I’ve been dying to post these pics from my recent trip to New Zealand!!!! This was an extra special engagement session for me not only because I got to travel to such a cool destination, but also because I was documenting the trip for a very special friend of mine. I have known Jackie for about 9 years now and through the years, we have lived, laughed, cried and danced together . We have shared many life experiences together and I am so happy that she finally found her H.A.L.F. in Corey . After Corey proposed, we talked about doing a destination engagement session, but somewhere relatively close. So where did we end up?! Only 6,500 miles from Los Angeles duh. This you-can’t-pass-up-deal surfaced for New Zealand, we trade a few text messages and hours later we booked our tickets for a 4 day trip! Did I mention we booked our tickets only two weeks prior to our departure date?! Yes this was very spontaneous, but ended up being very worthwhile, as you can see from the pics below . We flew a total of 26 hours to spend about 72 hours in New Zealand. Even the customs people thought we were crazy. Another talented photographer, Jason Huang of Table 4 Weddings and one of his couples joined in on the spontaneity and the six of us were off to hopefully take some nice photos and more importantly find some sheep!!!!

We stayed in Auckland and spent all of our time in Northern New Zealand. If you ever plan to go to New Zealand, I would suggest going for more than 4 days so you can travel to the Southern region where I hear it is just breathtaking (the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed there). I have to say though Northern New Zealand did not disappoint. And we were lucky because although it was the start of their winter, it was not that cold (maybe by Los Angeles standards it was) and hardly rained.

Our plan to maximize our 72 hours in New Zealand was to sight-see and do our photo shoots at the same time. The first stop was Brick Bay Winery where I found what I was looking for – SHEEEEEP!!!! I was probably the only one excited. I REALLY wanted to do a pose with the sheep but as we would get closer to them, they would run away. I think it was because I was wearing my boots with the fur, my UGGs . I tried to apologize to them but they weren’t having any of it. So enough of my rambling and let me introduce you to the happy couple and some of my favorite sights in New Zealand :

SHEEEEEP!!!

Jackie waited and waited but the sheep never came around .

But her man did show up!

And because people say when I travel, I never have any pics of myself (there’s usually no one to take it). Here’s a lil’ one of me and somebody .

On our second day, we spent the morning in Auckland and a beautiful day it was. I just love the light and feel of these next few photographs:

We then ventured to Piha Beach for more coastal scenery. Piha Beach is also known for their black sand. Everything was just stunning!

Team Jason ahead:

And just when we were about to wrap up the shoot, the light turned absolutely golden and delicious. The next several photos reminded us of how special it was to be shooting in such a unique place! So breathtaking! I was in photog heaven.

While searching for an engagement dress, Jackie actually found her wedding dress and brought it along to New Zealand (Ok I kinda made her)! But, you are going to have to wait for pics in her wedding dress until after the wedding. Here are some sneak peeks though and if you win if can tell me the designer of this dress from these photos!

All of the food in New Zealand was very fresh and organic. Had the best fish n’ chips ever while I was there:

And here we all are! Yes we are tourists lol and no I don’t know who took this pic. I think it was the ice cream man. Who needs beautiful scenery when you got a nice big picture frame lol.

It’s a wrap! So long New Zealand!

Be sure to leave some comment lovin’ and also check out Jason’s blog for more photographs!

Hi everyone!!!! I am taking a moment to breathe and blog. I can’t believe almost half the year has already passed and what a year it has been! (On another note, I also can’t believe I am turning 3-0 in 40 days!!! AHHHH!!!!) I am soooo grateful to be soooo busy! Kim Le Photography has grown tremendously in the past year and I must admit, it is quite an art to find the right balance between work and life itself. In fact, I feel like work has become my life and although I really enjoy every minute of it, I know I can’t spend all day in front of my computer and/or behind the camera or can I?! So as Kim Le Photography continues to grow, please be patient with some of the growing pains along the way. I am working on changes to better my business and provide me with the resources to take care of my clients and myself. New and improved things are coming soon and I can’t wait to share all of the news and photos. Thanks for your continuing patience and support!!!!

