Zelo Photography

Danielle + Sean – A San Clemente Engagement Session

Danielle + Sean are another example of a couple we never met until it was time for the engagement session, and they’re also another example of us hitting it off with total strangers, haha! We cruised up to San Clemente to shoot with Danielle + Sean and right away the laughs started happening…them and us. It’s such a joy for us when our couples are having fun with the session. It makes for great photos and and then before you know it, you’re all done! 🙂

Here are a few shots from Danielle + Sean’s session in San Clemente. Stick around and before long we’ll also have an awesome batch of photos from their wedding at The Condor’s Nest Ranch, an incredible ranch wedding venue in SoCal. Like what you see? Looking for a wedding photographer? Contact us and let’s share some laughs!

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Zelo Photography at Carmel Mountain Ranch Estate

We’ve been shooting weddings at Carmel Mountain Ranch Estate (formerly Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club) for at least a decade now. This awesome San Diego wedding venue is in our top 3 wedding venues we’ve shot at the most over the years. This past weekend (11-10-18) we photographed our last wedding of 2018 and it just so happened to be at Carmel Mountain Ranch Estate. As wedding photographers we all have our go-to shots, and when we work at a venue a lot we know what spots to hit for great photos. CMRE has a row of Italian Cypress trees by the parking lot that we use all the time….in the daylight.

We had said goodbye to our couple, Andrea & Andrew, our gear was packed and we were headed out to our truck. We’ve always thought about shooting at the cypress trees at night but for one reason or another we’ve never had the right opportunity. So as we were about to turn on the ignition we said to ourselves “it’s only 7:30….let’s see what it would look like.” So we unpacked some gear and as always, Dez was our quick test subject and one click of the shutter was all it took for us to decide “Yep. Tonight’s the night.”

We dashed back in and asked Andrea & Andrew if they were cool with doing one more photo and thankfully they were! Pleasantly surprised by the peace and quiet of the world outside the dance party, Andrea & Andrew enjoyed the cool night air and took their spots to become the subjects of what may very well be our favorite photo of all time from Carmel Mountain Ranch and we can’t believe it took us so long to do this photo. We’re so happy Andrea & Andrew were willing to pose one more time and we’re so happy to have had so many opportunities to work at Carmel Mountain Ranch Estate over the years. Here’s to a great 2018 and looking forward to a great 2019!

If you’re having a wedding at Carmel Mountain Ranch Estate, or anywhere else for that matter, we would be honored to capture your big day. Shoot us an inquiry and we can get the ball rolling. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

san diego’s best wedding photographer – wedding photography with style – zelo photography – creative lighting – awesome wedding photos

Bridal Bazaar Zelo Photography San Diego Wedding Photographers

Yesterday was a big day! If you were one of the trillions of people that came down to the San Diego Convention Center to check out the Bridal Bazaar, you’ll know what we mean! If you were one of the many many people that stopped by our booth and chatted with us, thank you so much!

We’ve been doing these bridal shows (local and out of town) for many years now. Having a great looking booth has always been important to us because as brides and grooms walk by being attacked by the other vendors, we like to sort of hang back and let our display and our images draw them in. There are so many different (sometimes strange) displays and booth setups at these shows and we want ours to stand out for all the right reasons. We received so many compliments on the overall booth design, our approach to interacting with attendees, and of course the images themselves. A lot of told people told us they liked how everybody in the photos looked like they were happy and having fun…like these were real moments. That’s because they are! 🙂

If you’re interested in having the COOL – CASUAL – CLASSIC style that tons of couples have already fallen in love with, we encourage you to contact us to get the ball rolling! Remember, when you hire us you get us. We’re Seth & Desiree Mondragon and we are Zelo Photography! We look forward to hearing from you!

Also be sure to follow us on Instagram here —> Zelo Photography on Instagram.

Also, if you liked our display wall and table, we custom built all of it ourselves and you can see more cool builds and project over at www.stuffsethmakes.com and follow that Instagram account here —> Stuff Seth Makes on Instagram.

Venues featured in our images and albums:

The Condor’s Nest Ranch in Pala, California
The Santaluz Club in San Diego, California
Carmel Mountain Ranch Estate in San Diego, California
Leo Carrillo Ranch in Carlsbad, California
Scripps Seaside Forum in La Jolla, California
Zenith Vineyards in Salem, Oregon
Cornerstone Sonoma in Sonoma, California
Green Acre Campus Pointe in La Jolla, California

Condors Nest Ranch In The Evening – Alyssa + Victor

Pala can get hot….like crazy hot, as was the case with a recent wedding we photographed at the Condor’s Nest Ranch (that wedding will be posted later this year). What’s great about shooting at The Condor’s Nest Ranch is that even on a hot day, the evening is very very pleasant. Alyssa + Victor will be celebrating their wedding here later this year and we can’t wait to do round two with them then. If you weren’t aware, Condor’s Nest couples are able to do their engagement session on the property if they’d like to. Now, we always like giving a little location variety between a couple’s engagement photos and their wedding photos, but when you’re shooting at an amazing venue like Condor’s Nest, we’re more than willing to make an exception. This gives us the opportunity to utilize some spots in this incredible evening light that we might not get the chance to do at the wedding because you know….wedding timelines can get off track from time to time.

As with so many of our couples, Alyssa & Victor gave us the ol’ excuse “we’re terrible at posing, we don’t know what to do with our hands”, haha!! We love hearing that because in a matter of minutes they were like pros. Being on that side of the camera is nothing to be afraid of. You just gotta trust us, be yourself and have a little fun. Everything is going to be fine! Oh, and if you find that you’re missing any of your organic lemons and oranges, it was probably Alyssa & Victor 🙂

So we hope you’ll enjoy this batch of images from Alyssa + Victor’s engagement session at The Condor’s Nest Ranch. If you’re getting married at the Ranch, we hope you’ll contact us about capturing a ton of fun and beautiful images. If you’re not getting married there, but are still interested in doing an engagement session there, we can put you in touch with Lisa to make the arrangements! Come see why so many couples love working with Zelo Photography 🙂

ENJOY!