STUDIOcastillero

JAKE melinda

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:12:18 +0000

Today is a special day…why you ask? I just like Thursdays ok! Since today is a day that I like, I thought to myself “why not share a shoot of a couple I REALLY LIKE (even more than I like Thursdays AND nachos AND margaritas. yeah, I know, intense). Well, I think you will find them just as like-able! Today I want to introduce you to Jake and Melinda. Rico and I went to college with Jake (go Cal Poly!!!) and he was one of our closest friends there. We’ve been friends for about 8 or 9 years now and I would say that pretty much qualifies us for bestie status, not to mention the all night talks, the many hours at Uptown, AND all the car advice. Soooooo, after college Jake met the ADORABLE ADORABLE ADORABLE Melinda and the rest was history, they were married two years ago and have been living the Pasadena life every since. When hanging out, Jake and I enjoy our “upbeat” conversations while Rico and Melinda talk about modern furniture, it’s good times all around. Well, for their anniversary we decided to do a little shoot for them near our house in Mission Hills and below is what came from it…. pure Jake and Melinda hotness all over the place. I know it’s not technically an engagement session, but how could I NOT share that with you? So for your viewing pleasure, the like-able, sometimes cynical (but still optimistic), modern furniture loving and mechanical engineering skilled Jake and Melinda!

WAIT, before you look just a few announcements/reminders. If you email me on Thursday through Sunday I’m more slow in responding, sigh, just the nature of crazy busy wedding season. You know I still love you right?? RIGHT? Also, we are quickly filling up for 2011 wedding bookings and will only be taking a few more dates, so if you’re on the fence about when to book, shoot me a little email and lets talk about it. At least you’ll make a new friend in the process! ALSO, I will be posting about this again next week probably but I wanted to mention it now since the holidays will be here sooner than we think. Some of you already know this, but I do boudoir photography as well and I recently put up a little website (the final one is still being designed, so this one is just a little taste of what’s to come). What better gift for your significant other or yourself than some hot pics! My schedule is kind of insane (clients, friends? you know this all too well) so I’m mentioning this early and encouraging you to contact me soon to put something on the calendar if you’re interested. Check out my site HERE to get a taste for my style and what I do. I will probably talk more about my “philosophy” on boudoir next week so for now just go check it out! Alright, enough is enough…I’m sure you’ve had it with my talking. Have a great weekend friends!

TOM nadia

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:15:39 +0000

Oh my goodness, I’ve so been lagging with my blog posts lately, haven’t I? I know, kind of unacceptable BUT this wedding season has proved itself to be quite the busy one so valid excuse (right???). This last week was so fun for Rico and I. We were up in San Fran and in Malibu for some beautiful weddings of some of my favorite people, who I won’t talk about just yet because I’ll be sharing all those pics at a later time. The weddings were SO BEAUTIFUL though and so much fun that I didn’t even care that our plumbing didn’t work for two days and that I got a lot less sleep than the norm. I even found myself very disappointed when they played the last song at the wedding last night (I didn’t want the night to end!).

So, there you have it, busy weekends lead to slightly delayed blog posts. I have a GREAT one for you today though! Some weeks ago we had the pleasure of meeting with Nadia and Tom and taking some sweet e-pics. They live in Canada and flew down for their client meeting, booked us, and then we did the engagement pics the very next day. We decided to start in Hillcrest since it’s really close to where we live and it has such character. Then we finished the shoot with that natural goodness we all love so much. Tom and Nadia, thank you for coming all the way from Canada to hang out with us and for reminding us of just how fun our job really is. We had a blast spending time with you and getting to know you! Thanks also for being so willing to stand in alleys and lay in the dirt, AND look hot while doing it…can’t wait for some more shooting shenanigans next July! xoxox

