Mimi Nguyen | The Blog

Photography blog of Mimi Nguyen | Mimi Nguyen is an international family, wedding + lifestyle photographer & destination weddings photographer based in Southern California and New York City // new york city wedding photographer, brooklyn wedding photographer, nyc wedding photographer, southern california wedding photographer, manhattan wedding photographer, san francisco wedding photographer, los angeles wedding photographer, new york wedding photographer, nyc lifestyle photographer, brooklyn lifestyle photographer, orange county wedding photographer, orange county family photographer, irvine family photographer, newport beach family photographer, laguna beach family photographer, southern california family photographer, northern california family photographer, socal family photographer, nyc family photographer, new york city family photographer

welcome to my blog!

My family & friends know that no matter where I go, I always carry a camera.

I believe that there is a story to capture in every moment...whether it is in an expression, an intimate look between a couple, a shared laugh among friends or a twinkle in the eye. Some of the most memorable photographs are the ones that are most natural, which leads to my photojournalistic approach when it comes to weddings & sessions. I love watching the day unfold. Anais Nin once said, "We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection." If only she knew that photography would allow for the same.

I am also greatly influenced by fashion photography, so a lot of this inspiration shows in my work. My background in arts & design also contributes in large part to my style and aesthetics.

My aim is to give clients a sense of who they are & what makes their relationships extraordinary, all while having a fun time doing it! Perhaps they will see me through the photographs as well: a bit of spunk, boldness, chic + fun! At the very least, clients will be able to laugh at my awesome jokes! =)

Life moves at an incredibly fast pace, so I feel incredibly lucky to be able to freeze little moments in time. I feel very blessed to do what I love & love what I do, and I hope my passion and skills for photography and design show in my work!

I would love to hear from you! Please send me an email or use the form through the contact page to tell me more about yourself & what you are seeking. I look forward to connecting with you!

- Mimi

Aug 16 2011

ann + johnny | engagement | san juan capistrano

posted in engagements

ann & johnny met at a church retreat a few years ago and they are now getting married! they live in houston, texas and were in town to visit family & friends and contacted to see if i could fit in a last minute engagement session for them. johnny and i have been friends for over 12 years but since he moved to houston several years ago, i haven’t seen him since. we met over coffee/tea and talked about locations and details of the session. afterwards, i took them to 85°C bakery cafe in irvine. my favorite is the garlic cheese bread…yum…now i’m craving one. mMmmm.

anyway, back to the session…first, we headed out to caspers wilderness park in san juan capistrano. i love this park but there are so many bugs! [psa – put on some bug spray before heading here. seriously.] after caspers, we drove to a nearby orange grove since one of ann & johnny’s wedding colors is orange. to end the session, we went to the historic los rios district.

here are a few of my favorites of our session together.

hair & makeup: lulu nguyen

check out ann & johnny’s lovely slideshow here or below:

tags: caspers wilderness park, caspers wilderness park engagement, dolled up by lulu, los rios district, los rios district engagement, lulu nguyen, lulu nguyen makeup artist, mimi nguyen, mimi nguyen photography, nature engagement, orange county engagement photographer, orange county engagement session, orange county engagement sessions, orange county photographer, orange grove, outdoor nature session, san juan capistrano engagement, san juan capistrano photographer, vintage engagement sessions

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Aug 14 2011

out of office | chicago

posted in personal, travel

i will be out of the office starting tomorrow, monday, august 15th until thursday, august 18th, 2011. once i come back from my trip, i’ll be heading to san diego for marci & brian‘s wedding and will reply to all emails on monday.

i’ll share my adventure to chicago once I get back into town but in the meantime, here’s a teaser from the next scheduled entry…have a great week! =)

xoxo

tags: chicago, out of office, travels

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Aug 12 2011

travels | florence italy

posted in personal, travel

ciao amici!

my favorite of all the cities we visited…firenze! florence was our 4th stop on our european adventure.

we stayed at hotel alessandra and the location was perfect! it is centrally located to anywhere you want to go in florence. our taxi driver recommended a few restaurant suggestions as did the hotel concierge but both places were closed. boo. we ended up eating at a cafe near the duomo before our visit to the accademia.

