Photographed by Brandon Wong and Katrina Santos. Written by Katrina Santos

Whenever you find yourself hanging around with Anna and Dixon you can expect a lot of laughs and a great time. We did exactly that at our engagement session where we had a little adventure sneaking away and lying to security at the beautiful Soka University just to get the perfect shots. At night we visited the Orange County Performing Arts Center where the couple often visits to watch plays. To top it off Katrina and I took them to our favorite ramen place in Orange County, Santouka for some good conversation.

Photographed by Brandon Wong and Katrina Santos. Written by Katrina Santos

Every location we went to during Kristel and Trevor’s engagement told a little bit of their story. We began our early day with a stop at Starbucks coffee where they both began flirting as baristas. Next we headed over to Old Town Orange where they had their first “official” date and ended at Northwood Elementary where they first began their friendship as children. Northwood Elementary is also where Trevor proposed to an eager Kristel at the end of a candle lit path decorated with pictures of their relationship starting from their childhood years. Since then we’ve become very close friends and we can’t wait until their wedding this August.

Photographed by Brandon Wong and Katrina Santos. Written by Brandon Wong

During our first meeting with Samantha and Matt I remember asking the young couple what their ultimate goals in life were. They both answered that they simply want to be great parents and spouses. Katrina and I knew immediately from that point on that these were two people that we were going to love to shoot.

Besides meeting two great individuals we also possibly met Taylor Swift’s number one fan. Samantha was inspired by Taylor’s music video “Mine” so we drove an hour and hiked forty minutes into the woods and tied up some of their favorite pictures together on trees. It was a lot of work but in the end it was completely worth it.

Right before it started to pour Samantha and Matt took us out to our new favorite restaurant Cucina Urbana and we topped the night off with some wine and chai lattes at Cafe Bassam. We can’t wait for their vineyard wedding in Temecula.

Photographed by Brandon Wong and Katrina Santos. Written by Brandon Wong

We always ask our couples to pick a location that’s meaningful to them for their engagement session. Although since Kristen and Austin had just moved here from Washington DC they had a bit of trouble picking out a spot. Our problem was solved when we discovered that Austin actually proposed to Kristen at their new house in Santa Monica and of course we got doubly excited when we found out that they had a Golden Retriever named Fiona. After shooting at their beautiful home we headed over to the Viceroy to finish our engagement pictures.