Full disclosure: the groom-to-be from this shoot is my brother. I was honored that he and his wonderful fiance, Ye Ran, allowed me to photograph their engagement at the beautiful Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, CA.

Hakone gardens is one of the more beautiful locations for weddings in the bay area, which made my job of producing beautiful engagement photos there much easier. At more than 18 acres, there was ample diversity in the types of shots we were able to capture. When doing shoots like these, oftentimes my challenge is producing a wide range of looks, so that the final images don't end up looking the same. To overcome this, I will usually ask the couple to bring multiple outfits, so they can do one or more wardrobe changes during the shoot. I will sometimes also scout for secondary sites near the primary shoot location that we can use, to change it up a bit. That wasn't necessary at Hakone. From the bridge over the koi pond, to the waterfall, to the beautiful zen and tea gardens, Hakone is a photographers dream.

My wife Caitlin and I were so happy when we had heard that Jason and Ye Ran were engaged. We both absolutely love Ye Ran, and we could see how happy Jason was with her, so we had been pulling for them to get married for some time. In fact, back in September of 2011, Jason and I were chatting online, and I told him how much Caitlin and I liked Ye Ran, and asked him when he was going to ask her to marry him. His reply to me was that he'd ask her to marry him, after I made him an uncle. Little did he know, a few weeks before, Caitlin and I had found out that we were expecting our first baby, but had not shared that information with the family yet. So, a few weeks later, when we got together with everyone to tell them the exciting news, I leaned over to Jason and told him that I had held up my end of the deal, so he was next! :-)

Six months later, they were engaged!

Matt and Laurel are a wonderful couple, and I'm so happy that they allowed me to photograph their engagement session at the beautiful Picchetti Winery in Cupertino. I had actually been to Picchetti several times before (I used to be a member of their wine club), but it had been a while, so I decided to take a quick visit there to get it fresh in my mind and start planning the types of shots and poses I wanted to do with Matt and Laurel. Oftentimes, the couple has an idea of what type of shots they'd like, which makes my job as the photographer a little easier, but I still like to go in with a plan, even if we end up completely abandoning it. Another thing that I like to suggest is having the couple bring multiple outfits to change into. As you can see, Laurel was able to achieve 3 completely different looks, with very little wardrobe change.

If you know anything about Picchetti, you'll know that they're known locally for all of the peacocks that roam the grounds. Unfortunately, one this day, there was only one roaming around, and while he was male, he wasn't sharing his plume with us. There were quite a few chickens, however, and one even decided to make an appearance in our photo shoot (see below). After about an hour at Picchetti, we finished up and headed to downtown Saratoga to take some photographs among the beautiful storefronts and scenery along Big Basin Way.

Matt and Laurel were so much fun to work with, and I wish them many years of happiness together. Congratulations to you both!