couple – Jewel Photography

Amy & Michael | Vizcaya, Sacramento

I have been excited to share Amy and Michael’s beautiful brunch wedding at the Vizcaya. The Vizcaya is a beautiful venue in Midtown Sacramento. I love the gardens (great for the ceremony), the huge windows, and nice architecture. If you haven’t been there or are thinking of having your wedding there, definitely check it out!

Amy and Michael, along with their family and friends, were so nice, fun, and easy to be around. Here is a glimpse of the wedding…I picked a lot more photos to share than usual for a blog post, but I feel like these really tell the story of their special day…

enjoy!

Bon Voyage! What an amazing day!!

To see more of my photos, check out more blog posts or my website!

xoxoxoxox ~Julie

April 14, 2017 by Jewel Photography

Engagement photos-American River

I’m thrilled to share these engagement photos that we did on the American River near Paradise Beach. Kristina contacted me and had a vision of what she wanted. Whimsical, fun, and dramatic engagement photos. I was not about to let her down! I recommended one of my favorite American River locations in east Sacramento–Paradise Beach! They had a little over an hour drive to get here, but they were definitely game. This river spot is nice and wide open, as well as having some secluded areas with a lot of cool vegetation (also nice for changing wardrobes). So…I met Kristina and Jeremy (and their adorable Yorkie) a bit before sunset at Glenn Hall Park, packed up the wagon and headed over the levee and out to the river.

We had so much fun finding spots and creating fun photos for their engagement shoot. The sunset was perfectly warm and cast a nice glow over the area. Kristina and Jeremy were very excited about their photos and couldn’t be happier.

Congratulations Kristina & Jeremy! So glad I could share this experience with you and show you some beautiful areas in Sacramento! Best wishes to you two!!

As always, you can check out more photos on my website 🙂

xoxox~ Julie

March 17, 2017April 14, 2017 by Jewel Photography

Lake Tahoe-South Shore Wedding

I love Lake Tahoe weddings! This was a south shore wedding at the Beach Retreat & Lodge taken along side my buddy Josh of Josh Gatlin Photography. I think these photos speak for themselves as to what a great lake front spot this is! It was a gorgeous day in Tahoe, and everyone had such a great time. Sneaking away with Kristin and Chase to walk out to the end of the pier was the icing on the cake and these two had no trouble creating chemistry for the photos…i’m not sure if they even noticed we were there!

We finished just in time…the wildfire smoke was coming over the mountains.

As you can see in the last photos, the smoke from wildfires started creeping in on the lake as we were finishing up the bride and groom portraits out on the peer. There were many firefighting crews from all over California coming to fight the blaze. These two sisters and their dad took time to thank the fire crews for all their hard work! It was really a cool thing to see. We all love Lake Tahoe and are thankful for those who protect it!

xoxoxox ~ Julie

January 31, 2017 by Jewel Photography

Historic Folsom Engagement

Kristin and Shawn met me in the little old town of Folsom, CA. I was glad to see them again and also excited to chat about their upcoming Mission Ranch wedding in Monterey! We had a relaxing jaunt around Old Folsom, which is a beautiful area right along the American River. The Folsom historic district, Folsom Powerhouse State Park , and Rainbow Bridge make great areas to hang out, sightsee or take photos! Engagement sessions are always fun, and these two make it really easy to take great photos that captured how cute they are together.

Thanks Kristin and Shawn for choosing me to take your engagement and wedding photos. I wish the two of you a lifetime of happiness!

xoxoxox ~Julie

Check out more photos HERE!

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 by Jewel Photography

Glamping it up at Soul Food Farm

Elisa and Truman were heading into the valley from San Francisco. I was looking forward to meeting up with them at Soul Food Farm, just 40 minutes west of Sacramento. I was eager to check out this spot, with reservations available on hipcamp (aka: glamping), antiques, chickens, farm fresh eggs, an olive grove, and flower gardens galore. Just being surrounded by the golden hills covered in oak trees sounds like a good time to me, but now I know there is a lot more to this little farm than meets the eye. I will share more from Elisa and Truman’s photo session later, but for now I am going to give you guys a little glimpse of what it was like to explore the grounds of Soul Food Farm.

First off, I was greeted by the owner Alexis, and I wish I had watched this YouTube video of her Ted Talk before I went! This is a wonderful story about her dream to be a farmer. If you have ever farmed, or grew up on a farm, it is definitely something that lives in your soul. And now I know why it is so aptly named Soul Food Farm. Their story, The dirt beneath my feet, can be read about here.

I’m pretty sure these photos speak for themselves, but one of the first things I noticed was the truck “garden” bed. Have an old truck laying around? Put it to use! Now i’m thinking I need to turn every available spot into a garden. They have the prettiest lavender growing and an amazing field of flowers, which they sell for bouquets and flower arrangements. I will definitely need to remember to stop here when i’m in the neighborhood to get some farm fresh eggs.

We had such a relaxing little adventure, I don’t think Elisa and Truman minded their picture being taken at all! Congrats to this beautiful couple and thanks for choosing me to take your photos and see Soul Food Farm!

xoxoxox~ Julie

Check out my website for more photos and testimonials!

