It’s been a while since I’ve focused on my real life wedding tips column, I know that even though things are slowing down for the winter, wedding planning doesn’t take a break. So, my real life wedding tip for today is to Plan Ahead and lock in your key vendors now!

I’ve heard many brides say “I still have a year before the wedding, I’ve got plenty of time” only to be disappointed that their venue is booked, or the photographer they had their heart set on is booked (hint hint). You certainly do have time for the details, but not for securing your date and vendors. It’s not even 2010, and I already have dates booked in June 2011! Also, with the new year around the corner many vendors raise their prices annually to keep up with inflation. By booking early you can often lock in the current years prices, which can mean big savings! So put first things first, get your key vendors on board, and then you can take a break and focus your attention on the really fun aspects of planning your wedding- all the little details that will make your day perfect!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography

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It was a day of snowy goodness at our home in Grass Valley yesterday. snow men, snow angels, snow ball fights, I loved every second of it! There’s just something so magical about waking up to the earth covered in soft snow. We had a quiet day at home, playing in the snow and making soup.

It was a great way to return from my trip in San Diego over the weekend. The trip was so quick and packed that I felt like a tornado sweeping through the city! I went to the KissMas party on Friday night, Caught up with many great friends on Saturday, did an engagement session on the beach in Coronado on Sunday and flew home. whew! we had perfect whether for the engagement shoot, and I’ll be bloging some of those images as soon as Madyline gets back to school.

For now, here’s some of our snowy pictures.

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography

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I was just cleaning up my computer and came across my personal photo folder which is like the black hole for my family photos.  I hate to say it, but I’m like the housekeeper who’s house is always a mess…..The photographer with no family photo albums.   All my client files are so eloquently organized while mine end up in the black hole.   funny.

I did happen to come across this photo that I snapped of Madyline a couple months ago, The story of this photo goes something like this:

Madyline and I have a family bed which we’ve had since she was born, this works great for us except for the fact that Madyline is a serious BED HOG!  So a while back  I was just over it and told her that the time had come for her to get her own bed.  I enticed her with photos of beautiful princess beds with happy little girls sleeping peacefully and fancy things like that. She bought the bait and off we went to shop for her beautiful princess bed.  All was going well, I was getting ready to pay for the bed when our conversation unravelled something like this:

Madyline (jumping with excitement): “Emily and Asia (her imaginary friends) are going to LOVE their new bed!  We’ll finally have room to sleep mom!”

Me (gasping & horrified):  “WHAT?!  YOU’RE the reason there’s no room in the bed! This bed is for YOU!”

Madyline (bewildered):  “Mom, why on earth would I sleep in THAT bed?  We HAVE a bed.  If you want it, YOU sleep in that little bed and I can sleep in our bed.”

I don’t know why I found that conversation SO amusing!  I was cracking up so hard that I could barely contain myself!  Maybe because I really love our family bed and wasn’t ready to see it go…..Maybe becuase every time I go to bed and it looks like the photo below, I both sigh and smile.  I love these moments…..

Stay tuned,  tomorrow I will be getting back to our Real Life Wedding Tips column. If you have any questions about wedding planning, please shoot me an email and I’ll answer your wedding planning questions on my blog!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography

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Wow, what a great (and busy) day I had today. This morning was our first meeting for The Artist’s Way group at my home. I had some awesome women join me and I’m super excited about getting started on this journey. If you want to follow along, this week we will be working through week 1… so grab the book, a journal, a fast writing pen, and set aside a little time for yourself! Feel free to email me or post comments anytime as we work through this together.

One of the first things we touched on today was making time for our self & for our inner artists.  Many, many years ago a therapist asked me: “when was the last time you took a vacation?” And my answer was something like…. “I have to work, who will cover me if I go on vacation….I don’t have time for vacation, or the money for vacation, or the….” you get it. (and that was all before I even had a child)

He stopped me so kindly and said “That’s a bunch of B.S.! The truth is that you don’t think you DESERVE a vacation…. the truth is that you’re putting everything and everyone before yourself.”
And of course, he was so right. That year, I took a vacation. And every year since!

When we talk about making room for our inner artists, I think that gentleness is the key. Not expecting too much from ourselves too quickly.  When we put a myrid of great expectations like  “I’m going to start doing yoga everyday, AND meditating, AND writing, AND…..”  then we set ourselves up for failure.

the key: start with baby steps. begin with gentleness.

One thing we talked about today was starting off with very small amounts of time…. 10 minutes.  Finding just 10 minutes in a 24 hour day sounds fairly simple, but I have to be  honest and say that in the past year many, many days have passed in which I have NOT taken a mere 10 minutes to myself… maybe not even 1 minute.   So starting tomorrow, I’ll be setting my alarm a little earlier to get that time back.  I urge you to join me in finding 10 minutes sometime during your day. Time when you don’t have to tend to children, or work, or even drive. Time that YOU can have for YOU.

Blessings to you!  (and I promise to actually post some photos tomorrow) 

Melanie Jaramillo

Essence Photography

Right now I’m swimming in a sea of inspiration…. I feel it coming from all around me… it’s exciting. and scary. and amazing!

This past week I’ve been meditation on what it means to live an artful life. Not just to be an artist, but to live artfully. To have life itself be my masterpiece. What a simple yet profound concept! I’ve had so many “ah-ha” moments as I’ve been focusing my attention on this.

To me, living an artful life means being a deliberate creator of every moment in my life…. creating vs. reacting to life and the world around me…. stepping out of the hustle and bustle of everyday life and setting an intention for the type of life I want to create.  Because the truth is weather we see ourselves as an artist or not, we are all the painters of our world. We’re creating all the time, it’s just a matter of becoming aware of what we’re creating and why. There is both so much power and so much responsibility when we awaken to this concept. wow.