DAVID holly {glimpse}

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:15:39 +0000

It’s TUESDAY! Yes, I know this and I also know that we didn’t post yesterday for the Monday post (brain hasn’t been maxed out quite yet to where I’m getting my days mixed up…not yet anyway). My deepest apologies, you know how much that Monday post means to me! We have a good excuse though I PROMISE! We were up in Seattle for a FANTASTIC wedding…oh man, so fantastic. Our laptop also decided to die the day we arrived in Seattle so we had no way of posting the Monday post remotely, so here we are….posting on Tuesday. What? Still not a good enough reason for you? Just check out the following pics from our Seattle wedding and you’ll be convinced…totally worth it. Can’t wait to share more of this wedding in a few weeks! So I hope you’ll forgive me for slacking on the Monday post and accept this post on Tuesday. Maybe we’ll just have to post something else this week to double make up for it, we’ll see. Love you all and happy Tuesday to you! xoxo

ERIN shaun + one more

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:54:52 +0000

So, I have this friend….more like a sister. I call her Bunny (her real name is Erin). I love her. Yep, it’s true….more than most people in this world, do I love this girl. She has a fabulous husband and beautiful little girl who I also adore. Well it turns out she’s expecting another little one to add to the family. I KNOW without a doubt, that he will be just as fabulous. They came to visit Rico and I on our one weekend off this year in June and it was bliss. We watched movies, went shopping, ate nachos (vegan..duh!) AND we took pictures! We don’t normally do maternity shoots but we thought we’d make an exception. These pictures make me happy every time I look at them so I thought I’d share that joy with you here. So, there you have it, Erin and Shaun and the little one…can’t wait to meet you Dez! xoxo

Who is that??? I guess I thought I’d make an appearance.

TANNON danielle

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:23:02 +0000

It is that time again…time to look at some sweet pictures! Well, almost…before that, you know I like to give an update. We again had quite the packed weekend with a wedding and then some boudoir shoots, but enjoyable as always. I REALLY looking forward to this coming weekend because we’ll be traveling to Seattle to shoot the wedding of the FABULOUS Holly from Beautiful Endings photography. AAAAAND, to make things even better, we’ll be traveling with the Aqua Vivus team. Watch out Seattle, you won’t know what hit you! Oh, before I forget, just a reminder that I KNOW I’m SO annoying about but I like to keep mentioning it. As I’ve said before, we’re right in the middle of wedding season so I can’t really respond to emails Friday through Monday. Just keep that in mind if you email me during those days, but don’t fear, I’ll respond to all your love notes come Monday…I promise!!! And with that, picture time….

Danielle and Tannon, what a stunning couple! Seriously my friends, the pictures don’t lie…just see for yourselves. They were married several weeks ago in San Fran and we had the great honor of being there to capture the day. I only have a few minutes today so I can’t go into all the details, but let me tell you, it was amazing. Her dress, the church, the hotel (Parc 55) the flowers, the lighting, the cake, the dancing…EVERYTHING. Danielle and Tannon, thank you for being so great to work with and for allowing us to be a part of your day. We wish you the best in your marriage and new life together!!

Also, special thanks to Ranna and Julie from I Do! wedding & event design. You rocked it!

NELSON jamaica

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:54:53 +0000

And again we find ourselves at Monday. Can you believe it? I sure can’t! I also can’t believe that we didn’t have a wedding this weekend! Now, don’t get me wrong, we love shooting weddings but it is definitley nice to get a little break once and while. It’s our one weekend off until mid November and it definitely left us feeling refreshed and ready to face the rest of the season (which is going to be awesome btw). I had three boudoir shoots on Saturday that were a TOTAL blast so special thanks to those ladies for making my weekend even better. B-shoots are the best! So with that, I’ll move on to the monday post that we have for you today.

Remember when I mentioned a few weeks back that we shot a SWEET wedding in the Santa Cruz Mountains? WEEEELL, that is what I’m sharing with you today. The wedding of Jamaica and Nelson. Well actually it was called a Love Party instead of a wedding by the couple. I thought that was pretty unique, and I’ll let them describe it for you in their own words:

“1. Our celebration will be bigger/longer/and more fun than the usual wedding. Think love! Think big! Think party! Calling it a wedding would just be inaccurate.

2. We are supporters of equal rights for all, including equality in marriage. We don’t feel right celebrating ‘marriage’ until it is a right that can be legally granted to everyone – including our gay and lesbian friends.

