Welcome to the Bouchér's Wedding Blog, so glad to have ya! We'd love for you to stay connected by subscribing to our Blog's RSS FEED so you can keep up on all the latest happenings, shoots and all things Bouchér related. While you're here be sure to leave a comment, we'd love to hear from you!
Marissa and I are a husband and wife team who own a Wedding & Boudoir photography studio based out of sunny San Diego, CA. Marissa and I have been blessed with a thriving business whose infancy began over 10 years ago and went full time all but 6 years ago in a small garage stall. Since then Bouchér has grown into a 4500 sq/ft studio with 3 wonderful employees of which include the lovely Crystal Carr (Studio Manager/Boudoir Photographer), Deena Cormier (Boudoir Photographer/Production) and Yuliana Cerda (Concierge to Bouchér Clients). The two of us have been happily married a little over 6 years now and began as high school sweethearts over 12 years ago. Our family is still rather small at a total count of 4 beings. Me, 'Riss, and our hairy kids Puddy & Elaine (our little Boston Terriers w/Seinfeld inspired names). Our passions and interests include our faith, travel, music, good books, nature, health/fitness, red wines, food, and global/local charitable organizations.
We'd like to recognize God and all our family and friends for their support over the years as well as all our clients who have been such a true pleasure to work with and who continue to impress us as human beings. Marissa and I can't thank you enough for stopping by and hope you check back in on us often!
We came across a really interesting piece of art at Seaport Village made up of curved iron beams and just had to shoot with it. Marissa and I were pretty excited about the shots and have to commend Rhea and Djem for doing such a great job interacting with such a funky backdrop. Seaport Village actually doesn’t allow professional photography of any kind but we somehow manage to shoot there time and again unscathed! Oh now I’ve gone and said it, what a dope…I just realized we have an another engagement shoot tonight at Seaport Village!!! Knock on wood.
*Rhea, Djem, Family, Friends, and Vendors feel free to right click and save images for online use such as myspace, facebook, etc. NOTE: Copyright terms state that “Bouchér” watermark must remain on image. Images are low-res, not for print use, and are electronically embedded with copyright law protection.
Although we shoot at Balboa Park quite often, we were stoked to find a couple new spots while exploring with Kurstin & Nick. The sun went down rather quick so we also had more time for night shots with our video light. We did some backlighting with it and were pretty excited with the outcome of the rim-lit effect combined with Balboa Park’s street lamps. Kurstin and Nick ended up going with one of our Engagement Guestbooks which features about 20 pages of custom layouts that include shots from the engagement session with layout space available for wedding guests to leave a personal message for the bride and groom with a sharpie. We actually just shot Kurstin & Nick’s wedding last Saturday and countless people went out of their way to tell us how much they loved the guestbook album idea; even the caterers. They’re always a hit! ;p
*Kurstin, Nick, Family, Friends, and Vendors feel free to right click and save images for online use such as myspace, facebook, etc. NOTE: Copyright terms state that “Bouchér” watermark must remain on image. Images are low-res, not for print use, and are electronically embedded with copyright law protection.
We had some fun walking around and shooting on Prospect in La Jolla with Val & Rob. Tourists always love seeing a bride and groom and never hesitate to snap a bunch of shots even though they have no idea who they are haha. Be sure to check out the following slideshow link for 90+ more shots from the day…
The only thing that’s tough for me when shooting on Prospect is passing by the Haagen Dazs shop with two cameras in my hand instead of being double-fisted with two ice cream cones. Speaking of ice cream, am I the only one out there who is ravenous for bubble gum ice cream? I actually had a word with our local grocer last night about requesting that they stock Breyer’s Bubble Yum Bubble Gum Ice Cream. They told me to find the UPC code, then to put in a request and they’ll try to get it. I’ll keep you posted as I’m sure you’re all insanely curious about the outcome ;p. I’m a total health nut but I do have my weaknesses. Luckily this specific flavor is surprisingly low fat/low calorie. Ok, this is dumb, gotta go.
*Val, Rob, Family, Friends, and Vendors feel free to right click and save images for online use such as myspace, facebook, etc. NOTE: Copyright terms state that “Bouchér” watermark must remain on image. Images are low-res, not for print use, and are electronically embedded with copyright law protection.
