August 09, 2018

Haley + James

August 09, 2018/ Stephanie Portugal

Randomly sliding into strangers DM's and asking them to shoot just for fun is my absolute favorite. I had never met Haley + James before, but I'm so glad this worked out the way that it did. We actually had a lot of mutual friends in common we found out! We literally planned this session in like, 20 minutes! It went something like: "I love your vibe! do you drink beer? bring your boards and dress comfy!" and viola!; magic was made! Haley + James had the most chill I've ever felt during a session before. They didn't care that it started to rain or that the wind was blowing her hair in her face. These two have something incredibly special and I hope that the day they get engaged or married that I get the opportunity to photograph them again!

June 06, 2018

Brittany + Kevin | Hangar 21 Wedding | Fullerton, CA

June 06, 2018/ Hangar 21/ Stephanie Portugal

I'm going to start from the beginning, I'll keep it as short as possible though! I met Brittany + Kevin in a small coffee shop in Uptown Whittier in 2017 to discuss their wedding with me and to see if I was a good fit for them on their big day. I think we hit it off right away! Conversation was so easy and we're all equivalently goofy. Match made! Fast forward to their sweet engagement session up at the Griffith Observatory in LA, we got to chat and get to know each other even better and ever since I was literally counting down the days to their wedding!

Brittany + Kevin share their love for travel with all of their friends + family through this gorgeous set up of maps, globes + planes so what would be more fitting for them then to get married inside a hangar?! B + K have something so incredibly special. You don't need to spend much time with them to know that they're truly meant for one another, but I was lucky enough to have that opportunity. Aside from being [actual] soulmates, they also had the most epic Cinco de Mayo wedding with cerveza, a taco bar, palletas, mariachis, giant board games and of course, a churro truck. Ummmm, really quickly before I get to the photo part, those churros..... I STILL DREAM ABOUT THEM. Okay, I'm done ranting now I promise.

I absolutely loved everything about this day // I hope you enjoy it, too!

April 11, 2018

Alberta, Canada

April 11, 2018/ Stephanie Portugal

january-2018

I feel as if I'm always dragging my husband along on my wild travel ideas but to my surprise, he was actually excited about this one. let me note, even though he's not the trip planner in this relationship, he always has an amazing time and we both love traveling together. so much that we created the hashtag #nobabiesnoboundaries.

I have never seen snow fall in real life prior to these moments. yes, I cried. on our sweet 5 day adventure through Alberta, we visited both Calgary + Banff. we enjoyed a hockey game, flames vs kings (GKG! // we won in OT.), we drove 3 hours around the national park just to explore, almost had my drone taken away from me, partially hiked Johnston canyon (I was TOO cold), ate all da poutine, visited a brewery, took a gondola up to the top of a mountain, hiked some more, walked on a frozen lake, couldn't feel my toes for 5 days straight + had some of the best Indian food in my entire life.

see Alberta through my eyes;

enjoy!

and we're off! Air Canada was so great!! from the comfy seats to all the free movies + tv shows, they made our flight carefree.

if you know me at all, you'd know that this is so typical of me.

view from our room in Calgary, but just for the night before we head to see the Kings play the flames and leave for Banff at dawn

did I mention we had glass seats behind the Kings bench?

view from our hotel room at the Rimrock Resort in Banff

we found Bear Street Tavern! their specialty (besides pizza) was their pork belly mac n' cheese. it was 10/10 and I have tried recreating this dish at home many times since, it's not the same.

the pizza was also amazing and the way they eat it is with a chili honey drizzle. GAME CHANGER.

a boat house on the beautiful (and frozen) Lake Minnewanka

the self timer can often become your best friend on vacation

head smashed IPA. pretty good, better than I expected!

some fuel before our hike! crispy chick'n sandwich and poutine fries

when you realize you're hanging 7k feet above ground

we heard a lot of great things about Indian Curry House in downtown Banff, it did NOT dissapoint!

veggie biryani // SO. GOOD. — veggie biryani // SO. GOOD.

after this long + cold trip, hopping on a plane at 6:20am heading southbound to LAX is all I needed. I love traveling but there's nothing in the world like sleeping in your own bed when it's all said and done. I hope you enjoyed this one!

xx, Stephanie

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