John & Joseph Photography Inc.

More photos from this beautiful wedding in Santorini! 

International destination wedding photographer: John and Joseph Photography
Event Planner: Nina Raftodimou of Weddings in Santorini 
Ceremony Venue: Church of Panagia Platsani
Reception Venue: Restaurant “Ochre”
Wedding dress: Pepe Botella Novias
Bridal accessories: Shoes - Christian Louboutin
Groom and groomsmen apparel and accessories: Suit and shoes - Valentino
Cake, Flowers, Hair/Make-up, and Transportation organized by Nina Raftodimou of Weddings in Santorini

Published in Junebug Weddings

Check out Junebug’s post on their wedding Style Blog, What Junebug Loves and in the Real Weddings section.

Photography: John & Joseph Photography

Wedding Film: Paperback Weddings

Ceremony & Reception Site: The Condor’s Nest Ranch

Floral Design: Hammelmans, Fifty Flowers,Fabulous Florals, and Bunches Direct

Invitations: Forever Fiances

Favors: candy bar with goods from NutOnline,Bulk Candy Store, and ‘Lette

Transportation: Lifestyle Transportation

Wedding Dress: Cymbeline

Bridal Accessories: hair accessory by Twigs & Honey, shoes by Endless

Bridesmaids Accessories: dresses by ModCloth and Victoria’s Secret

Hair & Makeup: Nicole DeAnn Bridal Hair & Make-Up

Groom’s Apparel & Accessoris: Tommy Hilfiger with shoes from DSW

Groomsmen’s Apparel & Accessories: shirts by Calvin Klein, pants from Macy’s, and ties from TJ Maxx

Rings: engagement ring by Tacori, wedding bands by C&H Jewelry

Irene & Walter’s story:

“It was a hike on the Inca Trail in Peru where Walt first realized he wanted to be more than just hiking and traveling buddies. After that trip, Walt spent the next six months climbing even steeper trails to capture Irene’s heart. Walt tried win me over with random acts of kindness such as delivering a pineapple to my front porch or there was the time he fedex’ed candies to my office.

I played a little defense in the beginning. When he would ask me out to dinner, I made sure to invite all my friends along as well. Sometimes, I would use excuses such as, “I have to eat dinner with my parents every night this week” or “I have to spend the weekend studying for GMATs”. It should be noted that even to this day, I have yet to sign up for the GMAT.

You could say it was a slow hike up romance mountain, but he eventually made it to the peak and our relationship blossomed into many beautiful, wonderful and exciting adventures. Our passion for training and running marathons together led to a surprise wedding proposal by Walt, the night before one of my big races out of town. Instead of a pep talk, Walt proposed as I was sitting on the bed and clipping my toe nails. I was complete caught off guard and couldn’t stop giggling. After gathering myself together, I told Walt, “Thank you”. Walt’s response was, “That’s great, but you haven’t really said yes or no?” My thank you was a definite yes even if I couldn’t get the right words out. I ran my race the next day as planned, but my time suffered. Walt thinks the additional weight on my finger might have slowed me down. We knew from the beginning that we wanted our wedding to feel like a mini vacation celebration. We wanted our ceremony to match our personalities. Our dream wedding was to have all of these elements: serenity, natural outdoor setting, rustic, and all things aged and well loved. We wanted our guests to be comfortable in an intimate setting filled with warmth and laughter. Hearty, tasty comfort food was a must have, so we opted for a freshly grilled BBQ buffet for our guests to enjoy. I would sum up the overall wedding vibe as casual sophistication with a few or our own personal quirky touches.

We fell in love with the scenic Condor’s Nest Ranch in Pala, CA. Its picture perfect setting included tall palm trees, a laidback setting, and a spacious arrangement in the hills overlooking one of the most beautiful cities, San Diego. Also, there was a big Red Barn to add the perfect touch of a rustic element to the wedding. Since dates were booking up so fast, we took a huge leap of faith and locked in the venue before we even got a chance to see it in person.

As a hands-on bride, the wedding turned into a massive DIY project for Walt, myself, and the wedding party. We spent many weekends together laughing and crafting for the big day. Some of the bridesmaid still joke about having numbness in their fingers from all the weekend cutting and craft sessions.