Here are some of our favorite shots from Denica & Andrew’s wedding. Definitely check out the slideshow link below for over 90+ more images from that day!
Wow…Marissa and I seriously had such a good time with this shoot. I remember being waist deep in the ocean with dress pants on and all my gear thinking…these shots will be worth possibly soaking our gear in saltwater…so just keep shooting! Marissa and I were just looking over the images a minute ago before posting and we were wishing we had a shot of us in the ocean like this first image. For those of you who don’t know, the ocean is her first love in life, I’m a close second
Ellyn & Matt are actually from out of state but we were lucky enough to cross paths with them when Matt decided to follow up on an article about pro surfer Sunny Garcia’s recent wedding. After some googling, Matt came across our engagement shoot with Sunny & Colleen, loved the look of the shoot, and gave us a call. We’re so stoked that Ellyn & Matt made it out to San Diego for the shoot as we couldn’t be happier with the turnout. Ellyn & Matt were a true pleasure to work with as they went with anything and everything we threw at them and really stepped up to just enjoy the whole experience.
Alright you guys, this is probably one of my *favorite* shoots you guys have done, ever Seriously awesome work. You’ve officially raised the bar for incredible beach portraits
FROM ELLYN & MATT (The actual couple): Hi!
We don’t know where to start. They are all amazing, and better than we could even imagine. Ok so we like them, I think I said that. We had so much fun that day with you guys. It is great to hear and see the excitement in people’s comments and voices when we show them our shots. They just go nuts. Everyone comments on how they all look like fashion ads. Thats just what we were looking for. You guys did it. ELLYN & MATT
ho…ly….wow. these are unbeeeeeleavable! i’m in awe. seriously. I gasped when i saw each one. ok, it helps that these people are incredibly beautiful. but, wow. I’m sure during each session that you hope for a few a of those “wow” shots. It looks like you got ALL “wow” shots.
Oh my goodness, we dressed Bentley up in the Piarate costume this halloween. We will have to show you those pictures. My sisiter got married on Haloween and he was “Captin Hook” and George was Peter Pan!! we found a different hat that had long black curly hair. Too Funny!!
Is it time to have your family photos taken!?! As much as Weston and would love to photograph families we find that we have our hands full with weddings and boudoir. Time and time again we refer all of our clients to wonderful children and family photographers. Well, here is another! Wendy Newman, the president of Arizona PPA will be in San Diego to do beach portraits June 23-29th. She is a wonderful friend and photographer and we are sure that you will love your session.Visit her blog to learn more about her beautiful beach sessions.
When you book an Engagement Session with BOUCHÉR, you receive a complimentary 12×18 enlargement. We can frame and matte this for you to create a polished piece ready to be displayed in your home. You can also show off your new art piece at your wedding reception. You an choose from a black or off-white matte board. The off-white matte board can serve perfectly as a guest signing board!
To view more of the Boucher’s work, check out: www.boucherphotography.com
Call today for more information about our Wedding and Engagement services! (858) 485-0443
So the end of our big Europe trip comes to a close with our 2 last days spent in the amazing city of London. We started off with our typical approach of taking the open top red bus tour considering that we had such a short time in the city and wanted to see as much as possible. Again I still feel like no matter how touristy the bus tours are, they’re perfect for sightseeing comfortably with an audio track of history and give you the option of getting on and off at all the best spots in the city whenever you like. It beats planning out a metro tour or taking taxis by a mile and costs hardly anything in comparison.
London completely lived up to all the news reports about having a ridiculous amount of security cameras in every square inch of the city. I definitely felt safer though in terms of security, but it’s still a strange feeling to know that someone is always watching hehe.
After riding the bus tour for the day we decided to follow up on the free Thames River cruise tickets that were included in our bus tour. That was pretty cool but since it was overcast all day, it was a bit chilly. After the cruise we went for a sky ride on the famous London Eye. It’s basically a monstrous ferris wheel with huge capsule-shaped, glass-enclosed cabins that give you an incredible view of London. This is where we took yet another one of our ridiculous band member shots. You may have noticed that in quite a few posts from this trip that there have been a series of us making an attempt at lame band member shots as well as me and Brian’s large, fake food-eating series.
