Hot Pepper - The Journal of Pepper Nix Photography » Destination Weddings

I love Mexico!!!!

Pepper — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:48:18 +0000

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know I’ll be gone for the next few days – I’m shooting a wedding in Mexico! I’m super excited because not only is the couple totally rad, but I will actually get to experience warm weather for a change! Does anyone have any requests for stuff they’d like me to bring back? Another thing I love? Non-stop flights to Cancun. That is really just the greatest thing ever. Thank you Delta Airlines!!! OK, see you guys on Monday then – Cheers!

Love, Pepper

Wilson Creek Winery | Jennifer + Lucas| Album

Pepper — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:15:26 +0000

It is at last official, SPRING IS HERE BABY!!! Well, at least it is in Salt Lake City. In Park City, where I shoot most of my Utah weddings, it won’t be spring for another 6 weeks, so if you’re wondering what’s up with all of the snow covered weddings in April, that’s just Park City for you. And I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I was just reminded that it’s Monday. Shannon reminded me – she’s a self-proclaimed blog stalker who lurks but doesn’t post, and I told her I was gonna call her out publicly! I know you stalkers must be out there. I’ve got the handy dandy Google software that lets me know we’re getting a couple hundred unique people every single day, but everyone is too chicken to leave a comment. So I just wanted to let everyone out there know the truth about me. I’m not scary. I don’t bite. And if you leave me a comment or question I will answer it as quickly as I’m able! OK, enough about that, all you lurkers are on alert to participate in the conversation, and now on to the Album!

This is a 102 side Album holding just over 200 images from Jennifer & Lucas’s wedding day at Wilson Creek Winery in Orange County! The cover is called Bomber Jacket, and they opted to go with 1 4×4″ photograph on the front.

OK, this one shows more of the coffee table than the actual album, but I had to show it, I love my coffee table!!!

And now here they are, my favorite spreads from the Album Design!

I always find it so interesting to see what I choose for my blog post vs. what the couple chooses for their wedding Album. I think there’s about a 50% overlap, about half the images I fall in love with get picked for the album. I think that only goes to show how different people become emotionally attached to different images. When I look at a picture, I’m only think of the aesthetic qualities and how the emotional content appeals to a complete stranger, but of course the bride looks at the images and they’re people that she knows and loves, which brings a whole different element into how she personally reads the emotional content. Anyway, just thinking out loud, I’ve got some fun posts I’m working on this week that I think you’ll love, and don’t forget to take a minute today to go outside and breathe in the spring air!

Love, Pepper

Newport Beach | Sydney + Nick | Reception

Pepper — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:59:46 +0000

The perfect conclusion to the Perfect Day. The weather in California was amazing. The light in California is different than the light in Utah, and it took me a few weeks to figure out the difference when we moved to Salt lake City from Orange County, but for those who aren’t aware of what the difference is, here’s the big secret.

There is so much pollution in Southern California that is create a beautiful hazy light, even on sunny days. When in Utah, you can see that haze sitting over the valley like a plastic grocery bag, just browish and see-throughish and just hanging there. It’s icky. I mean, lets face it, no one wants to wake up in the morning and realize that their clear view of 20 miles to the other side of the valley is now obscured through a brownish mist, a garbage specter hovering.

But in California, instead of hanging out in the north and ruining the view, the mist is more fine, it smells of the ocean, and it soaks up a bit of the sunlight coming from the southwest, making it easier on the eyes. Even though I am glad that I no longer continually breathe in California’s air, I adore shooting in it!! Best light in the world in my book.

After the temple, we visited several location along the coast in Newport and Laguna before heading to the reception. First stop In N Out!!!

Sydney and Nick, I want to thank you both so much for sharing your wedding day with me. You made me feel like an honored guest and a welcome friend, and I had a wonderful time working with you both! The wedding album is going to be a gorgeous record of all the fun from that day, I can’t wait!

Love, Pepper

Newport Beach Temple | Sydney + Nick | Wedding Day

Pepper — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:28:00 +0000

I’m sorry, I know I said this would get up yesterday, but I have a REALLY good reason for it. That I will totally fill you in on later. But for now, we are going to share in Sydney and Nick’s wedding day! I know I’ve mentioned before how much I love Sydney fashion sense, but this wedding was just too much fun!

