Biggest party EVER!

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And just to spice this post up a bit here’s a pic of one off the guy’s I’ll be missing while I’m gone. (Warning: crappy iPhone pic below)

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If you are one of the people we met yesterday, feel free to take a look around my blog and website to see more of my work. If you are interested in meeting to discuss your wedding further please email me at amanda@amandarae.com. I would love to invite you over to my studio for a consultation, or if you are in Santa Barbara I’m more than willing to come up to you (I’ll take any chance I can to stroll along State Street!). Please keep in mind: my studio can only take ONE wedding per day. I already had one bride from the show contact me for a date that I’m now booked so don’t let that happen to you!

We also got to meet some amazing vendors. I’m always drawn to other photographers because we inherently have so much in common and I love talking shop! We already have plans to meet up with a few of them which makes the whole show worth it for me! Our booth was situated next to Salon Del Mar and we got to watch them in action doing incredible makeup and updo’s for brides, and we were directly across from Pure Joy Catering that had an incredible display and some delicious food samplings!

If you are one of my regular blog followers, here are some pictures for your enjoyment! I’m just realizing that I was so busy with everything that I didn’t take any pictures of Mike! AH! I’m going to include my new favorite picture that I took of him the other day when we were out location scouting. Seriously, Mikey, I could NOT have done yesterday without you! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your love and support and heavy lifting!

Me in the booth:

Dork in the booth:

Soooo…my booth design mostly comprised of what will forever be known as “the Cardboard Project.” I had to think of something lightweight to hang from the drapery and I took my inspiration from Anthropologie store displays. If you are familiar with their window displays you know they use a lot of unexpected materials to make exquisite pieces of art. Thusly, cardboard picture frames! I think they turned out pretty great, and so many people at the show complimented them! I’m thinking of using them in the studio too.

This is actually a sneak peak of something that will be revealed in the next couple weeks:

Love this guy:

2010 is starting to shape up to be an amazing year at Amanda Rae Photography! I can’t wait to see all the weddings come to life!

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I love Cirque Du Soleil. A LOT. I’ve been to so many shows now. Whenever we go to Vegas we try to fit one in, and whenever the traveling shows are in the area we have to go! This last weekend, we went to Kooza in Santa Monica. I love Santa Monica, I used to go down there all the time, now I’m an old grandma and all the traffic forces me to stay in Ventura County! Although, I must say LA traffic is surely creeping up this way. I must also say that I am now officially off topic. Cirque Du Soleil. Is. Awesome! The Kooza show was featured as being ON the Santa Monica Pier and I kept trying to figure out in my head how that was going to work because the pier is quite full already. Well, it’s slightly off to the side of the pier (how cool would it have been to actually be on the pier??) in the parking lot. Kooza was very good, but Mike and I both noticed how there seems to be a lot of emphasis on safety now, which is so boring! It was fun when you would watch the stunts without harnesses and nets and be like “OMG that guy could have totally died if he didn’t do that right!” But as always it was still a great show. I don’t want to give away too much because I know at least two people who are going to see it. I will say it was probably the greatest contortionist show I’ve ever seen and the greatest by far juggler. I’m pretty sure all four of these performers are part alien. Now, I know first hand that photography IS NOT ALLOWED IN CIRQUE DU SOLEIL…those guys are all over you in a second if you whip out a camera, even at intermission! So I don’t have any photos from inside but I do have some iPhone pics of us.

And here are a few pictures from past Cirque Du Soleil shows we’ve seen. This one is Alegria. We saw this one when we were out in New York a few years ago. Probably in 2005 or 2006. One of my favorites for sure. And the only soundtrack we ever purchased; the music was the best in this one. We still listen to it every so often. I can’t wait to see this one again.

Ok, so this so isn’t the best picture ever. My eyes look a little scary. But this was in the Revolution Bar waiting for LOVE. I’m sitting in the “u” of “Revolution” which I thought was pretty cool.

This is what Mike looks like every I saw “let me take this [touristy] picture of you.” So frustrating! LOOK LIKE YOU ENJOY LIFE, MAN!

I LOVED LOVE! My BF did not so much enjoy it, though, so take my recommendations with a grain of salt. I’m a huge Beatles fan. I want to see this one again eventually.

There was a lot of cool stuff to take pictures of waiting for LOVE.

KA. I loved KA. My sister didn’t like it that much. I did. There’s this thing that happens with the stage where you’re like WHOA!

This is just a picture of Mike in New York. Has nothing to do with Cirque Du Soleil but I accidentally pulled it when looking for Cirque pictures so I’m including it.

The first Cirque show I went to was Varekai and I still think it was one of my favorites. I went down with my niece, Tiara, to San Diego. Since I had never gone before I wasn’t sure if it was the kind of thing Mike would enjoy so I took Tiara and we both loved it. This one is in Russia right now, so I won’t be seeing it anytime soon, but I hope it makes it’s way over here again!

Mike and I have also seen Zumanity and Quidam but I can’t seem to find any pictures from these events. We paid for a luxury loveseat for Zumanity which was comfy, but overall we really didn’t enjoy that show very much. I really liked Quidam, they have these four young asian girls that do an AWESOME act…so talented! Every time I see a Cirque show I just imagine what the lives are like of these incredible performers and how awesome it is that they get to live out their passion at such an amazing venue. Maybe in the future I’ll break down all the Broadway shows I’ve seen. I love going to see great shows!!

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