Oh and FYI, the battle ship shown in front of the Tower Bridge was in service on D-Day in Normandy so that was a cool sighting since we had just come from Omaha Beach a day earlier.
because i don’t want to be a comment wh**e, i’m just gonna leave 1 here.
OMYGOSH.OMYGOSH.GASP.GASP.SIGH.SIGH…all of these images are absolutely incredible.
i’m so stoked (and a wee bite envious:) that you all had an amazing trip!! hope to you see you soon…
Adriana Ramirez -
I’m sooooo glad to see that your trip was awesome! I was looking forward to see all the great pictures! Hope to see you all soon!
Love,
Adriana
So after checking out of our bed & breakfast in Bruges, we decided to rent a car (WARNING…Don’t rent through Europcar!) to go on a road trip along Northern France. Let me tell you, driving in France is pretty odd when you can’t translate road signs at 100km an hour or when you’re making your 5th circle inside one of the many roundabouts. Luckily they do drive on the same side of the road and stay out of each other’s way. Literally if you are in the fast lane on one of the many 2 lane freeways and you aren’t going fast enough, they will ride your bumper so close that you can feel their breath on the back of your neck. And it’s totally common, nothing personal as I watched everyone do the same thing to each other. Just get over, and let them zip by. It was also nice having my wingman Brian doing the human navigation so I didn’t end up in Barcelona by mistake.
We had a couple destinations ready and just figured we’d take in the countryside along the way and make it up as we went along. First stop, Honfleur. This little gem was revealed to us by the friendly staff at Hotel Fevery in Bruges and we were not disappointed. Honfleur has cobblestone streets lining a small harbor of sailboats and it was much less touristy than any other stop on our entire trip. We ate at a local jazz club/restaurant and listened to one of the best little jazz acts I’ve ever heard. I’m hoping to post some HD footage taken with our new Canon 5D Mark II in the near future in which the jazz band is featured.
After Honfleur we kept driving east to a small area called Carantan in which we had a bed & breakfast reservation. Kimee found us this amazing farmhouse estate tucked away in the middle of nowhere that was seriously fairytale-like (it’s the shots of the farmhouse with a reddish orange sunset). We were extremely relieved to finally arrive because we had become a little lost and accidentally pulled up to another estate that had an incredibly angry large boxer dog awaiting us at the doorstep. We eventually ran into the groundskeeper and his wife, who were near 90 years old and knew zero English. So through a ton of hand gestures and nodding he was able to point us to our actual lodging down the street. Damien & Steve run the bed & breakfast and were seriously incredible hosts. They went out of their way upon arrival to make us feel at home. They also spent tons of time on the internet trying to sort out our Europcar rental issues. They also make a killer breakfast menu. Be sure to look them up at La Mare Palu on tripadvisor.com.
Along the way on our road trip Marissa and Kimee noticed a beautiful field so we pulled over, played in it like children and grabbed a few shots while we took in the view.
We were on our way to Mont St. Michel next. It’s actually the second most visited place in all of France aside from the Eiffel Tower. You may have seen a feature that was done on Mont St. Michel on PBS by travel guru Rick Steves. It’s this amazing castle-like city built on a formation of granite which is surrounded by the ocean at high tide. WOW, what a sight. Even when we were just seeing it from a distance along the highway, it was almost like you had to blink because it looked so surreal. The Mont St Michel link above has tons of info from wikipedia so be sure to check that out.
Next stop, Normandy. We decided to watch “Saving Private Ryan” the night before leaving for Omaha Beach, Normandy. It’s honestly almost too difficult to take in the magnitude of what took place once you’re actually on Normandy’s coast. Though once you see some of the monuments with actual soldier’s names engraved on them you start to scratch the surface as to how important D-Day was for the entire world. You’ll see a shot of me standing in one of the countless craters that were created by all the bombing in 1940. We can’t tell you how bummed we were that we missed the American Cemetary by a matter of minutes before closing it’s gates; ugh! If you haven’t been to Europe before, just know that places close early everywhere so be the early bird for sightseeing and be sure to get whatever you need before lunch time as almost all businesses also close up for about an hour and a half.
BE SURE TO WATCH THE FLICKR SLIDESHOW AS IT HAS TONS MORE SHOTS NOT INCLUDED IN THE POSTED GALLERY!
