)


-One of the belly bar tables with one of my albums, business cards (in coffee beans) and a floral arrangement



-A pic of my promo cards on the back table (also in coffee beans)



-The final product. You can see the flowers on the sides. I can't tell you how many brides wanted Stacy to do their flowers.


We had a great time! We met so many wonderful people. I am looking forward to see what 2008 has in store :)
Hugs to you all

Yesterday I had lunch with Melissa McClure and Jen Harris. Two fabulous So Cal photographers. We met on a photograpy board called Open Source Photo (OSP). Through the last few months, Melissa and I have been emailing back and forth. We shared a quick bond because, well, we are both very cool :)
Jen and Mel have been friends for a long time. Now Jen and I share a bond, our son's have the same birthday. OH, and Mel and Aiden have the same bday too :)
Jen says I am now connected to them :) I hope so! I really enjoyed talking with the ladies. Our conversation was "real". I didn't feel like anyone was "showing off" (does that make sense?)
I really hope to continue my friendship with these wonderful ladies!
I had a great time with you gals. Thanks for driving all the way from Riverside to come meet me Jen!
Here are links to their blogs (I hope these are right, if not let me know ladies)

www.melissamcclure.blogspot.com
www.jennyhair.blogspot.com

Hugs to you both!!!





Jen, Mel and Me :)

Last night my sister-in-law had a Grey's Anatomy Season Premier "get together". I had to bring my camera along :)
I did take lots more pics but I didn't get a picture of everyone there, so I didn't think it would be fair to post them without all that were attending int the picture. ( I hope that made sense)
Stacie made Pomergranite Martinis and we got food from El Portal. I also brought along cookie dough (courtesy of Brianna's recipe) and made cookies.
It was a nice time hanging out with everyone. Last season I think I watched a few episodes of Grey's. I was hooked. It seems like this season will be pretty good. I hope so.
Their kitties Xena and Roxy were also enjoying the evening.
-Tony recorded "The Office" and we watched that afterwards. I love that show. It is so funny. I just get so embarassed for Michael.
Enough about that.
Until next time.
Hugs :)

LaFolie

Here are my first pics with my new 5D. I love this thing. These are pretty much SOOC. I sharpened them for web and that's about it.
I ordered this hat and matching scarf for Aiden for the winter. I figured if Courtney Cox's kid is good enough to wear them, so is Aiden :) No, I saw them on Audrey Woulard's site a while back. A lot of her clients wear them. They are actually worn by the star's kids too. I just love them.
They are called LaFolie Knits.
Aiden did not want to wear the hat. He kept trying to take it off, but I snagged a few with it on him.

I just love my new camera!

Pick Me

Another photographer buddy of mine does this on his blog and I thought I would give it a try.

-Submit your favorite photo/photos of yours to me. I will pick 3 winners to do some Photoshop Magic to their pictures. I will post the before and afters on my blog so everyone can see your beautiful photos. I will also email you back the newly photoshoped images. :)

So, starting Wednesday the 19th I will be taking submissions for "Pick Me". I will take them until next Wednesday the 26th. Please email the pictures to me at

meli@melissakoehlerphotography.com

Also include your name, why the picture is your favorite and what the picture means to you.

Go through your pictures and send me some to play with. This is a chance for all you blog readers that don't comment to participate. I would love to hear from you!

-This will be fun! :)

Have a great day!

Some exciting news here. I will be doing "The" Premier Wedding Show in San Diego. I am so excited that I was chosen to exhibit there. I have been busy getting everything ready for the show. My Artist Coordiantor and best friend have been working with me to make sure that I am ready for the show. Lots of hours have already been put into making sure I am ready.
This is why you haven't seen much of me lately.

This should be a blast to go to. I will be sending an email out to my brides for 2 free tickets to attend the show. If you want tickets let me know, first come first served. (well, more like first respond).
It will be fun!
I hope to see you all there!

Here are the details...

October 7th from 12-5pm
Hyatt Regency Aventine

Stop by and say hi :)
Hugs to you all

Photographer's lunch

Yesterday I got together with some local photographers here in San Diego. Masen was kind enough to facilitate the event.
It is always nice to talk to other people in your field and share things with them. I am always so amazed at how giving this photography community really is.
We went to Pizza Nova in Hillcrest, which has some yummy pizza!
Here are a few shots of the lunch.
-I have to preface saying that I grabbed my camera as I was going out of the house and didn't realize the lens I had until I got to lunch. Needless to say, the 85mm wasn't the best choice for such an intimate meeting :)












As I have mentioned before, my hyperlink doesn't work so here are all the great people that were there yesterday

Masen- www.ma5en.com/blog
Kim and David Baxter- www.sdohana.com/blog
Geri Goodale- www.casabellavida.blogspot.com
Jamie Lawlor- blog and website coming soon. She has great hair though :)

Thank you everyone for being so great yesterday. It was so fun hanging out with you all and I hope to be able to do it again soon. Aiden had a good time too :)
Hugs!

I have received some emails asking me to do before and afters. Today I took some pictures of Aiden (he is not happy BTW).

-The first picture is SOOC





-The second picture I duplicated the layer to "screen". Bumped the contrast, perfected his skin a bit, and used a Kubota action called " Daily Multi Vitamin" for a little extra pop.
Not too much done to it.

