Kendall is a perfect example of why it’s fun to “break the mold” a bit when it comes to wardrobe.  When I showed up at their house to help with outfit selection, Kendall was first thinking of wearing nice jeans and a sweater, which would have been cute, but a little too safe. Kendall is a total prepster at heart and I knew I wanted that to come across in her portraits. So when she gave me the go-ahead to search through her closet, we put her outfit together complete with cuffed wool shorts, patterned tights, riding boots, and a blazer.  “Cute” immediately turned into “striking” and totally set the tone for these images.

The original hand-written recipe in our Cooking Notebook includes a 6x version that we make for our family Christmas Party each year, complete with chicken scratched fractions and inverse proportions.  I’ve included the 6x recipe at the end too, to spare you from the headache of doing the math just in case you feel like feeding an army.

Cookie Ingredients:

¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup white sugar, plus more sugar for dusting dough balls

¼ cup molasses

1 large egg

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

Cookie Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease baking sheets with butter or olive oil and set aside.  Also prepare and set aside a small bowl filled with a big handful of sugar.

Here’s the secret to all Eastman cookies:  If you cheat on this, your cookies won’t be as wonderful.  Cream your butter (which means beat it on the “high” setting) in an electric stand mixer for 5 minutes with the paddle attachment.  Then add your sugar and cream for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.  The mixture should look very light, fluffy, and creamy.

Scraping down the sides of the bowl, add molasses and egg and mix until evenly combined. Then add dry ingredients and mix until completely incorporated, but do not overbeat.  Overbeating your batter at this stage will develop the gluten in the flour, making your cookies tough and dense.  Beat the batter on low just until everything is smooth.

Roll spoonfuls of dough between your palms to create evenly sized (about 1 inch in diameter) dough balls.  Roll each dough ball in your prepared bowl of sugar until it is completely coated.  Arrange the sugared dough balls on cookie sheets, 3 across and 4 down, and bake for 6 – 8 minutes.  You want to make sure not to over-bake them since they’re best when they’re soft and chewy.  Remember that they’ll continue to bake a bit while they’re cooling on the cookie sheets, so if they still look a little puffy and slightly underdone when you take them out of the oven, that’s ok.

Finally, stack them up and serve them warm or cooled!

 Yield: About 24 cookies

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 “6x” Version

 Cookie Ingredients:

4 ½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 cups white sugar, plus more sugar for dusting dough balls

1 ½ cups molasses

6 large eggs

4 tablespoons baking soda

1 tablespoon salt

4 tablespoons ground ginger

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground cloves

13 ½ cups all-purpose flour

 Yield: About 150 cookies

If you bake them right, the cookies are soft and pillowy, almost muffin-like.  But it’s the cream cheese frosting that puts them over the top.  Pumpkin and cream cheese…most definitely a match made in heaven.

I like making the frosting first, and then moving on to the cookie batter.  Somehow it makes me feel like I have less mess to clean up at the end.

Frosting Ingredients:

½ cup salted butter, at room temperature

1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, at room temperature

1 pound confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting Preparation:

Using the paddle attachment of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese together on high until light and fluffy.  Pour in the vanilla extract, then gradually add in the powdered sugar until fully incorporated.  Let it beat around in the bowl for about 30 seconds.  The texture should be creamy and spreadable, but not super runny.  Adjust the quantity of sugar if needed to achieve the right consistency.

Transfer the frosting into a bowl and set it aside until the cookies are cooled and ready.

Cookie Ingredients:

2 cups canned pumpkin

4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

4 cups all-purpose flour

Cookie Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Grease baking sheets with butter or olive oil and set aside.

Here’s the secret to all Eastman cookies:  If you cheat on this, your cookies won’t be as wonderful.  Cream your butter (which means beat it on the “high” setting) in an electric stand mixer for 5 minutes with the paddle attachment.  Then add your sugars and cream for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.  The mixture should look very light, fluffy, and creamy.

Add pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla extract.  Then add dry ingredients and mix until completely incorporated, but do not overbeat.  Overbeating your batter at this stage will develop the gluten in the flour, making your cookies tough and dense.  Beat the batter on low just until everything is smooth.

Drop spoonfuls of batter onto cookie sheets and bake for 8 – 10 minutes.

Once the cookies are cooled, neatly spread the frosting in a swirling motion, covering most of the cookie but not going all the way out to the edges.  Arrange them on platters in a single layer (because of the soft frosting, you won’t want to stack these cookies), take them with you to your next party, and you’ll be making friends all night long.