July 13, 2016July 13, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Loomis country engagement

There’s probably nothing more comfortable than your home. And these two made me feel right at home as soon as I showed up to take their photos. Nicholas and Breeanne’s engagement photos are special because they take place where the wedding will be held in Loomis, CA. This is the property of the bride’s parents, and also where they were married long ago. I think it is so sweet to get married in the same place your parents were, and take formal photos where they did as well. What a special tribute to love!

This property is so beautiful, and at this time of year full of wildflowers and lush greenery. We decided to go off to some remote areas that we will probably not be able to get to during the wedding. This was fun and I can see why these two are a couple, they have great chemistry and are constantly smiling at each other. I’m so excited for the wedding!

The property was full of huge boulders…who wouldn’t want hiking in their own backyard!

A meadow of purple wildflowers? Yes please!

Of course we had to take photos on the rusty old tractor! My family actually had one of these on our little farm growing up.

This wedding is going to be so beautiful…I can’t wait!

Want to see more of my photos? Check them out HERE 🙂

Until next time! xoxoxox~Julie

May 12, 2016May 13, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Foresthill Engagement…Staci & Shane

Not too long ago, I drove up to the beautiful town of Foresthill to meet up with Staci and Shane. They thought it would be fun to come up to their wedding cite, the Grand Sierra Pointe at Forest House Lodge to take some engagement photos, and I loved the idea. We got to do a lot more exploring than we will be able to on the wedding day, so it was nice to take a look at the area surrounding the ceremony location. This place has the most awesome views!

The drive up was so nice…on the way back, I just had to stop at the viewpoints to snap some photos of wildflowers that I caught a glimpse of on the way up.

I am excited to see these two again at their Forest House wedding! It will be here before we know it!

Till next time…check out my website HERE!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram! And Twitter! And Facebook!

xoxoxo~ Julie

April 14, 2016April 14, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Apple Hill! Camino, CA Summer Wedding

I admit it, I am a little behind in blogging weddings! It is not summer, it is winter. But you know, a girl gets busy and blogging gets put to the bottom of the to-do list. So here is a summer wedding to warm you up, since it is cold and rainy here in Northern California. And yay for rain and snow! Keep it coming, we don’t like this horrible drought.

There is not much I love more than the mountains, so this wedding was in the perfect foothill location in Camino, CA…right in our very own Apple Hill. Most people know this area for it’s apple pies, like mama Vicky makes at Apple Pantry Farm, which we passed on the way there. The wedding was at a private residence, which was surrounded by wooded areas and amazing greenery. When your neighbor has a Christmas tree farm, you can consider yourself pretty lucky!

This wedding was a group of friends that we had already photographed weddings for, so it was nice to see familiar people and catch up since we last saw them. I had trouble picking photos for this blog…the people were awesome and the scenery was pretty great too.

Instead of regular seating for the ceremony, they gathered a bunch of quilts and spread them over the grassy hill. It made the ceremony very casual and unique.

It was a beautiful and emotional wedding ceremony and I could see that afterwards, everyone was ready to ~~party~~ celebrate! 😉

This wedding was one where the toasts stood out to me. You didn’t need to be an insider to see how strong these friendships are…they all had me tearing up!

Here’s to many more years of celebrating for these friends and families. I wish them the best.

To see more of this and other weddings, please visit my website…HERE!

March 21, 2016March 21, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Lindsey & Trevor at Lake Natoma Inn

I met with the brideLindsey and her mom early last year to go over the wedding details and I think we ended up laughing the entire meeting, so I knew the wedding would be fun. As a wedding photographer, it’s so nice to relax and enjoy yourself and it’s also great when your client feels comfortable around you.

The wedding was in Folsom at Lake Natoma Inn. The hotel backs up to a beautiful spot on the American River. We only had a short time for photos before the sun went down, so we went down to the river path and let Lindsey and Trevor have a little alone time before the big party started. The two of them were so cute together. You could see the happiness when they looked at each other. Lindsey had told me they liked to joke around a lot, but there was sure a lot of romance happening on their big day!

This was such a beautiful wedding, it was really hard to pick my favorite photos! To see more samples of my wedding photography work, go Here! (more…)

January 7, 2016 by Jewel Photography

Custom Designed Wedding Albums

I personally believe that the wedding album is one of the most important things you should consider when choosing a wedding photographer. This is why I give all of my clients a wedding album. This gives them a tangible piece of their day…to have forever. Trust me, it is much harder than you think to design a beautiful and professional album!

I show my brides and grooms a sample album, but here are a few photos I took of one album from last year. It is much better to see in person, but at least this gives you an idea of how nice these are. They are so heavy and the thick pages with luster finish make the photos look amazing.

You will be happy to show off this gorgeous leather wedding photo album. Another favorite of mine is the linen cover with a picture window. I also like the hardcover, so the photos can be printed right on the album cover.

I let my couples choose the photos for their albums and then I design them with their wishes in mind. Each wedding album is a piece of art and also a piece of history!

Check out more of my wedding photography here. I am in Sacramento, but I also travel all over Northern California for weddings!

Julie 🙂

December 28, 2015 by Jewel Photography