The day started at the LDS Newport Beach Temple. For those who are not familiar with LDS weddings, no photography or videography of any kind is allowed during the ceremony itself, so the picture taking begins once the bride and groom exit the building! I think the LDS Church might feel a little bad for all of us photographers who don’t get to come inside, so they spend a fortune on the exterior and landscaping to make up for it!

Sydney’s colors were navy and bright yellow, and she really had fun with that color palette! She wanted to keep the feel of her wedding laid-back, very California beach, so the groomsmen were instructed white shirts only, Nick got an awesome new suit instead of a tuxedo, and the bridesmaids were decked out in J Crew bridesmaids dresses which I am 100% sure they will absolutely have the opportunity to wear again!

Sydney and her daddy, Daryl, who wears his heart on his sleeve!

OMG I love love love LOVE Sydney’s hair!!!!! And this was funny, as we were walking around outside the temple, we ran into another bride and groom, and it turns out that the two couples know each other!!! I think the other bride was very pretty, but nothing compares to my Sydney!!!

Stay tuned, we go to the beach! And I’ll tell you the crazy story of what happened to my blog post yesterday…

Also, if you like all things wedding, you can sign up for daily log posts emailed directly to you! Look for the top right hand box on the blog homepage that says SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL. Enjoy!

Love, Pepper

Villa Nova | Sydney + Nick | Rehearsal Dinner

Pepper — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:18:52 +0000

I got played tonight. Totally played, like a fool. And I felt like a fool, a complete and utter fool.

My son is at that age. I’ll call it two, for those who don’t know what that age is, but it’s that age. I put him to bed, and I did all the good mama things, a bath, a story, and then sleep with singing. He seemed OK so I left the room. 5 minutes later he started screaming. He does that sometimes, and that’s OK. Nothing wrong with a bit of screaming to tire him out and get him all good and sleepy. But this screaming was different.

He was screaming my name.

MAH – MEEEEEEE!!!!! MAH – MEEEEEEE!!!!!

I froze. He’s never called my name before. And i went running, knocking over a pile on my desk and banging my elbow into a door frame, running as quickly as i could to his room and to his crib. [Yes, he still sleeps in a crib and he will continue to sleep in a crib until he figures out how to get out of said crib] And as I lifted him up into my arms, his sobs turned to whimpers, and I help him to my face to look at him and make sure he wasn’t dying, and…

He giggled.

It’s very difficult to whimper and giggle at the same time for the best of us, and he didn’t manage it either. And then I realize that I have just been played. Absolutely, totally, utterly, manipulated by my angel. And that he’s so new at it that he can’t even maintain his cover and is just sitting in my arms giggling. And I can’t help myself. I laugh. And then he laughs. And before I know it, we are both laughing as hard as possible, and he’s grabbing my head and neck hard to not fall over. And you know what? It felt great!

At least until I tried putting him down again to sleep. Then it was sucky again. I stood outside his room, leaning my forehead on the door frame, listening to my child screaming my name, and willing myself not to go inside. And then my son, the brilliant manipulator, switched tactics.

DAH – DEEEEEE!!!!

And as my husband ran past me leaning my forehead on the door frame, I thought that was pretty cool. For Zen to learn in one night, how to get both of his parents to come running to his bedside simply by feverishly screaming their name, is pretty cool. Now I just need to learn to not have it affect me, and everything will be great!

We join Nick & Sydney at their Rehearsal Dinner at Villa Nova, a fabulous Italian restaurant in Newport Beach. I love shooting California weddings when the weather in Utah is kinda icky!

I adore Sydney and her sense of style. Remember Sydney? the one with all the cool coats and hats for her winter engagement session at Sundance? I loved this dress she wore, if I could have a closet filled with dresses this cool I would be a very happy photographer!

Sydney’s sister has identical twin boys about the same age as my son, and they were everywhere. Running here, running there, and I decided it would be awesome to get a picture of the two of them together, to remember how adorable and small they once were. As you can see, my dream of a picture with both 18 month old boys in it never became a reality.

Wedding Day pictures tomorrow! And Sydney, have I mentioned how much I lvoe that dress?!

San Diego Temple Wedding Album | Rachelle + Rick

Pepper — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:15:00 +0000

The San Diego Temple is always a fun location for me to be able to photograph, and this was no exception!