Yield: About 60 cookies

Sharon, Susan, and I wandered through town and eventually made friends with the local butcher, a kind and hospitable man who even let me go into the back room with my camera to document the butchering.  On the wall of the shop was a list of the farms he sources from, including the names of the farm owners.  The meats were all grass fed, and all local. It felt quaint and old-world, and exactly the way it should be.

Upon returning home, Bea taught her lesson, and we were then left with a table full of beautiful meats and accompaniments to style a scene.  I was lucky enough to partner with Susan again and we chose to style some of our leftover shepherd’s pie.  With a little bit of fresh thyme, tomato, Maldon sea salt, baguette, and Irish butter, the scene began to take shape.

As we were finishing our assignments, our groundskeeper stopped by on horseback, inviting us out to Pepper’s Bar that evening.  The night was incredibly fun and unfolded into one of those times when I had to pinch myself to remind myself this is real life and I’m not at Disneyland.  Scene:  Five instrumentalists seamlessly join together to create lively, beautiful music.  Mid-song, a young girl starts Irish-jigging, followed by an old Frenchman who stands up for a dramatic story telling. Lots of food.  Lots of Guinness.  Lots of life.  Just another beautiful night in Ireland!

Alanna’s family ordered a Storybook Album to display her senior portraits — my absolute favorite way to print.  Of course, I love wall portraits too, and the way they get to be enjoyed every time someone passes through a room.  But albums tell a story, and I just love that!  Incorporating meaningful quotes, verses, and notes from family and friends, makes the album even more special.

Every Storybook Album is printed on fine art, museum-quality paper with vibrant and vivid archival inks, which means that it will last generations without yellowing, discoloring, or fading.  With seamless lay-flat pages, each leather-bound album allows for beautiful panoramic displays of your portraits.  It’s fine art bound in a book!  I create Storybook Albums for both families and seniors, so please use the “Contact Lindsey” link below to get in touch and let’s begin the process of creating a Storybook Album of your own.

P.S. Amy, the mama of this family is one talented lady; make sure to check out her gorgeous interior design work here!

↑↑ One of the most emotional parts of the day ended up being the first time my dad saw me in my dress.  It was so special to share that moment with him, and to have it documented in our wedding film (link to film at the bottom of this post).  It still gets me teary every time I watch it! ↑↑

↑↑ My oh so handsome groom. ↑↑

↑↑ One of my favorite parts of our ceremony was when we came down from the stage to pray with our parents as everyone was taking communion, and the world’s most wonderful gospel choir was singing one of our favorite hymns, “I Love the Lord.”  Mike and I experienced nothing but abundant love, support, and joy from all our parents during the whole wedding season and we couldn’t love them more.  So grateful. ↑↑

↑↑ The finest lookin bridal party I ever did see. ↑↑

↑↑ I love my families! ↑↑

And finally, this film was shown at the end of the wedding, right before Mike and I left the reception.  Tom O’Hara and his team at Aqua Vivus are miracle workers.  How they were able to produce this film in just a few short hours, perfectly capturing the spirit and emotion of the day, I’ll never know.  But I’m so very grateful.

Our Fabulous Vendors / a.k.a. It Takes A Village!

Ever After Events  |  Wedding Planner  |  I can’t say enough good things about Merilee Hennings.  She continually went above and beyond to make the planning feel manageable and organized.  Always pleasant, professional, and responsive, my mom and I loved spending time with Merilee and trusted her completely.

Posh Paperie  |  Paper Suite  |  Elizabeth and Karrie were so wonderful to work with.  Our print work was beautiful and exactly what I had pictured.  Plus, they earn an extra gold star for keeping all those details straight…don’t know how they do it!

Ryan Ray Photography |  Photographer  |  Ryan and Cary Ray are kind, humble, invested, aware, and everything you want your wedding photographers to be.  All the images above were taken by Ryan and we’re so thankful he was there to help us remember that day forever.

Aqua Vivus  |  Videographer  |  Tom O’Hara and his team of videographers are incredible storytellers and the film they made is one of my favorite things in life.  The investment is so worth it!

Flowers Annette Gomez  |  Florist  |  What sold us on choosing Annette for flowers was Annette.  Her personality is that wonderful!  I loved that she was willing to go back and forth with me, making lots of adjustments, to ensure that the flowers were exactly what we wanted.  In the end, my bouquet was bright and delicious — filled with mint, garden roses, and kumquats.  Just perfect.

Vera Wang  |  Wedding Dress  |  The kindness and hospitality of David Friedman and the entire team at the Vera Wang store in Los Angeles made our dress shopping experience so so fun and memorable.  We love you, David!

