Marina and Todd's Engagement

Kristen and Chad's Wedding

Carlsbard Flower Fields

We finally made it to the Flower Fields this year! We've been wanting go to for years now. Last year we missed the season by a week, and the year before we just forgot about it. This year we finally made it.
We didn't expect it to be as big as it was. We had to walk around quite a bit...

But it was worth it. Everyone should go take a look at least once. We are not really big flower people, but even we appreciated the beauty of it.

Anyone who is interested in going can take a look at their website www.theflowerfields.com to check if they are in season. Admission is $8.00 per person.

Testinomy - Email from Jake and Rachel

Hey Julia and Eddie,

We really liked the pictures but I wish I had changed shirts once it got wet because you can see the splash marks on my shirt. Oh well. thanks again. I like the different lighting and stuff on all the pics.
So I want to know how we can pay off our balance with you. I would rather get everything paid off now. Please let me know.


Thanks

Jake and Rachel

Rachel and Jake's Engagement

Aramco Dinner

Yesterday we had to pleasure of photographing a dinner hosted by the president of Aramco. It was at the Madison Restaurant in Long Beach. The invited guests of the evening were Saudi-Arabian students who are studying on scholarships provided by the company. The restaurant was beautiful, and the food was good. The only complaint we had was the lack of parking, and how expensive it was. Otherwise, it was a pretty good evening, and our contact person, Brad Brumford, could not have been nicer or more gracious.

Testinomy - Email from Therese

Hi Julia and Eddie,
I just wanted to let you know that we watched the video yesterday, and everything came out great.
You did a wonderful job on the pictures and videos, so I want you to know that I really appreciate all of your work and effort.

Thank you,
Therese

Mary and Fabio

We met with this great couple, Mary and Fabio today, for the second time. This time it was to sign an agreement to photograph their wedding, which is going to be held in Newport Beach this summer. Julia has no problem admitting that she was instantly impressed by Mary. She rides a motorcycle, is a personal chef, and was a machine gunner in the military. "How cool is that?" Julia says.

From what they have described to us, it sounds like it should be a beautiful wedding. We look forward to it!

Betty White Event at L.A. Mart

We were recently hired by L.A. Mart to do a two hour set-up shoot with Betty White. They were having a special reception and fundraiser in conjunction with Joy to the World, Betty White and the Morris Animal Foundation.

Above is Betty White with Pinkie, a three-legged service dog.
Eddie taking photos...

Here we are, with Ms. White.
Here is Julia chatting with Betty White... And below, Ms. White hands over an autographed ornament, which were being sold on site for fundraising.

We had a great time at the event. Ms. White was an absolutely adorable, and very kind. We'd like to thank Karen Bowes for giving us the opportunity to work at this special event!

Irish Wedding

Therese and Nathaniel's wedding this past weekend took place in the Santa Monica Catholic Church. It was a small, but very nice and intimate ceremony that we are sure many of the guests will remember fondly.
Here is Therese, walking down the isle with her parents.
The reception was held at Le Merigot Marriot in Santa Monica. The entire staff was extremely courteous, and the service was second to none.
Below is the happy couple's fondant-covered wedding cake.
Some of the guests dance to "It's a Great Day for the Irish" around the newlyweds.
Congratulations, Therese and Nathanael! We wish you many years of happiness!

Happy New Year!

It's been a pretty good year for us. We thank all of those out there who have given us the chance to work with you. We've been very lucky that all of our customers have been wonderfully kind to us, and we wish you all a very happy 2008! May you all have peace, love, happiness, friendship and most importantly, health! Happy New Year to everyone!

Lily and J.C.'s Wedding

Lily and JC's wedding was a little bit of a surprise to us. They are both very witty and humorous. So it caught us a little by surprise that their ceremony turned out to be really sweet and emotional for everyone.
This shot above was taken at their ceremony location, The Reef in Long Beach. It got dark pretty fast, so we didn't get to take any sunset shots during the ceremony. But the lights reflecting off the Long Beach shoreline in the background came out beautiful, too.
A photo of the beautiful cake from outside the reception room.
Lily and JC enjoy a cigar with family in the outdoor patio at The Reef.
Congratulations, Lily and JC!

Redondo Beach Pier, Crabs and Hats!