After seeing all of the pictures available for their wedding, Rachelle & Rick decided on an 82 side album holding 159 pictures from their Wedding Day, and I think it turned out absolutely spectacular!

I’m excited to be back and blogging again after this crazy past week, three weddings in three days makes my feet hurt!!! And the one thing I learned from it all? That I really like the 35mm 1.4 lens and that I need to get one for myself, because I can’t just go borrow one whenever I feel the need. Sara, I blame you entirely for letting me play with it and fall in love with it. I am a big believer that it’s not the gear that makes the photographer great, it’s the operator behind all the gear, but I will concede that in this case, the gear might play a significant factor.

I’m not really a big gear freak, and I don’t get all excited when Canon announces a new lens because hey, photography has been around for a very long time, and besides getting a camera upgrade every 2 years, I just never saw anything very exciting about the optics and the glass. Until 2 years ago. I have been slowly replacing all of my zoom lenses with prime lenses, and up until this weekend my favorite lens was the 14 mm, followed closely by the 50 mm, the 24mm, and then the 85mm. I guess all of the zoom and macro lenses come after that for being my favorite, but I did get to test out the 35mm 1.4 this weekend, and I’m in love. Absolutely in love. I’ll keep you posted for a new arrival from Pictureline sometime soon!

OK, back to Album Monday! And i do love this Album, I sat there for a minute just running my [clean] fingers over the front cover, it’s the first time I’ve had a bride select this cover and I was startled by how beautiful it was! Not that I was expecting it to be ugly, but when I saw the swatch i thought, huh, that’s interesting. When I saw it in person, my heart skipped a beat. The cover is called Ipanema which has the texture of snake skin, and the spine is done in Dulce de Leche.

As a photographer, I’m not sure why I feel so connected to the covers that bride choose for their Wedding Albums, but maybe it has to do with the fact that I feel I really put my heart and all of my energy into documenting one day, for one couple, and when a bride picks a really stunning cover, I almost feel as though she is saying to me, Great job!, These pictures are worthy of the best materials possible! And to be truthful, perhaps my brides always pick the finest materials because i don’t charge anything for leather upgrades, but the result is the same. I work as hard and as creatively as I can, and I get rewarded by having my images in unique leathers and fabrics that the couple are proud to show off. I see it as a Win-Win situation.

This Album is 11×14″ wide, with 2 – 3×3″ square B&W images on the front cover. Since this is an Album, the pages are printed on photographic paper.

So here it is, a few of my favorite spreads from the final design!

Wilson Creek Winery | Jennifer + Lucas | Barrel Room Reception

Pepper — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:47:53 +0000

Jennifer & Lucas’s Wedding Reception. Wow.

They were very excited about the location and kept telling me it was “in the barrel room” and I will be honest I had no idea what that meant. I’ve never been a big wine drinker and haven’t spent much time in Napa, and this sounds so silly, but I just could not picture at all what they were going on about.

Then I saw it. OMG. Seriously. A wonderfully intimate dinner with 80 of their nearest and dearest friends in this simply divine location.

The guests were first treated to a cocktail hour, complete with the award winning wines that Wilson Creek in known for!

The Seating Chart

The cake, Groom’s cake, and custom cake topper made by former bride of mine Leslie Smith! ONT!!!! [inside joke]

Thank you both for a picture perfect evening, you make the most beautiful couple!!!

Love, Pepper

Wilson Creek Winery | Jennifer + Lucas | Ceremony in the Vineyard

Pepper — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:39:17 +0000

Jennifer & Lucas met at law school, and he forever was in love with a girl who saw him as “just a friend”.

During a trip for a law school oralist competition they were working on together, Jennifer came to the realization that her goofy friend was in fact the love of her life, and from there the seeds were planted for a stunning vineyard wedding.

That’s where I come into the story…

The day started out pretty relaxing, all of the women together doing hair and makeup, hanging out and drinking yummy beverages!

Meet Jennifer’s little sister – she has a big role to play in today’s wedding and Jennifer made she that her little sis got every bit as much attention as the bride!

We all have our little quirks, and Jennifer is no exception! She has a shoe fetish. Then again, what stylish woman doesn’t have a shoe fetish? Recognizing that there is a problem is the first step to recovery. The second step? Buy lots of pretty shoes!!! In the end, Jennifer couldn’t decide between these 2 shoes, so she wore one set for the ceremony and the second set for the reception.