The White Dress  |  Bridesmaid Dresses  |  I knew I wanted each of my 12 girls to feel good in their dress and to look unique yet cohesive as a group.  The girls at The White Dress in Corona Del Mar helped us select lots of dress options within our color palette that most girls chose from, and then a few of my bridesmaids found their own dresses elsewhere.  I had my fingers crossed on whether or not the final product would look good, seeing as I didn’t see all 12 dresses together until the wedding day, but I love how it all turned out.

Giuseppe Fine Catering  |  Catering  |  Their food is incredible and their staff is just as lovely.  Our guests were definitely well fed that evening!

Martin Luther King Jr. Gospel Choir |  Ceremony Music  |  Ken Anderson and his choir set the tone for our ceremony with their beautiful, worshipful voices.  God has gifted them in unbelievable ways and if I could sit and listen to them sing all day, I would.

West Coast Music  |  Reception Music  |  Best. Wedding. Band. Ever.  The JB Project surpassed every expectation.  I danced so much, I turned into a puddle of sweat.  But it was totally worth it.

Michele Coulon Dessertier  |  Cake  |  I love Michele’s little shop in La Jolla and her dedication to using fresh, organic, local ingredients.  Michele accommodated us by making all 5 flavors of cake gluten-free, and they were beyond delicious.    The only thing we would have changed would be ordering more!

Thyme in the Ranch  |  Pie  |  I’ve grown up going to Rancho Santa Fe’s best lunch spot, Thyme in the Ranch, and the sight of their baking rack filled with cooling cookies, pies, and cakes, makes me happy every time I visit.  Having their pies at our a wedding was a must!

Classic Party Rentals  |  Rentals  |  So professional and easy to work with.  They gave us complete peace of mind, making sure we had everything we needed.

Tim Altbaum Productions  |  Lighting & Power  |  Tim and team strung our market lights, lit the yard, and made sure our power didn’t go out.  Major success!

Wendy McGill  |  Bridal Hair  |  Wendy, the owner of JDM Salon, is our wedding planner’s sister and hair stylist extraordinaire.  She is the sweetest, and worked her magic (twice! for a ceremony, and then reception look) to make my hair stay all day, even through all that dancing.

Janelle Nelson  |  Bridal Make-Up  |  I was super excited that Janelle would be doing my wedding makeup for 2 reasons… 1) she is ridiculously talented at creating a polished but natural look, and 2) hanging out with her on my wedding day made the day that much more fun and memorable.  She’s the BEST!

Lux Beauty Bar  |  Bridesmaid Hair & Make-Up  |  Michele and Annie Benaroch own Studio Lux and Michele has been cutting my hair since I was in 5th grade!  They are the most kind and gracious people, and their team came to the house on wedding day for bridesmaids’ hair and makeup.  They did a fabulous job with my gorgeous maids.

Joe’s on the Nose  |  Coffee Cart  |  I didn’t even get to try their organic coffee creations the night of the wedding, but I heard they were a hit!

Sunset Valet  |  Valet  |  Total miracle workers.  They somehow managed to park  and deliver over a hundred cars on the winding streets of Rancho Santa Fe, with minimal lines for our guests.

And finally…

Mom  |  Partner In Crime  |  From the moment we got engaged, my mom went above and beyond to do all the hard stuff. Seemingly endless amounts of phone calls and emails were exchanged over the course of those 7 months, but she did it all cheerfully and enthusiastically, with a mindset of making every moment with me as special as possible.  Thank you, Mom!  I love you.

The staff at St. Tola couldn’t have been more welcoming and walked us through the entire process of cheese making – from visiting the goats in the barn; to separating the curds from the whey; to coating the rind and aging the cheeses; and finally packaging the various cheeses to be sold in the markets.  Not only was each cheese we sampled delicious, but it was amazing to see how distinct the flavors were in each one, seeing as they all originated from the same ingredients.  Cheesemaking is a fascinating process!

We returned home to find the provisions table packed full of beautiful cheeses and accompaniments and were instructed to get going on creating our own set to style and photograph.  I was partnered with my lovely new friend, Deniz, from Istanbul, and we headed upstairs with our cheese picnic in search of some good window light.  After fiddling and arranging our cheese for a good 15 minutes, we grew more and more frustrated, as we just couldn’t make it look “right.”

Thankfully, Bea came to the rescue and taught us a valuable lesson:  Work the food.  Make it look like it’s being eaten.  Unperfect.  Smear the cheese on the knife.  Scatter cracker crumbs.  Slice the apple.  Smash the grape.  And then it was suddenly beautiful.  Perfectly imperfect.  I’ve included the before & after below so you can see what I mean.

Next time, I’ll share about our trip into town including our visit to the local butcher, and our lesson on styling meat & fish.