3. There are so many traditions/expectations/rules associated with ‘a wedding.’ We don’t subscribe to 90% of these and we don’t want these expectations to hold us back from celebrating our love and commitment in our own unique way with our community and family.

4. Turns out we are kinda hippies. What’s says love more than a love party?”

So there you have it, the love party was born! And a party it was indeed, but we’ll get to that, first let me tell you about the ceremony. (there is so much to say about this love party, so I apologize in advance if I go on and on and on and…….). They were married at the Sequoia Retreat Center in Ben Lomand. I have a slight obession with trees so obviously I was in heaven when we pulled up at the venue. The ceremony took place in a redwood circle and was the most unique ceremony I’ve ever seen. Jamaica and Nelson wrote it themselves and included aspects of who they are in everything. Each wedding party member had a reading, they did a Japanese Saki ceremony, they even had their guests marry them in unison so they were married by all their family and closest friends. To top it all off, the recessional song was Peace Train by Cat Stevens sung by the members of the wedding party!

The reception was off the hook with Virginia Reel and square dancing with a rockin Blue Grass Band, The Dalton Mountain Gang. The food was grown locally and had my stomach doing some serious celebrating, AND the beer was brewed by one of the guests and it was to die for. Ok, sooooo, I could keep going but I’ll leave you to the pictures and might chime in here and there amongst the pics. Jamaica and Nelson, it was seriously such an honor to be a part of your love party. The love you share with each other and with those around you is amazing and something you don’t see every day. Thank you for being such an inspiration to us and we wish you the best in your commitment to one another! xoxo

Jamaica “created” her dress by finding the different pieces and putting it all together (with the help of lovely seamstress of course). This was much more of a fit for her than the traditional wedding gown. I loved it!

Jamaica and Nelson definitely have the vintage look going on so it was only fitting when Jamaica changed into her vintage reception dress.

FEATURE green wedding shoes

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:33:19 +0000

Have I ever mentioned how much of a blog stalker I am? No? Well, I am. Any blogs related to photography, weddings, vegan recipes, and music you can bet your morning espresso that I’ve been there MANY many times. Anyone else out there a stalker? If so, that’s fantastic because I welcome all you blog stalkers (and if you ever want to reveal yourself, I thoroughly encourage that and will send a cyber hug and wave your way). Well, one of such blogs that I’m head over heals obsessed with is the wedding blog Green Wedding Shoes. It’s the perfect place for inspiration for your wedding or simply to see beautiful imagery. So, as you can probably imagine, I am QUITE excited about our little feature on Green Wedding Shoes today. That’s right, Chris and Vanessa’s adorable wedding (see post below this one) is featured today, so you know what? I think you should head on over there and leave some love for Jen and her fabulous team at Green Wedding Shoes, because, well, she’s awesome and deserves some stalker love! Thank you so much Green Wedding Shoes for the feature, we love you! xoxo

CHRIS vanessa

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:45:08 +0000

Mondaaaaaaaaaay! That it is my friends, that it is. We had CRAZY weekend 2010, that’s for sure. We road tripped it up to Napa for a wedding on Friday then drove overnight (yes, we’re crazy) to Buellton to sleep for three hours at Anderson’s Split Pea Inn (they weren’t serving soup at 4am unfortunately so we missed that) and then hit the road again for a wedding in Newport WHICH was AMAZING and a total blast (Heather, I will NEVER forget your dance moves EVER). I’d say we owe our lives to In n Out, singing Keane at the top of our lungs, and great conversations. So, crazy weekend? Yes, but totally worth it? DEFINITELY! The weddings were awesome and we got to road trip it with Tom from Aqua Vivus which is always a treat. So here I am, alive, rested, and listening to Radiohead….all set for a Monday post. And this Monday post might just knock your socks off.

