Hello Nader and Donna,

We hope that you are both doing well and enjoying what is left of the summer. We have been able to view our pictures for a few days now and we were waiting to let it all sink in before we wrote to you.

Words cannot express how grateful we are for the priceless memories you have given us. I am not sure how you pulled it off but you did not miss one shred of emotion, and you were able to really capture the essence of our ceremony. We were amazed how you were able to make us look so alive. You managed to showcase, at the same time, the harshness of the desert that we love so much and the humanity of the moment.

Having no family or friends with us, it was very important to get good pictures to show them, but you gave us more than that. Many told us that when they look at our pictures, they actually feel like they are watching a movie because you made the pictures so real and so beautiful. Nader, you have such a fantastic ability to capture every 'right moment' that you are far more than a fantastic photographer, you are a storyteller. And we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for that. Although we got married in the most perfect way for us, we wished that we could share this moment with our family and friends. But now, you gave us a way to relive the moment with them and our parents and ourselves are extremely grateful for that.

Thank you Nader for sharing you talent with us, and thank you both for your kindness and how generous you were with your time. We will assuredly recommend you to anyone who needs the services of a photographer... and a storyteller!

Sincerely, Emmanuel and Genevieve

Nikki and Andrew held their wedding in Sonoma with a '40s/rockabilly theme. They love vintage automobiles, owning six of their own, and Andrew races a vintage VW Bug. For their color story, Nikki and Andrew chose black and white. Their wedding definitely reflected their keen sense of style!

They chose to marry and celebrate their union at Cornerstone Gardens, a very unique venue that is described on their website as "the first gallery-style garden exhibit in the United States." Over twenty designers have created installations and exhibits of cutting-edge ideas to inspire those interested in garden design.

Cornerstone Gardens itself was inspired by the International Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire in France’s Loire Valley. It was a wonderful location to document Nikki and Andrew's day.

Best wishes to Nikki and Andrew on a very happy life together!

Sorry for not posting our usual number of entries this week. It's a busy, busy month, involving three out-of-town flights for weddings to the Silicon Valley, Sonoma and Seattle. Thanks for being patient and a posting will be coming soon!

Meghan and Brad are a stunning couple from Orange County. They came to the desert in search of a low-key, family-oriented wedding event. Meghan and Brad invited their closest family members and friends to participate in their ceremony at St. Francis, and then they had an intimate dinner at The Cliffhouse Restaurant at La Quinta.

We made sure to take plenty of couple's portraits before Meghan and Brad went to enjoy their dinner. They are completely natural in front of the camera and it was a joy to photograph the two of them!

One interesting side note is that Meghan plays the character of "Cinderella" at Disneyland, so we are proud to say that we had the opportunity to photograph Cinderella's wedding!

We wish Meghan and Brad the happiest of years to come!

Are you searching for a wedding favor idea that will do more than gather dust or be thrown away after the wedding? If the idea of helping others as your wedding "favor" interests you, but you would like to make a more definable impact on a specific person's life, then visit Kiva.org.

Kiva.org is not about making donations, but about making loans to low-income entrepreneurs in developing nations. The loan requests run from several hundred dollars to less than $2,000, and are conveniently made through PayPal. You can loan as little as $25 to help someone get their dairy farm up and running or to help buy supplies to run a tailoring business, for example. When the total amount of the loan is funded, then one of Kiva's microfinance institution (MFI) partners administers the loan to the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur repays the loan over the span of 6 to 18 months to Kiva, via the MFI partner. During this time, you can read journal updates about the progress of your sponsored entrepreneur. After the loan has been re-paid, you can choose to re-loan to another entrepreneur or withdraw the principal.

I really like this idea as an alternative to the traditional wedding favor (picture frames, candies, etc.) because the money directly helps an impoverished entrepreneur support his or her business. Twenty-five dollars is a nominal amount for most of us and is definitely much less than what is usually spent on typical favors. After the wedding day has come and gone, it is nice to know that a tiny part of your special day went to help someone improve his life and that of his family.