Santa Barbara Wedding Photographer

* Old archive: This page shows low quality scans (older technology). Obsolete links removed

August 2006 newsletter (old archive)

• 3 Weddings at Santa Barbara, CA
• Wedding client's Birthday Party
• 2 wedding photography customers reviews
• Wedding vendors in Santa Barbara

3 Weddings at Santa Barbara

July 2006:

I had three wedding photography jobs at Santa Barbara this month (July 2006). All the weddings took place very close to each other at Cabrillo Beach, Santa Barbara.

July 1st 2006 - Wedding Schedule
---------------
Wedding Location - Fess Parker's DoubleTree Resort Hotel, Santa Barbara.
3:30pm - Arrive at Santa Barbara, CA
5:30pm - Wedding Ceremony
6:00pm - Formal Photography
7:00pm - Reception
10:00pm - End

We had a record breaking heat-wave on 2006 4th of July weekend. I hope the wedding guests didn't suffer too much from the heat. This weekend, I had two weddings on Cabrillo Beach, Santa Barbara. Today was very hot. The beach wind didn't cool us down much. The Sun was very strong. The hotel staff brought out umbrellas and lemonades. I hope the wedding guests had some relief.  All wedding guests seemed to have fun.

I left home for wedding 2 hours before the scheduled arrival (3 hours before the wedding ceremony). The traffic to Santa Barbara was horrible. It was a bumper to bumper traffic all the way. From Camarillo, it took me over 1 hour to get to Santa Barbara county line. Still, I was able to arrive at the wedding site early.  It's always better to get to the wedding site 2 hours earlier than 2 minutes late.

Fess Parker's DoubleTree Resort Hotel is located near Cabrillo Beach. I think this is the biggest Hotel/resort in Santa Barbara area.

The beach was right across the street from the hotel. We went to the beach and took some pictures on the sand. After a few posed pictures, we took a short break. "Just relax for awhile", I said. That's when the groom talked to the bride and kissed her on her chick (picture above).

Santa Barbara Photographer

The wedding ceremony went smooth and quick.

They had a good reception. The dinner was well planned. Music was provided by All Occasions Entertainment from Santa Barbara.

The DJ knew exactly what kind of music to play,  The DJ didn't talk much, as if he was shy. He just kept the party going. When the night was about to end, the DJ sang one song (Karaoke style).  He was an amazing singer.  Everyone was saying "Wow~~!!. One more~!!" .

This (above) is my new buddy Juan.
When he first saw me at the hotel, he was little shy. He didn't seem comfortable in front of my camera. So, I tried to break the ice. I said "I'm John, too. My friends call me Juan. If we play basketball, it will be Juan-on-Juan". After a little introduction, Juan became my buddy. At the reception, he came to me and said "I would like to play Juan-on-Juan with you". And the whole table at the wedding reception would laugh. Occasionally, I gave him a hand gesture saying "You & me, Juan-on-Juan". We laughed a lot.

Wedding album was mailed to them in about 3 weeks. They loved the pictures. They wrote me a nice Customer's Testimonial on my web site. It was memorable to me, and I was only a photographer. I can only imagine how much fun the bride and groom must have had.

At any given weekend, there are hundreds weddings going on in Santa Barbara area. I hope to come back for more Santa Barbara weddings.

God bless everyone.. God bless my Juan-on-Juan buddy. :) Thank you.

Wedding Client's Birthday Party

July 15, 2006

One of my wedding clients had a birthday party for their baby. And I was invited. It was fun. I ate a lot.

Chavez was my wedding client 2 years ago. They kept in touch with me with baby news. I had a referral client from them as well. I also did Baptism Photography for their baby last year.

Baptism 2005

It was really nice to get invited to my past client's family event. It was fun to meet family members wearing shorts and aloha shirts. Because I only remember them in their formal wedding wears. The baby was only 1 yr old, but he had more friends than I do.

A few clients keep in touch with me with baby news. God bless all of them.

2 Wedding photography customer reviews

I have received 2 wedding customer testimonials in July.

"He was professional, prepared, and had an easy-going nature that made everyone feel comfortable. We and our friends and family were very impressed with how beautifully John captured the special day. I smile every time I see my wedding pictures."

- July 4, 2006 - Ayumi and Robert Kurata

"Thanks so much John you did an awesome job at my wedding. The Photo's were great. Thanks again"

- July 25, 2006 - Aaron and Tracy Yeaton

September 2005 newsletter (old archive).

• Wedding at Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara
• Wedding at Santa Barbara, Mussel Shoals
• Customer Testimonials
• Santa Barbara Wedding Locations

Wedding at Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara

Wedding Aug 5, 2005 Santa Barbara Museum, Natural History

August 5, 2005: Museum of Natural History in Santa Barbara is available as a wedding site. The wedding party had the whole museum for themselves. Another interesting fact was that the bride had a twin sister.  Nobody told me that bride had a twin sister.  I was a little confused at the wedding.  But I quickly learned that I was not crazy.

** The mother of the bride still keeps in touch (as of 2007). Read my blog entry 

Wedding at Santa Barbara, Mussel Shoals

Wedding Reception Aug 3, 2005. Mussel Shoals, California

August 3, 2005: There was a beach wedding in Santa Barbara. It was a small, intimate wedding. There were total 16 people on the beach including officiant lady. After the ceremony, they went to Cliff House in Mussel Shoals for a dinner.

I like how the pictures came out from this wedding. The timing was perfect for photography also the weather was beautiful. The bride and groom wrote a good review for me. Read their testimonial.

Wedding August 3, 2005 Santa Barbara, California

This is officially the biggest wedding cake I have ever photographed. The groom's mother took two whole days to make this. The detail was amazing.

Ironically, on August 3 2005, just three days earlier, I photographed the smallest wedding cake of my career. But it was just as memorable and picture perfect.

Wedding, Mussel Shoals, California, August 3, 2005

Customer testimonials

I am proud to show you three new testimonials from customers this month.

FABULOUS FOTOS FOR LESS "We were so glad we found him. Our pictures came out beautiful and we didn't have to take a second mortgage out to pay for them."
August 21, 2005

Super Photographer!! "John was the photographer. at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and he played such a big part in making it a very memorable day! He was amazing!!"
August 17, 2005

My Daughters Wedding " Wow! Everything John said was true! He was so wonderful to work"
August 23, 2005

More wedding photography testimonials

Santa Barbara Wedding Locations

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
I have never imagined Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History was available as a wedding spot. They turned out to be one of the best wedding spots in Santa Barbara area. They close down the place and you'll have the whole museum for your wedding. They have a nice park, small creek, plenty of trees, place for reception, and anything you can think of. You'll even get a little house where bride and maids of honor can get ready for the day.

You can walk around a little and find many different beautiful places to take pictures.

More Wedding Photography Client Testimonials

Wedding Vendors in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
2559 Puesta del Sol Road Santa Barbara, California 93105
(805) 682-4711
Website: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 

The Cliff House Inn
Mussel Shoals is located between Ventura County and Santa Barbara County.
6602 W. Pacific Coast Hwy. Mussel Shoals, California 93001
Website: Cliff House Inn, Mussel Shoals

Fess Parker's DoubleTree Resort
633 East Cabrillo Boulevard Santa Barbara, CA 93103
(805)-564-4333
Website: Fess Parker's Double Tree Resort

All Occasions Entertainment
Heather Levin PO Box 445 Santa Barbara CA 93102
(805) 687-5225
Website: www.aoent.info