Today I am sharing the wedding of Vanessa and Chris. The simple fact is that I LOVE VANESSA AND CHRIS. I knew Vanessa when we both attended Cal Poly and she was always such a joy to be around. Seriously, when you are with Vanessa you can’t go 5 minutes without laughing….laughter is part of her, and it’s contagious. I didn’t meet Chris until their engagement session several months ago, but I knew he was perfect for her before based on the captions on all their facebook photo albums and messages to each other (no I’m NOT a stalker…well, maybe just a little. They are so cute I couldn’t help myself!). We seriously laughed the ENTIRE time we were shooting their engagement session and the wedding was no exception.They had a Vintage Spanish theme complete with Horchata (Rico was very pleased about this), mexican food served family style, and many other awesome spanish details. The day was perfect, absolutely perfect. It was beautiful, meaningful, and full of joy. I think I must have cried and laughed 20 times during the ceremony and speeches…these two, they were seriously made for each other, not a doubt in my mind. Check out the pics and I think you’ll agree. Chris and Vanessa, we adore you and we thank you for allowing us to be a part of your day as not only your photographers but as your friends. I know your marriage will be a strong example to others full of laughter and full of love. Can’t wait to see you again soon in SLO town! xoxo

Also, special thanks to the awesome venue The Portola Inn in Atascadero, the ever so talented crew from Cana Video Productions (check out the video at the end of the post), AND the A-MAZING April Peet from April Flowers for rocking the blooms like nobody’s bizness! Enjoy the pics my friends, I promise they will brighten your day!

This last picture is a shot of Chris and Vanessa watching the Same Day showing of their wedding video from Cana. SO AWESOME.

HAI jaelyn

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:46:14 +0000

Here I am eating my yummy vegan smore from Sweet & Sarah and enjoying my Monday afternoon. I hope you all had relaxing weekends and enjoyed yourselves thoroughly. Ours wasn’t that relaxing, but we sure did enjoy ourselves! We were in San Fran for 4 shoots, one of which was quite the beautiful wedding at the Parc 55 Hotel…complete with a brass band and some handkerchief waving. We made it back late last night and are ready to start the week with a fun engagement session this afternoon and then we head to Napa and Newport on Thursday for some sweet weddings. Sooooo, as you can see it’s our busy season and I have just a quick order of business to attend to. I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting emails from you all, and I will always respond, however for the next several months my email response time will lag just a bit for any emails sent Friday through Sunday. I will DEFINITELY respond the following Monday, just might have to wait a day or so. Not that I had anything to worry about because I know what patient people you are, but I just wanted to keep you in the know.

Ok, now for the post Rachel, right???? Today I’m going to share the engagement session of Hai and Jaelyn. We met with them so long ago when they originally booked with us and I had been waiting and waiting for their engagement session to arrive and it did! AND it was stellar (yes, stellar). They enjoy flying kites at Liberty Station in Point Loma so we started there and EVEN got them up in the air despite the lack of wind (good running skills you two!). We finished the shoot by walking around Liberty Station and just seeing what we could find, and I’ll tell you what, that place did not let us down! There was even a sign laying around just waiting for us to use it in their shoot. So with, that, I leave with the lovely couple Jaelyn and Hai and all their kite flying abilities (and good looks of course!). Thanks you two for making our job so fun, we can’t wait until October when it’s wedding time!

MIKE Sarah {same day premiere}

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:40:47 +0000

Happy Wednesday! I am super super super swamped this week catching up on emails and preparing for 3 shoots and a wedding in San Fran this weekend, HOWEVER I just had to share this awesome video with you. On Saturday we had the opportunity to shoot the amazing wedding of Sarah and Mike at Orfila Winery in Escondido, CA. It was awesome, and you know what made it even better? Aqua Vivus did the videography for the wedding and you all know how much we love working with Tom and his crew. Well, Aqua Vivus has a service called a Same Day Premiere where they show a wedding trailer at the end of the reception. It’s so great because the bride and groom get to re-live their wedding day right there with all their guests. Whenever we work with Aqua Vivus we participate in the Same Day Premiere as well by editing pics and including them in the video. What happens after that? SWEETNESS, that’s what happens. And I just so happen to have that sweetness to share with you right here. So click play and then pause to wait for it to load, then once it’s loaded check out the mini film from Sarah and Mike’s wedding….you’ll love it, I promise (oh and put those headphones on and turn up the volume…it’s even better that way!). Enjoy and I’ll be talking to you all again on monday!

Special thanks to Aqua Vivus for being amazing as usual and to Sarah and Mike for allowing us the honor to capture your day!! xoxo