And did I mention how great of a year it has been?!!! I am so blessed and honored to have my work featured on various web publications. I really LOVE what I do and it makes me happy to share my work with so many people! Here are various Kim Le Photography features in the past few months. Be sure to click on the photos below to view the full blog post. Thank you to all of the amazing blogs and my incredible clients!

Happy Friday everyone!!! I have been DYING to post this Alice in Wonderland themed bridal fashion shoot I did last month!!! It was my first time helping put together a stylized shoot like this and I was nervous and excited at the same time. But, with a team of AMAZING vendors, our vision came to life so beautifully. We wanted to re-tell the classic story with a dreamy and whimsical fashion and bridal twist.

Besides photography, I was also in charge of casting and wardrobe! It was so fun to put on a few different hats for this shoot. We casted the incredibly professional and beautiful Lauren Olipra as our “Alice”. Her dress here was provided by the wonderful bridal boutique of Jinny’s Bridal.

Lauren made such a stunning model. Her hair accessories was beautifully crafted by The Treasured Petal Boutique and her hair and makeup were impeccably done by the always fabulous All Made Up Team.

When I first approached Christina Wright of Simply Modern Weddings and Helen Tao of Flowers by Helen with the idea behind the shoot, I told them we HAD to have a tea party. And WOW, did they deliver?! We had the most AMAZING tablescape. Thank you to these fabulous ladies for their incredible designs and inspiration:

Delicious cupcakes were provided by Sugar | Tart Desserterie.

Darla Marie Designs provided the most darling paper goods for our shoot.

Um yeah…Helen Tao of Flowers by Helen is amazing. She came up with this idea of floating floral teapots!!!

Seriously I almost ate these french macrons from Layer Cake Bakery. I knew Christina would have killed me though .

The girls and I had a blast shopping for tea cups and other table items at various vintage stores.

Our twist on Alice and her books. Check out these STUNNING hair and sash accessories by The Treasured Petal!



I just love the flying cards that Simply Modern Weddings thought of!

One of my favorites of the day:

And today the photo shoot was featured on Style Me Pretty!!!!! 

To see the full post and gallery of images on Style Me Pretty , click HERE!

Huge THANKS to Style Me Pretty and our incredible team of vendors who worked on the photo shoot. I feel so blessed to get to do what I do and work with some many talented people!

Event Coordination and Design – Simply Modern Weddings
Floral Design – Flowers by Helen
Invitations and Paper Goods – Darla Marie Designs
Floral Belts and Hair Accessories – “The Treasured Petal Boutique
Hair and Makeup – All Made Up Team
French Macrons – Layer Cake Bakery
Cupcakes – Sugar | Tart Desserterie
Rentals – Classic Party Rentals
Linens – Wildflower Linens and Fusion Linens
Fashion – Jinny’s Bridal and Forever 21
Model – Lauren Olipra
Photography – Kim Le Photography
Photography Assistant – Nadine Truong

I just got done a few hours ago shooting Lien & David’s incredible November wedding and now I am about to pack for an incredibly long flight to the motherland! Ever since my first trip to Europe in 2006, I have caught a serious case of the travel bug and now I try to travel as much as I humanly possible. Last year, I went down under to Australia and now I am going somewhere I have been wanting to go my whole life – Vietnam!!! I am the youngest in my Phamily and the only one born in the United States, so I’m eager to meet my relatives who are still over there and see how life started for the Phams. I am ready for my Asia adventure and can’t wait to immerse myself in the history and culture of my people! Well not quite that ready…I still have to pack and my flight is 8 hours away! Actually I still have yet to unpack from my last trip to the Caribbean!

On that note, I will be gone for 3 whole weeks and unfortunately will not be able to return any emails or phone calls until December 10, 2009.

Please check back in soon because I will have SO much to share! Here’s a sneak peek of one of the many wonderful things to come