Santa Barbara Wedding Photography, Boudoir and Newborn Photography, Timeless, Classic, Melissa Musgrove » Santa Barbara Wedding photographer, Melissa Musgrove captures and creates , timeless photographs with a fresh and modern approach to classic wedding photography.

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  • Welcome to my Blog!

    Hi! I'm Melissa, a Santa Barbara based Wedding and Portrait Photographer.
    As incredible as it is to capture spontaneous moments, I equally enjoy giving posing direction, and styling instruction, to create images you'll cherish for a lifetime.

    I bring that joy and enthusiasm to each of my photo shoots, be it wedding, portrait or pet.

    I hope you enjoy the photos and stories I've posted. Browse around, and then I'd love to hear from you.

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  • Featured Portrait

    • Boudoir ~ Click on Photo

Sunday, November 27, 2011 9:57 am

Rwanda Gorilla Trek

Posted inPersonal Work

This year has flown by. With the holidays fast approaching and a New Year around the corner, I decided to take a few minutes to reminisce.

I started the year in Rwanda. An absolutely beautiful Country. I had the glorious privilege to hike into the Virunga National Park and photograph gorillas in their natural habitat. It’s not an easy hike. The paths were made by our guide and his machete as we trekked.  It’s quite steep and a difficult hike to say the least. But ahhh the pay off.  We were told not to get closer than 25 feet of the Gorillas. No problem here. The average weight for a grown silver back is 400 pounds. I was happy to keep a safe distance. I was wondering if 25 feet was far enough. The thing is, the park belongs to the gorillas. And they wanted to get closer. We were told not to panic. And I didn’t. I thought to myself, if this is where it all ends, I’m already in heaven.

FYI~ One of the our guides was armed with a rifle in case he comes in contact with Gorilla poachers. Not to shoot gorillas.

Many thanks to Network for Africa. More on this wonderful organization in my next Rwanda post.

If you have any interest in a photo tour and trek of the Gorillas in Rwanda please let me know through my contact page.

Posted inPersonal Work
Saturday, November 26, 2011 12:48 pm

Best in the World

Posted inEvent Design,Personal Work

Congratulations to Colette and Kaitlin Lopez of LaFete Weddings for being selected as One of the World’s best planner and designer by Junebug Weddings.

Now couples everywhere will know what Santa Barbara Events Community has known all along!

Who in the world, did one of the world’s best planners and designers choose to photograph their head shots?

Me.

Well, maybe I chose them. In any case, it was a pleasure to photograph them.

A delight to work with them.

A blessing to call them dear friends.

Posted inEvent Design,Personal Work
Friday, November 25, 2011 8:39 am

Jersey Girl in Santa Barbara

Posted inDestination Wedding,Engagement,santa barbara wedding photographer

You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can’t take the Jersey out of the girl.  Yep, I’m a Jersey girl. In SB when I meet someone for the first time, inevitably they’ll say, “Where’s your “Joiseey” accent? I always chuckle to myself and think, even when I lived in New Jersey, I didn’t know anyone that spoke with a Joiseey accent. No Snooki here. I love living in Santa Barbara. Who wouldn’t? But there is no place like home, so I was over the moon delighted when I got a facebook message asking if I’d come home to photograph Laura and Saul’s wedding in New Jersey. My response, heck yeah! Laura and Saul flew out for a wedding in Santa Diego and drove up to Santa Barbara for their engagement session. We hit a few iconic Santa Barbara destinations and wrapped up the day with wine and tapas at The Wine Cask. It was a good day.

Posted inDestination Wedding,Engagement,santa barbara wedding photographerTags:
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 6:00 pm

How Sweet it Is

Posted inPersonal Work

Yummo-fantab-olicious-ness!

I love when Jessica asks me to photograph her sweet confections. Do I have to mention what I ask for payment? Check out her website and treat yourself to artisan style chocolates. I promise you have never had anything like them before.

www.jessicafosterconfections.com

Posted inPersonal Work
Saturday, November 5, 2011 3:00 pm

Wedding Weather Woes.

Posted inMontecito Country Club

There may have been clouds in the sky, but they didn’t cast a shadow on the joy family and friends were feeling at the Santa Barbara wedding of Lisette and Eron at the Montecito Country Club. Lindsey Hartsough of Magnolia Event Design couldn’t have planned a better wedding celebration. She put together an awesome team to create a dream wedding for Lisette and Eron. Nico from NLC Productions created a beautiful floral and table top design. Ashley and Christin from LunaBella Make up Art were fantastic in making Lisette feel extra special. Nothing like a live band to entertain your guests, and Modern Groove Alliance were fabulous! Some of the extra touches were a photobooth, cake pops and the burger bus that came at the end of the evening.

The only thing that wasn’t what we all had dreamed of was the weather. But Lisette and Eron had enough sunshine in their hearts to warm us all!

Click here to enjoy a slideshow of highlights.

Posted inMontecito Country Club