Showing off the wedding bands to me and her bridesmaids. When Lucas proposed, he created a quirky journal with terrible stick figure drawings in his sloppy lawyer handwriting or all the different things they had done together and all of the different things he loved about her. Reading it made me cry it was so adorable!!! The last part of this Journal had a picture of him with the ring, and a cutout for the ring box. This is probably the most heartfelt proposal I have come across!

The bride and groom chose to have their wedding at gorgeous family-owned estate of Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula CA. I left the girls getting ready to go meet up with the guys at the winery, who would all be dressed and ready to go take groomsmen pictures!!!

Or, maybe not….

So the groomsmen aren’t ready, but I’m sure the bridesmaids and bride are all set for their turn for pictures, right?

no worries, we’ll get all the pictures we need after the ceremony then!

Lucas then surprises Jennifer by sending a messenger to her with new earrings – Lucas, I think she likes them!

The guests take a shuttle and make their way to the Merlot Mesa, right in the heart of the vineyard.

It was the most perfect and beautiful sunset ceremony!

Unfortunately for me, it got very dark, very quickly! I wanted to make sure that we could still see the beauty of the vineyards, and so my shutter speed is getting longer, and longer….

Here are are at 1/15th of a second!

And here we are at 1/6th of a second! [Yes, I can hand hold at 1/6th - I have a very steady grip!]

Jennifer and Lucas hop in the back of their limo in the darkness and we raced off to the reception!

Not pictured: My terrifying thrill ride on the side of a golf cart desperately trying to not drop my 30lbs of gear! You know what is not in the heart of a pristine vineyard in the middle of the night?

Streetlamps!

Album Monday | St. Mary’s by the Sea | Kathy + Ian

Pepper — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:40:49 +0000

I think we have a new favorite leather cover, and it is just delicious! It’s called cu29, and I’m in LOVE. Kathy and Ian selected it to complement their Miami Ink cover by having the cu29 on the spine.

Kathy and Ian’s 12×12″ square album is an amazing Heirloom for the soon-to-be born little baby girl, clocking in at 100 sides and holding 192 images! [As I have noted before - nothing will light a fire under a Bride to finish selecting her images like the impeding arrival of a new baby!]

This type of cover is called the spine-only option, but there is another version available where the front cover is in Leather A, and the spine and back cover are clad in Leather B. Kathy and Ian also option to have their names and wedding date embossed into the front cover. That option is not available on many covers, but on the Miami Ink it is.

I had someone ask recently where i photograph my albums. For those who are curious, I photograph all of my album on the coffee table of my Studio, in front of my purple couch. There are some south facing windows there that provide excellent light there around 10:30 in the morning [but of course the time of day changes over the course of the year - right now it's 10:30 am]

I love the sheen of that coppery leather – mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..

And here are my favorite spreads from Kathy and Ian’s Wedding Album!

To see more pictures of Kathy & Ian’s gorgeous wedding in Huntington Beach, check them out here!

Album Monday | Fullerton Arboretum | Whitney + Ryan

Pepper — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:04:40 +0000

I love this Album! It’s great when I see brides get really creative with their album covers and think outside of the box, outside of what is considered Normal or Regular, and start to really have some fun!

Whitney and Ryan decided on a beautiful leather that I don’t get to see very often called Bank Heist. Bank Heist is a bronzed ostrich leather, and to complement it, they selected as their accent Chiara. When she called me and told me what they had decided I positively squealed with delight!!! It’s just breathtaking…

Whitney & Ryan’s 11×14 Album holds 119 images on 60 sides, and it has a horizontal accent stripe that extends over the entire front cover, the spine, and the back cover as well.

So here it is, my favorite spreads from Whitney & Ryan’s Wedding!

Ceremony – Newport Beach LDS Temple

Reception – Fullerton Arboretum

Thank you both so much, for letting me be a part of your wedding, and for having so much fun with me when it came time to select images for your Album as well as really having fun with the cover! I guarantee you that none of your friends will have anything like it and they will all be jealous!

To see more pictures from Whitney & Ryan’s Fullerton Arboretum wedding, please CLICK HERE.