i would suggest booking all your tours and activities beforehand since you get to skip the ridiculously long lines. we booked most of our activities and tours through viator and ones that weren’t available there directly on the activity/tour sites.

when i saw the mona lisa in paris, i was underwhelmed since the painting was kinda small. so when i saw the statue of david, i was in awe. it literally took my breath away. i was astonished by the amazing details and how gigantic the statue was…this is a definitely must see if you’re in florence.

we were walking around looking for a restaurant for dinner and stumbled upon la grotta guelfa and it did not disappoint. i had the best pesto dish and panna cotta ever. good thing we didn’t stop by the empty pizza joint we saw because we were so hungry.

the next day we went to santa croce to check out michelangelo’s tomb and the leather school. florence is known for their leather so i definitely had to get a purse! the leather school didn’t have any styles i liked so we headed over to the san lorenzo market. we didn’t find much there either so we headed over to the main shopping area and there was a outdoor market set up in a plaza and found a purse i really liked. i handed over my credit card to the merchant and he said “it’z a no good” which caught me off guard since i only used credit card a few times in barcelona and paris and mostly used euros. i gave him another card to purchase the bag for €70 and went back to the hotel to use the internet to check on my credit card…and it was confirmed that my credit card number was stolen. the theft went on a spree in paris and london. they had maxed out my credit card within 2 days! i was lucky to find out while i was still in italy and the credit card company immediately closed my account and issued a new one along with an investigation. if i hadn’t tried to purchase a purse, i don’t think i would’ve found out about the credit card until i had gotten home from the trip. it was also a good thing that i brought along two credit cards and my “travel debit card”. my lowest credit limit card to use, an emergency credit card and i transfer money into my “travel” bank account. i didn’t let it ruin our stay so we went out and enjoyed a night of shopping, sight seeing and eating. =)

ponte vecchio

santa croce

san lorenzo market

the statue of david…amazing!

gelato on a stick

dinner at my favorite florence restaurant, la grotta guelfa

i crave this pesto dish…SO GOOD!!!

spicy spaghetti

and the best panna cotta EVER

note: all of the photos were taken with a leica. =)

tags: Accademia Gallery, accademia museum, Basilica di Santa Croce, europe, firenze, florence italy, hotel alessandra, la grotta guelfa, Michelangelo's David, mimi nguyen, mimi nguyen photography, panna cotta, ponte vecchio, san lorenzo market, statue of david, travels, tuscany

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Aug 10 2011

kim + parker | wedding | long beach museum of art

posted in slideshow, weddings

kim + parker = married! kim teaches art while parker teaches math [two of my favorite subjects! =)]. they met at the school they teach at in san francisco 3 years ago [one of my favorite cities =P]. kim had contacted me about her wedding and her name looked so familiar to me. i emailed her and asked if she had gone to fulton middle school and she replied, “yes!” haha. it’s crazy how small this world is. it was great to a familiar face and see the happiness in her life.

kim & parker added cute touches of being a teacher with a flair of ’50’s vintage at their wedding at the long beach museum of art. here are a few of my favorites and be sure to check out the slideshow at the end! =)

the maid of honor hand-made a cute ring bearer pillow of kim & parker’s dog

check out their awesome slideshow here or below!

venue: long beach museum of art
dress: vivien of holloway
suit: theory
florist: nisie’s enchanted florist
caterer: claire’s at the museum
cupcakes: french’s bakery
photographer: mimi nguyen
2nd photographer: sandra pan
assistant: john dinh

tags: claire's at the museum, claire's cafe, french's bakery, long beach museum of art, long beach museum of art weddings, long beach wedding, long beach wedding photographer, los angeles wedding photographer, musuem weddings, nisie's enchanged florist, orange county wedding photographer, outdoor wedding, taft street winery, vivien of holloway

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Aug 08 2011

melita + alek | family | laguna beach

posted in family, rugrats

adorable aleksander. alek for short. i’ve been so honored to capture him since two weeks old and can’t wait to capture his 1st birthday in october! here are a few of my favorites of him [at 9 months] with his awesome mama, melita.