If you have any questions feel free to ask :)

74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

I came across this cute quiz tonight on Justin and Mary's blog (justinmarantz.blogspot.com) :)
Very sad that I am 74% addicted to blogging. I guess it could be worse. I could be addicted to something much more harmful, like myspace :)

Take the quiz here. (sorry my hyperlink isn't working)
http://mingle2.com/blog-addiction
After you take it, post your results in the comments.
Happy blogging :)

Calling all models! Or people that would like to be a model :)




I am need of some more unique wedding photos for my portfolio. If you, or someone you know, would be willing to put on their wedding dress and take some pictures let me know. I would love it if the guys would come along too.
In exchange for you letting me "shoot" you, I will give you 10 images on a disc.
Email me if you are interested. The deadline for this would be the middle of September, so just a few weeks away.
Thank you everyone!

5,000 !!!

Hi everyone! I have reached over 5,000 hits on my blog. To celebrate, I am doing a little game.....




Here are the rules...

-Name two things about me. Let's hear some good ones! You can probably go through my older entries to find them out :)
-You have to email me the two things at meli@melissakoehlerphotography.com
-AND, you have to leave a comment. You don't need to list the things in the comment, just say hi :)

I will be giving a prize to the 2 best entries.

So, for all you blog readers that don't leave a comment here is your chance. You can remain anonymous in your comment but I need to know who you are in your email :)
Have fun with this.
I can't wait to hear the entries.
I will be closing this tomorrow morning so get them in quick.

Have a great day everyone!

I would love to know who is checking out my blog. If you have time please fill out the poll so I can find out.
Thanks to everyone that reads my blog daily!
Have a great day!

A few things.... first of all I want to send out a very special Thank You to Masen(www.ma5en.com/blog) for doing my new headshots for my website. He is so gifted and his images made me feel like a movie star.




The second thing is the Lifestyle section of my website is up! I am working on getting the babies gallery up but the rest of the site is up. I am so happy that it's done.
Thank you to everyone that has been so supportive and to my past clients!
Have a great day everyone!

Isn't she pretty? This is my sister-in-law. It was taken on her birthday a few weeks ago.
She is just such a wonderful person. Love ya Stace!

Yesterday I went to a get together with some of the people from the photography board I am on. The weather was gloomy but it turned out nice. Here are a few pics from the day. This is Ricardo's son taking a picture of Aiden sleeping.

Here is Ricardo posing. I told him to pretend he was in action. I wasn't thinking about that kind of action.
Here is the group.

A pic of Emily James. Love her Kermit shirt
Here is Carey enjoying her Chipotle. Thanks Carey for setting this whole thing up!
Amber looking beautiful
Working it only as a photographer/mom can
Aaron and Ricardo

Aiden feeling the sand for the first time
Keialoha being cute (not sure if I spelled her name right)
Abbey, Amber's daughter, just hanging out
Rubie, Ricardo's daughter, smiling at the camera
Masen being Masen.

I had a great time everyone. Again, thank you Carey for being such a wonderful coordinator.

Can't wait to get together again soon!

So, here are some pictures from the Party of 5 class I went to. I had a blast.

Here is Masen taking a picture of me.
Here is some of the group.

Here is Israel. He was nice enough to let me use one of his lenses for the day.
[b]ecker in action!



Here is the beautiful couple.
I had such a great time. Thanks to Israel, Tracy, Adam and Masen for making it so much fun. It was great meeting you guys!

[b] party

I was invited to [b]ecker's party in Las Vegas during the week of WPPI. I had such a blast! Mark and I went not knowing anyone and left with some great friends. The room was filled with Professional Wedding photographer's. I was so honored to be invited. Thanks [b] for a great time! Here is our new friend Jeff LaPlante. Jeff has got to be one of the nicest people. He encouraged me to talk to people throughout the evening and gave me so much information. Thank you Jeff for being so awesome!

Here is the beautiful and talented Jessica Claire. She was launching her new brand of camera bags called Shootsac while in Vegas. Don't you just love that red hair? Gorgeous!
This is me and Jasmine. We have "talked" back and forth through the computer. It was so nice to meet her in person. Jasmine has such a genuine personality and warmth about her. Jasmine, you truly are amazing person and photograher. It was so fun finally meeting you!

The [b]school cups. These were at the door when you walked in.
This is [b]ecker taking self portraits with some of the people. Look at Mike Colon's face. Isn't it hilarious?
Then look at [b]ecker's face in this one. Goofy
I asked [b]ecker to pose GQ style.
This is my new friend Jeanie. She is so full of life and energy. We talked about going skiing/snowboarding at Whistler. She made me laugh so much.

We also had fun talking with Mason and Jennifer. They are from San Diego so we had a lot in common. Such nice people. I am bummed I didn't get a pic with them. I think they took one with their camera though.

We met Jeremy and Amaria too. They are so cute. They are expecting their first child in June. Just a really cute couple. I am bummed I didn't get a picture with them too.

---Being around such amazing photographers has really made me excited about my business. I am looking forward to where my career will take me this upcoming year. Thanks again [b] for a great party. See you in April.

These are some pictures at the Bellagio. I was really bummed because the weather in Vegas was so windy and cold. My plans of walking along the strip to get some cool pics were pretty much ruined by the weather. Oh well.

We had a great time in Vegas. Just nice to get away for a day to ourselves with Aiden. Now, back to reality and my day job tomorrow.