Wedding Blog

When looking up locations for our engagement shoot, I kept remembering some photos I had seen of a couple sitting in a modern looking coffee shop. They looked warm, cozy, and in love. I knew I wanted a photo like that and I knew I could talk Ben into anything when coffee is involved.

We searched long and hard on Yelp for any sort of coffee shop with cool architecture or even funky decor, but we couldn't find anything that really suited us. I even tried asking for help in the Yelp forums, which was a disaster (one person called me pretentious, another person tried asking me out on a date).

We ended up deciding at the last minute on a cute little tea shop in Hayes Valley called Taste. While I had my makeup done, Ben scoped out a few places and pronounced Taste as the best choice. After a long day of photos, we stumbled into the little tea shop and knew we hit the jackpot. The owner, Vincent, was super helpful and friendly. He told us that he often gets couples who come to do an engagement session in his shop and provided us with the traditional tea set to make for some great photos.

He let us use the private window seats and recommended what teas and snacks would look and taste good. We almost forgot we were there to take photos! The buns were tasty and moist and the tea was perfectly steeped. The shop is so relaxing and quiet; it was the perfect way to end the day. If you're ever in the area and need some downtime, stop into Taste for some deliciousness.

After we got engaged, I knew the one thing I wanted to focus on was finding our photographer. I thought it would be really easy with Yelp, Pinterest, and the countless wedding websites. Did you know that there are over a hundred wedding photographers in the Long Beach/Cerritos area? I sure didn't. Did you know there are several different styles of wedding photography? Apparently "pretty photos" isn't a viable search option.

Off I went onto Pinterest, pinning almost every pretty photo I saw. At Bridal Shows, I kept falling in love with different photographers' work and couldn't wait to book with them. And then I'd go home and look at their website and throw away their flyer.

Then, one magical day, one of my friends had posted on Facebook about working with Sarah at Hazelwood Photo for a wedding. Sarah's photos weren't just pretty, they were stunning. Everyone in the photos looked like they were having the time of their lives. I was a little worried she would be out of our budget or that we wouldn't fit with her style, but when Ben and I sat down to talk to her, it was like catching up with an old friend. She was affordable, friendly, talented, and hard working; there was no way we weren't going to book with her. She was the first vendor we booked and we will recommend her for years to come to anyone who will listen. Take a look at our engagement photos to see the amazing work Sarah does or visit her website.