The pinwheel was our biggest prop used throughout the wedding. We used pinwheels as signs to help guests find the venue. We also placed pinwheels in wine bottles along the aisle for the ceremony. Pinwheels also accentuated our potted succulents and cactus centerpieces to help achieve our rustic, earthy mood of the wedding. Homemade blackboards doubled as decoration and table signs. As a big fan of all recycled things, I wanted to use mason jars for vases. As family started to come in from out of town, they were quickly put to work by cutting strips of fabrics and glue buttons to fit in the different sizes of mason jars. The rustic wedding invitations were designed by Walt’s brother and printed from Forever Fiances. The seeded eco friendly paper fit the casual, natural and rustic feel of the day perfectly. In lieu of a guest book, we had guests sign a self-designed card and clipped it on a ladder. All the flowers, bouquets and boutonnieres were arranged and designed by my bridesmaids and myself with the groomsmen also lending a helping hand. We bought a lot of our childhood favorite candies to share and decided on macaroons from our favorite bakery.

We used bales of hay to replace chairs for the ceremony. I spent some time at Joann’s Fabric to pick out pretty pieces of fabric to lay on the bales of hay that our guests would sit on. We ditched the traditional cake and created our own cake with donuts and donut holes. We also surprised our guests with a hip hop styled first dance composed of a mash up of J. Lo “On the Floor” and Frank Sinatra. We hand-selected several cocktail drinks and even named them after the Condor’s Nest Ranch and barn.

The wedding was the most amazing day of our lives. The day was too short. We’ll always have our beautiful photos and videos, so we can relive that amazing day where we shared laughs and tears of joy with our beloved friends and family.”

We loved shooting an engagement session at The London Hotel in West Hollywood.

Engagement session at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California:

Grey Stone Mansion in Beverly Hills has beautiful late afternoon lighting for engagement portraits.

Shot through a patch of flowers in the parking lot.

John & Joseph Photography Inc.

Flip side:

If you haven’t guessed it, it’s Pelican Hill in Newport Coast, California.  A few more images from their session:

John & Joseph Photography Inc.

Engagement Session photographer at Pelican Hill, Newport Coast, California, Orange County.

Event Planning: Details Details
Photography: John and Joseph Photography
Linens: Wildflower Linen
Floral Design: Nisie’s Enchanted Florist
Chairs: Chivari Chair Rentals
Cake: Filigree Cakes
Macarons and Cake Pops: Cakes by Rumy
Onesie Sugar Cookies: Truly Scrumptious Cookies
Catering and Venue: Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa
DIY items: Details Details assistant Nite
Bunting: Free Printable from Ruffled Blog
Straw flag: Free Printable from Ellinée

Congratulations Michelle and Jimmy!

We photographed their engagement session at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, then went over to perfectly manicured fields ofPepperdine University until sunset.  Their wedding will be at Hotel Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica in August coordinated by Alicia from Details Details Inc.

John & Joseph Photography Inc.

Wedding Ceremony and Reception: St. Regis Monarch Beach

Coordinator: Jeannie Savage, Details Details Inc.,

Floral/Draping/Lighting/Linens: Sunny Ravanbach, White Lilac Inc.

Make up: Meiko, Kelly Zhang Make Up

Hair: Francisco Pinto

Ceremony Music: Cheryl Gates, Angeelica Strings.

Videographer: Matt Jensen, FortyOneTwenty

Cake: Sunny Filigreee Cakes

Dragon Dangers: Immortals Lion Dance

Dove Release: Pamla Wright, White Flite

Photography: John & Joseph Photography Inc.

John & Joseph Photography Inc.

Coordinator: Jeannie Savage, Details Details Inc.,

Floral/Draping/Lighting/Linens: Sunny Ravanbach, White Lilac Inc.

Photography: John & Joseph Photography Inc.

Make up: Meiko, Kelly Zhang Make Up

Hair: Francisco Pinto

Ceremony Music: Cheryl Gates, Angeelica Strings.

Videographer: Matt Jensen, FortyOneTwenty

Cake: Sunny Filigreee Cakes

Dragon Dangers: Vincent Chan, Immortals Lion Dance

Dove Release: Pamla Wright, White Flite

John & Joseph Photography Inc.