• Welcome to the Suite M Photography Blog!

    Hi, my name is Brian Hamilton and I am the owner and head photographer of Suite M Photography. Suite M Photography specializes in wedding and event photography throughout Southern California. Located in Costa Mesa, our studio includes a small team of professional photographers, videographers, and staff. The studio has photographed weddings and events at most of the major venues throughout Orange County and Los Angeles County. In this blog we will show you some of our most recent wedding and events (with the occasional portrait of one of my kids thrown in) and help you get to know the studio a little better. If you have any questions, please contact us at the tab above. Be sure to also check out our portfolio site to see more of our work and to find out about our services. I look forward to taking your picture!!

    Sincerely,

    Brian Hamilton

St. Regis Wedding – Wine Cellar Reception

Even though the  St. Regis Monarch Beach is a large resort, they can do small weddings exceptionally well. I recently photographed a small (10 people total) destination wedding at the St. Regis with Ruth Wang of  Plan to Perfection. The ceremony was in the beautiful Botanical Garden and the reception took place in the intimate Wine Cellar. Keith J. Laverty did an amazing job with the floral design (purple, pinks, & silver). Even in January, Southern California is a great place to have an outdoor wedding. And a small outdoor wedding at the St. Regis is a location everyone should consider.

Enjoy!

Serra Plaza Wedding – Seif & Hala

Seif & Hala are so sweet and it was such a pleasure capturing some of that sweetness at their wedding. From the hand written note, special gift, flowers, and the hand kiss Seif gave to Hala before the wedding, to the touching speeches about the couple from their loving family members at the reception, Seif and Hala really had a story book wedding. The first look was a very special moment and then we had some fun playing at the San Juan Capistrano Train Station.  The day went off without a hitch, thanks in part to Mary from the Serra Plaza (San Juan Capistrano). I love so many of their pictures and here are just some of my favorites.

Enjoy!

Getting Ready in Black & White – Montage Wedding Photographer

I had the pleasure of photographing Gemma and Tom’s wedding this year at the Montage Laguna Beach. It was a small, but beautiful wedding coordinated by Paula Laskelle of Champagne Taste. The ceremony was on the studio lawn with the reception at the Studio Restaurant (the food was amazing). Sometimes I like to go back through my weddings and pull out images from a specific section of the day. Then I will take those images and artwork them so that they are related in some way. At every wedding I photograph, I take a lot of detail shots. Details help tell the story of the couple’s wedding day (which is especially important when I am designing their wedding album). In this blog post I have included only pictures from the time before the wedding. Included are detail shots and some less traditional photos of Gemma and Tom. I decided to treat all of the photos with a high contrast black and white post production. Black and white images are great for bringing the viewers attention to the main subject as well as making it easier to see compositional elements (lines, depth of field, texture, symmetry, and patterns). It is so enjoyable  photographing weddings. There are just some many elements (I details) I get to capture.

Enjoy!

 

Ritz – Laguna Niguel Wedding: Angela & Matt

Angela and Matt decided to have their destination wedding at the Ritz – Laguna Nigel. Matt is originally from Southern California, but he and Angela currently live in Chicago.  With beautiful weather they had their wedding ceremony on the Gazebo Lawn. Paula Laskelle of Champagne Taste was the wedding designer so of course every detail was perfect.  Angela and Matt were a very fun couple and it was a pleasure meeting their family and friends.  Speaking of fun, at the reception, I don’t think Angela missed a single song on the dance floor. In fact I think she “directed” a flash mob. Matt and Angela, I wish you the best and make sure you let me know when your back in SoCal. Some of the other fabulous vendors were: Florist: Paradise Delight; Ceremony Music: Enchanted Evening Productions; Reception DJ: Moondance Mobile Music; Rentals: Chiavari Chair Rentals.

 

Enjoy!

Ashley & Todd: Engagement Session in Santa Monica

Todd and Ashley grew up locally in Long Beach and met on the job at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Although they didn’t know it, they went to Millikan High School together. Even though my own high school was Millikan’s rival, we decided we should put aside our differences and have a fun night hanging out and taking some pictures.  Let me just say they were a very sweet and very fun couple. They were game for doing some goofy things, many of which they suggested. Below you will see just some of my favorites and I will give you a little inside into each picture with some commentary.

Enjoy!

A discussion on how to synchronize their jumps without injuring themselves.They look together.10!Extreme Close-up. Todd Checking out a cute girl on the pier.Watch out for the flying dragon.I won’t say who broke the plate and who didn’t.High quality churro as you can see by the expressions.Churro a la Lady and the Tramp.I always think of BIG when I see one of these things.It was a good fortune. Close one.Ashley almost fell backwards off the beam with a little nudge from Todd right after this shot.Look into my eyes. Can you see the passion?Since they met at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and he proposed in front of one, we had to take this picture in front of one.  It just seemed right!

 

Marriott Marina Del Ray Wedding: Dolores + George

It was a beautiful day in Southern California with Dolores and George. The following pictures are just a few of my favorites from their wedding and engagement session. The wedding ceremony took place at the gorgeous Saint Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles, and the reception was held at the Marriott Marina Del Ray. Eva Chiou of Red Velvet Occasions was the coordinator and it was a pleasure working with her and Alison. The engagement session took place at train station in San Juan Capistrano. As you will see by the following pictures, we had a really good time and it truly was a pleasure photographing them.

Enjoy!








L.A. Engagement Session – Seif & Hala

Seif lives in New York and Hala lives in San Francisco. They met in Washington D.C. and are getting married in Southern California. They definitely do a lot of traveling and enjoy the city landscape. So we decided to do their engagement session in the heart of Los Angeles. We spent around 4 hours together and not only got some great shots, but we got to hang out and learn a little more about each other.  As you will see, it was easy to capture their personalities and connection. I can’t wait for their wedding in a couple of months.

Enjoy!

Old Ranch Country Club – Denise & Cory’s Big Day

Every couple has their own personality.  There are couples who love the camera and taking pictures is fun for them.  There are couples that have never been photographed together or shared emotions publicly and at their engagement session or wedding they appear very stressed and uncomfortable.  Denise and Cory, are one of those couples that I love to photograph. They allowed us to see their love, and what they shared.  It’s rewarding as a photographer to see this.  You know that the wedding is about them, the love and respect that they have for each other and the life they are starting together.  The wedding is just the ceremony that starts it all.  It is easy to photograph couples like this.  You don’t have to create the emotions for them, they are just there.  I really enjoyed Denise and Cory’s engagement session and wedding day.  May God Bless their marriage!

Enjoy!

Sassy!AngelicThere were some characters in this group of guys.Old Ranch Country Club has a beautiful gazebo and ceremony location.Denise did a great job of looking up while walking down the stairs. That’s a hard thing to do.Guess who Denise is looking at.This is one of my favorite pictures during the ceremony.I look a little tired. It was a pretty warm and long day, but I enjoyed every second of it.The next series of pictures shows some of the details of the day.Vendors: Old Ranch County Club, Marcia L. Johnson Florist Artistry, Musicians: JR Lewis (Essence Entertainment), DJ: Allan P. Cason (APC Entertainment)Officiant: Rev. Adrienne Zackery