Here are some shots from our stop in Bruges while over in Europe a week ago. Brian and I were especially excited to see the city as we’re big fans of the hilarious dark comedy, In Bruges, with Colin Farrell. If you haven’t seen it yet, definitely add it on your netflix queue. Weird movie, but funny as Colin Farrell one a golden globe for his comedic role in the film.
Bruges is often referred to as another version of Venice. I can see the resemblance but it’s definitely much different in terms of the vibe, look of the buildings and the locals. The food was outstanding along with the famous belgian chocolate and beer. You can pretty much walk anywhere in Bruges as it’s super small. Kimee found a bed and breakfast that worked out really well; Hotel Fevery was the name. We walked all over the city, took a boat tour, and climbed 366 steps up the famous Belfry Tower; which was built in 1240! On our last night there we actually found an underground Irish Pub that was a serious gem. The place was packed and had a live duo that was playing all of Marissa favorite songs. This was one of my favorite nights by far. Later that night we actually found a dance club that was packed and goin’ off. In Bruges of all places! We couldn’t stay long though as it was too packed to bend your elbows. Was funny hearing all the Belgians singing along with American songs and dancing club style to even songs like “Twist and Shout” lol.
Oh props to Brian for taking some sweet shots of me and Riss, thanks brotha! Oh and that’s Brian behind the medieval caged hole LOL.
While in Paris we decided to take the metro and do a day trip to the Palace of Versailles. Once we got there we were in complete awe of the size of both the Palace and grounds themselves. The property is massive. The Palace has an incredible history as Louis XVI & XIV along with Marie-Antoinette resided and walked these grounds so many years ago. From Wikipedia…”The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.”
Kimberlee West (one of the Boudoir Divas) offered to take some shots of Marissa and I while at the Palace so we couldn’t resist since she’s an awesome photographer and we haven’t had any pro shots in quite a while. Thanks Kimee, they turned out sooooooooooo good! I love the look of the shots.
The four of us had such a good time walking the grounds and taking in all the history. To clarify, the four of us being Weston, Marissa, Kimee and Brian. Not sure if I mentioned this in a prior post but Brian is one of my best friends from way back in Elementary school. No…to answer your possible question, Kimee and Brian are strictly friends, period. :). Believe me, I should know since I slept alongside Brian for almost 15 nights on our trip. The most hilarious part about it is that he said he had to regularly push me to the other side of the bed because in my state of slumber I must have thought he was Marissa and tried to snuggle LOL. Sorry bro, I know my beard stubble and leg hair must have given you the creeps.
While at the Palace of Versailles, we eventually came across a huge body of water on the property in which you can rent a small row boat for only 11 euro. This was definitely one of the highlights of our entire trip. The beauty of this place is indescribeable.
Marissa was lovin’ this outing in particular because she’s a huge fan of period films and was already a big fan of the Marie-Antoinette movie directed by Sophia Coppola. It was kind of cool too because we actually saw the movie the last time we were in France at a local theater in Nice before it was released in the U.S. Oh and the shot with all four of us jumping, only three of us got the timing right…my bad. There’s some additional shots in a flickr slideshow at the end of this post so be sure to check those out too.
I love all of these, but I absolutely adore the one Kimee took of the two of you with the sun flare!
Wish I would have stayed long enough to visit Versailles this trip, It’s one of my top three favorite places ever visited, guess I’ll just have to wait until my next Divas Paris workshop
Here’s some more shots from our recent trip to Europe…specifically Paris. Included are shots of the famous Louvre Museum, The Arc De Triomphe, Eiffel Tower and as always tons of couples making out in the streets beside their Vespas, lol. The city of Paris is littered with history and some of the most amazing structures you’ll ever witness. I also took a shot of a news kiosk with Barack Obama on the front because I was amazed at how relevant the U.S. is in Europe. I saw more photos and heard more news on our country and government than I ever imagined.
Much, much more to come including Bruges, Belgium, Northern France, and London…Stay tuned!
Oh now I’ve gone and said it, what a dope…I just realized we have an another engagement shoot tonight at Seaport Village!!! Knock on wood.
Seriously awesome work. You’ve officially raised the bar for incredible beach portraits 
Love the shot of the fan and the rings.
stunning work!! You guys are such an inspiration