We spent some time in Redondo Beach today. We got two Santa Barbara female crabs, and while we were waiting for them to get steamed, we wandered around the arcade. Julia couldn't resist an old childhood favorite and put some quarters into those machines where you aim and drop a quarter in and wait for the "hand" to push the quarter into slots to see if any fall off the edge... She got zilch. Eddie had better luck and actually managed to push 4 quarters off the edge! But sadly, no quarters came out; only tokens! Unsure of what to do, we went to the token redemption center looking through the useless knick-knacks... We were about to head back to the games to see if we could score some more tokens for a decent prize when we stumbled upon these French hats for 2 tokens each! :D For some reason it was really amusing to us... I guess you had to be there! Anyway, we got two matching hats for the value of a quarter each. Not bad, we think; and it turned out to be kind of cold, so we were actually grateful for it! The hard part was trying to find a person to take this photo for us. Would you believe, two different arcade employees refused to take it for us?? Maybe they were jealous of us, who knows? :D

Those of you who live in the area or plan to be in the area, take Torrance Boulevard westbound all the way to the end, and you will find yourself in the parking lot. Go down the parking lot steps, make a sharp right, and you will find yourself standing in front of Quality Seafood. Order the Santa Barbara females. They are our favorites, and you will often find them filled with yummy crab eggs. A good sized crab usually runs around $6 to $7. Very affordable and very yummy. We also had some fried calamari and a slab of garlic bread to soak up the crab juices.

Marymount College X'Mas Party

We were hired to do a set-up for the Marymount College staff Christmas party this year. It was great! There were so many nice people! The group photo above is of the sisters that started it all at Marymount! Aren't they lovely?

The college not only gave all the staff frames as gifts, but they are also providing them each a 5X7 photo to put in the frames.

Online gallery is coming soon...

Here is Eddie checking the lighting set-up...

Testinomy - Email from Rosie

We got an email from Rosie today. We did her daughter's Sweet 16 in June, and the whole family has been so wonderful and nice to us. Rosie wanted us to post some kind words from her, so we are sharing it with everyone here. Thank you so much!

"Eddie and Julia –

When we had planned our daughters Sweet 16, our biggest dilemma was finding the best Photographer/Videographer of the South Bay. Why? When asked, what is of great importance and is irreplaceable in ones home? Pictures are always one item that is very valuable which lasts forever. Therefore, after dozens of interviews I was truly impressed and knew that Southbay Studio was the right choice. The event was beautiful and a success! This was where I saw your passion for your profession; it was not a job but an art. Eddie & Julia you are like a family to us, and this is not the end. We are just beginning this relationship – we have much more events to come and we hope Southbay Studio will be there!!

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts –

Alfred, Rosie & Alexis"

Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce

We had this for dinner tonight. Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce, chopped sausages and fresh basil. Eddie thought it was surprisingly good, and he gobbled it up, (get it? gobbled? sorry...) despite not being a fan of pumpkin. Eddie said he would not have been able to tell if Julia hadn't told him. She will definitely keep that in mind... :P

So this brings our pumpkin update to: 14 pumpkin pies, 2 pots of curried pumkin soup, 1 batch of pumpkin squares and 1 batch of pasta with pumpkin sauce.

Pumpkin Square

Still trying to use up all those pumpkins, Julia came across another recipe she thought would be worth trying. Pumpkin Bars. Except, she cut them into square, so... Pumpkin Squares for us.
It was dense, and not too sweet, which is good.

Our New Wedding Site

Eddie just finished updating our new wedding website, check it out! www.southbaystudio.com/wedding

Turkey Day

Julia made this turkey army for our Thanksgiving dinner tonight. It's made from Oreo cookies, peanut butter cups, candy corn and malted milk balls. The darned things were hard to find! They didn't have any at Ralphs, or Albertsons, the local liquor store, and 7-Eleven. Finally, they were found at CVS... By the way, thanks for the tip, Daniel!

We also had a first tonight. Fried turkey. Yes, we know that it's dangerous, but a family friend who was here for dinner was in charge of it, so we went along. We were actually pretty excited about trying it. And we both agree, it's the best turkey we've ever had! And before you start emailing us, we had a fire extinguisher on hand the whole time!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! The tryptophan is starting to kick in...

Gobble gobble! Good-night, America. Don't forget to count your blessings and be thankful!