On Saturday evening, I had the pleasure and honor of documenting Maggie and Cowboy’s very intimate engagement dinner at Bouchon Bistro in Beverly Hills. Fourteen of their closest family and friends gathered with Maggie and Cowboy around the long, rectangular table for laughs, drinks conversations, and amazing food.

About a month or two ago, I got an e-mail out of the blue from Maggie, inquiring about my photography services for her engagement dinner. A few weeks later, I met her and Cowboy at my studio, where they shared with me their relationship story and wedding plans.

Although I’m bummed I won’t get to photograph their destination wedding next March in the South part of Florida, I felt so privileged to be a part of their engagement dinner. The service was top notch at Bouchon. They even had a little surprise for Maggie, Cowboy, and all the guests – a tour of Thomas Keller’s kitchen (where all the magic happens!). And what a kitchen it was!

Thank you Maggie, Cowboy, and all your wonderful guests for inviting me to such a memorable event. Here are some of my favorite candids and details from the dinner, enjoy!

Yesterday night, I had the honor of documenting my good DJ/MC friend Raul Mora and his lovely wife Rosie’s 10-year anniversary party. They renewed their vows at the same church that they got married at in 2000 and had their reception/after party at the same place where they met in 1993, oh how time flies!

The day and night were filled with so much laughter, smiles, good music and food, and even a few tears. Rosie and Raul had many of their loved ones attend the ceremony at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church. At the end, they freed some beautiful doves into the sky. Afterwards, we all headed out to Caddie’s at Almansor Golf Course in Alhambra for the party. There, several of Raul’s DJ buddies went super old school and played some amazing hits from the 90s.

I’ve known Raul for a little bit over a year. He’s been playing all music at The Wedding Clique workshops and mixers. Not only is he my go-to MC/DJ wedding vendor referral, but he and Rosie also form a team that does planning and design. Be sure to check out more of their services on their company website, R&R Entertainment. Thanks again guys, and congrats to you both!

In an oh-so-sweet way, last Friday’s Wedding Clique mixer for wedding couples at the studio was the highest point of my wedding photography business. Not only was I surrounded with all the wonderful couples that have given me the opportunity to do what I love, but I got the chance to enjoy the evening with some amazing vendors/good friends.

Deanne of Bella Fiore put together the fabulous floral arrangements. Raul and Johnny of R&R Entertainment provided top-notch DJ-ing service, Erica of Erica O’Brien Cake Design baked a delicious cake and had another on display, Mary of Jay’s Catering was more than gracious to provide yummy catering, and Trini of NOZZA Studio was the mastermind being the whole thing – planning, coordinating, and putting the mixer together. Special thanks to William Kim for stopping by and taking photos of the mixer.

On behalf of all the vendors that help put the mixer together for our couples, I know I speak for all of them when I say, “Thank you.” Thank you to our brides and grooms for coming to the Friday event and supporting us. Without you and your trust in what we do, there would be no Henry Chen Photography, Bella Fiore, NOZZA Studio, etc. I’m forever grateful in each and every one of you for allowing me to come into your life and choosing me to capture your day. Seeing our friendship continue to grow well after the wedding day puts a huge smile on my face and that warm fuzzy feeling in my heart :). Until our next client mixer, keep on being in love, re-falling in love, and being fantastic!

Few of the many floral decorations from Bella Fiore:

Lines and tables decked out by NOZZA Studio, topped with delicious hors d’oeuvres from Jay’s Catering:

Top-left: Yapping away with Coco and Lysander (July 2009). Top-right: Johnny and Raul DJ-ing the night away. Bottom-left: Outside the studio looking in. Bottom-right: Soraya and Viral (June 2009) posing for the camera.

Top-left: Kimberly and Grady (July 2010) hanging out with Trini. Top-right: Dat (December 2008) feeding a yummy piece of Erica’s cake to Craig (July 2010). Bottom-left: Michele and Dean (August 2008) checking out Erica’s cake portfolio. Bottom-right: Trini and Mary talking to Melissa and Bernie (May 2010).

Top-left: Trini greeting Jasmine and Estevan (April 2009). Top-right: Deanne and Erica talking to 2011 bride Justine, her mom, and future mother-in-law. Bottom-left: Moshe (June 2010) with Ken and Julie (July 2009). Bottom-right: Seeing how Bree and Michael’s (April 2010) wedding plans are coming along.

Few more details of the client mixer, love the cake design by Erica!

Top-left: impromptu client meeting with Justine and her two moms :). Top-right: Kimberly and Grady hanging out with Viral and Soraya. Bottom-left: Erica chatting up with Elizabeth (with Dat, December 2008) and Mylinh (with Craig, July 2010). Bottom-right: Dina and Michael (July 2010) and Paul and Juna (April 2010) checking out my studio albums.

We’d like to thank all our brides and grooms for coming to our mixer. And to the ones that couldn’t make it, we missed you and hope to see you at the next one!

Last Friday, NOZZA Studio, Bella Fiore, and Henry Chen Photography (that would be me!) hosted the first annual Wedding Clique mixer for industry vendors. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone that showed up. It was great to finally put faces to names and also see old friends again. Special thanks to Raul and Johnny of R&R Entertainment for DJ/MC-ing the event.

I grabbed a few detail shots of Trini’s and my studio while setting up. We had appetizers, drinks, ambient lighting, and some good music to go along with some great minglngs/discussions. We plan on doing a mixer every quarter of the year and hope to see you (again) at the next one!

Here we are setting up for the event; wished my place could look like this 24/7!

Trini, Deanne, and yours truly of The Wedding Clique getting a quick photo before the guests arrived.

Here’s what Trini’s studio looked like, which is a few doors down from mine. Check out the yummy desserts!

We had a local wedding venues, florists, photographers, designers, planners, and entertainment vendors show up, can’t wait to work with you all. We’re currently working on a new website and will be introducing new features/events throughout the year that will help your business, so stay tuned!

ATTENTION: If you’re a bride and groom that was planning to come to tomorrow’s mixer also at NOZZA and Henry Chen Photography’s studio, due to the heavy rain, we’ll be postponing the mixer to next Friday, January 29th. We sent out an e-mail last night stating the following:

After discussing with my colleagues this afternoon and seeing how it’s been raining very hard these past few days, we’ll be postponing this Friday’s grand opening mixer to NEXT FRIDAY, January 29th, 2010.

We hope this isn’t too much of an inconvenience and still gives you some time to make other plans this Friday evening. Looking at the weather forecast, we’re expecting heavy rain through Friday and some of the local roads/freeways to be closed around Long Beach.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and delay but hope you’ll still be able to join us NEXT FRIDAY for the mixer. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to give me a call at 626-664-6735 or e-mail me back. I hope this e-mail gets to you all in time, I’ll send out another one out tomorrow as a friendly reminder.

Once again, this Friday’s mixer has been postponed to NEXT FRIDAY, January 29th. Thank you and please stay safe and dry!