Ray and I are so honored that we were chosen as the photographers for the amazing San Francisco Dream Wedding Giveaway. The contest is a collaboration of over 20 of San Francisco top wedding vendors to benefit a deserving couple and to make their wedding an absolute dream!

When I met with Julie and Stephanie during their initial consultation, we really hit it off. They are both so likable and hilarious. We headed out to the East Bay for their engagement session. When Julie first mentioned this location, she told me about the rebar, graffiti and art and I was thrilled to have a chance to shoot in a location like this. Of course we love it when our clients want to take a chance and choose a location that's unconventional and different. We're looking forward to shooting Julie and Stephanie's upcoming wedding at the San Francisco Zoo!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing Colleen's bridal session at the gorgeous Hotel Monaco. Stay tuned for another post with photos of Colleen with her husband in their mini "We Did" session.

Makeup: Bara Krejcikova
Hair: Jaclyn Schratz

To see more of our San Francisco wedding photography, check out our portfolio.

Here at Lilia.com HQ, I've decided to start a new series where I introduce our readers to the best wedding vendors in the San Francisco Bay Area.

My first featured wedding vendor is the amazing Ashley Dicksa of Creative Events by Ashley. Ashley has over 12 years of experience with event planning, and a background in public relations and marketing. Don't be fooled by her friendly personality, Ashley can rein in all of your details to create an extraordinary event for you, leaving you to relax and enjoy your event. She has an amazing sense of style and you can trust that you will have an amazingly stylish event that's completely tailored to reflect your personal style.

Doesn't Ashley have the most stunning eyes! We had so much fun hanging around gorgeous Discovery Bay last week. It's definitely worth the drive to see how beautiful it is there. You can catch up with her latest news on her blog, or follow her on Twitter.

You may remember Jess and Pontus from their Conservatory of Flowers wedding. Instead of an engagement session, they opted for a "We Did" session about a month a few months after their wedding. What's great about a "We Did" session is that you get to wear your wedding dress again!

It was great spending time with Jess and Pontus again and getting to know them better. We had such a great time chatting about architecture, art, design, and life in general! We headed out to the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands for lots of variety and gritty textures.

The wedding of Carolyn and Chris at Viansa in Sonoma was one of our favorite weddings from last year. They had an amazing attention to wedding details, they saw each other before the wedding for a First Look, were incredibly easy to work with, and they devoted lots of time to their wedding portraits. It also helps that they are just the cutest couple and have the best personalities! They were absolute troopers on an incredibly hot day and were so calm and collected before their wedding.

I absolutely love the way that Carolyn is looking at Chris. You can tell that she's absolutely happy to have him as her husband!

I'm an absolute wedding junkie. I read a billion different wedding blogs and I'm so inspired by other vendors in the wedding industry. This week I wanted to share the work of the amazing Megan Hunt, aka Princess Lasertron. Using vintage felt and buttons and an incredible attention to intricate detail, Megan designs one of a kind hand-made flowers, bouquets, and accessories for the bride that wants something different and bespoke.

After finding Megan's work on Weddingbee Pro, I cruised on over to Princess Lasertron's blog and lo and behold, she was coming out to San Francisco! After shooting her an email inviting her for a wee tour of SF, she gladly accepted and we hung out last week. First hitting the Ferry Building for a visit to Miette, then had a quick little jaunt over to the Mission for lunch at Frjtz and a mini portrait session. You can see more pics from Megan's trip to SF on her blog.

Megan is only twenty two years old, but she's already done so much with her life. She's been featured in Where Women Create, Country Living, Brides and Wedding Essentials magazines. She's designed hand made flowers and accessories since 2005, and she's a graduate student. Keep an eye on this lady, she is going places!

Here's Megan and I at the end of the shoot. Of course I'm a hot mess and she's a complete darling.

Here's some great examples of Megan's work: (all photos below by Princess Lasertron)

Ray and I are so proud that we recently won an award from the WPJA in their 2008 Q4 Contest in the "Emotion" category. The photo to the left is from Sara and Tony's wedding at the Mountain Terrace. I think we did a great job capturing Tony's emotion and his feeling of triumph after his vows!

WPJA (Wedding Photojournalists Association) is a professional organization composed of photojournalists and wedding photographers from around the world. What sets its members apart in the industry is their candid, documentary approach - a distinctly artistic vision toward wedding photography. You have to meet the WPJA's strict criteria to join the WPJA, we are very proud to be members!

We're so excited that Kat from the amazing Rock 'n Roll Bride blog featured our recent "We Did" session with Jess and Pontus. Rock 'n Roll Bride blog features real weddings that don't fit the mold of traditional weddings. Kat loves non-traditional couples and celebrates authenticity and originality.

We have been so lucky to work with so many creative and independent couples who had unique weddings that were a definite personal statement about themselves and their relationships.

Thanks Kat for featuring our work!

Hey Everyone! This is Lilia's husband and partner Ray, and I wanted to take a quick moment here to let you know about something very important to us, and hopefully to you as well.

A few weeks ago Lilia and I had the pleasure of meeting Stacie Tamaki, who, as you may know, is the brains and beauty behind the oh so fabulous Flirty Guide. While chatting with Stacie she informed us that earlier this year her cousin Tami was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome, and will need a Stem Cell Transplant as soon as possible. To help raise awareness about both this disease and how people can become PBSC / Bone Marrow donors, she started HelpingTami.org.

If you have a moment to spare, would you please go over to HelpingTami.org and find out how you can test to become a potential donor? Both Lilia and myself have ordered our kits to test ourselves at home, and have been assured that it is 100% pain free. What you do today may save a life tomorrow. Stacie, Tami, Lilia, and myself would greatly appreciate it.