As I begin working through The Artist’s Way this week, I’ll be charting my course here for you to follow along. If you can’t join me at my home for the groups but want the experience, then please grab the book and follow along. It’s truly an amazing journey!

-Melanie Jaramillo

Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide.
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Last weekend I headed out to Hakone Japanese Gardens in Saratoga for Heather & Matt’s wedding. The Japanese gardens are so beautiful, and we were lucky enough to have a beautiful wedding day with no rain. The reception was at Sent Sovi which is BY FAR the most amazing restaurant in Saratoga. If you’re ever in the area, make sure to get reservations and go! Here’s a few images from their day….

Don’t forget that I’ll be starting the Artist’s Way on Wednesday morning…  give me a ring if you want to join me!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!  I have so many things to be Thankful for, I don’t even know where to start…. I love this time of year when the days get shorter, the leaves fall, and I find it so easy  stay inside and make soup or cuddle up with a book.   I’ve been doing alot of reflecting in the past couple of weeks, and now is my time to stay focused on what I’m creating in my life.  It’s such a great time.

For those of you who live locally in the Nevada City, Grass Valley, or Auburn areas I’d like to invite you to join me as I begin “The Artist’s Way”.  It’s a 12 week workbook that I’ve done in the past with profound results in my personal life…. Last year my friend Katie and I started it around this time, but she moved away and we kind of lost our group “umpf”. (I don’t think umpf is actually a word, but you know what I mean- momentum).   If you’ve ever thought about doing The Artist’s Way, or are even a bit enticed, please shoot me an email (essencephoto@att.net).    The group is starting Wednesday Dec 2 from 10-11 in my home and is FREE.  I’d love to have you join me.  You DO NOT have to be an “artist”, or see yourself as an artist.  This is all about discovering and recovering your creative self,  the creative journey is for us ALL.

Here’s a few things I’m thankful for today….

my health * my beautiful family*  amazing & honest friends * INSIGHT * rain * my crazy cat * my beautiful daughter who teaches me to be present *  mentors * flowers * abundance…. and so much more.

Blessings to you!

Melanie Jaramillo, Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide
Photographing Beautiful California Weddings

Hakone Japanese Gardens, Saratoga CA.

Last weekend I had the chance to photograph Erin & Matt’s beautiful wedding at the Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verde’s Ca.   This is where my parents got married a zillion years ago, and it was so amazing to be in the chapel that I’d seen so many photos of as a child.  It was more beautiful than I had imagined!    And wow, wedding photography sure has evolved over the years.   Erin’s photos are nothing like the album I looked at as a child.  I hope you enjoy the preview!

-Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

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Ok my friends, I know you are all so anxious for the photos from this weekends photo booth at Erin & Matt’s wedding in Palos Verdes. I don’t think I’ve ever received so many phone calls saying “are the photos ready yet???!!”   All I have to say  is that the photo booth was THE MOST FUN I’ve had at a wedding reception – Ever!   And apparently from the 250 photos we snapped while people got crazy in the booth, everyone else had fun too! So…. go check out the photos with your password!  Here’s a little peek at the fun! Stay tuned because I’ll be blogging some beautiful images from their wedding at The Wayfarer’s Chapel tomorrow!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

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I’m so excited about photographing Anne & Kevin’s wedding this spring in Los Angeles! Anne and I used to run Cross Country together in High School and thanks to facebook,  we’re back in touch.   Last weekend while I was in Southern California I met with her and Kevin for an early morning engagement shoot near their home.   Here’s a sneak peek at the photos we shot.

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Wedding Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

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I just returned from a week in Arizona and have so much to share. First though, I’m catching up on my wedding blogs from before my trip. A couple of weeks ago I photographed Alicia & Matt’s awesome  wedding at St. Joseph’s Cultural Center in Grass Valley. I love this place, it has so much texture and photo-goodness! Alicia was the perfect Bride for St. Josephs, she actually offered to jump up onto a dirty cement archway beam to get photographed (photographers dream come true!). Alicia is also an artist, and I love when I have the chance to photograph artists, as we always get some very creative images. We had a chance to get some beautiful non-traditional shots, and I’m so excited about the images we captured. Here’s just a few from the day, more to come this week as I sort through all the beautiful wedding pictures. I am in love with her dress which is surely the sexiest wedding dress I’ve ever seen, she wore it so beautifully!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of meeting the Belfry Brothers at a wedding I was photographing in Nevada City. My Bride had asked me about bluegrass bands, and after calling and asking all over town I was finally lead to them. I have to say that I was a little nervous at first, because I was recommending someone I didn’t know (which I normally don’t do), but they came so highly spoken of in the community, that I sent her the referral anyway. I just have to say that I was so happy- the Belfry Brothers were hands down THE BEST wedding entertainment that I’ve seen in a long long time! Everyone at the wedding had such a great time listening to them and I heard so many rave reviews about them from guests!
Later on, we headed down to Nevada City, where they took over a street corner in front of Friar Tucks and gathered quite a crowd – it was such a great night! Here’s a few photos of them playing at the wedding and on the street corner…. I’m thinking I want to have a party JUST so that I can have them come and play!
Today I kicked off fall break by heading up to The Autumn Shin-Dig at the North Columbia Schoolhouse to see them play again, and what a great day it turned out to be. Have a great fall break this week!

Melanie Jaramillo for Essence Photography & The Sierra Wedding Guide

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