On Friday we found out that our engagement shoot for Autumn and Chas was published on the site A Paper Proposal. Sarah Kohler wrote us up before her big move to Denver, which we really appreciate. Sarah said, “It seems only fitting that the week before I move from Los Angeles is the same week that I feature this “hip L.A.” couple’s engagement shoot by Barnett Lifestyles Photography.” Thank you Sarah!

It was such a wonderful day with Autumn and Chas at FIDM in Los Angeles and its so nice to have more people get to see it. And once again thanks to Adrienne Trewolla for the great makeup and styling!

You can read Sarah’s post here and follow A Paper Proposal on Twitter @apaperprosal

Winning Prize package will include 150 digitally printed wedding invitations and reply cards of your choice! There will be four lucky couples chosen to win! pingg will announce a new winner every Friday in the month of May.

Check out some of the great invitation packages you could win:

Here is how you enter!

1) Send your Save-the-Date cards or Engagement announcements on pingg.com.  Choose a design from pingg’s Wedding Collection, from your favorite designer or upload your own design.

2) Select “Wedding Invitation Giveaway” for your Event or Card Theme when you enter details.

3) Send to at least three recipients and You’re Entered to Win!

Eligibility for prize packages will end at 12:00am ET Friday, May 27th, 2011. All winners must be 18 years of age or older.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE CHANCES OF WINNING.

One winner will be randomly selected each Friday from the entries received. Claiming of prizes requires an email response to pingg from the winning sender email address. Winner may forfeit any and all winnings if verification cannot or has not been made within 7 days.

I just thought this was a great opportunity to win something great, but also let brides and grooms know about how cool pingg is in the first place. Enjoy!!

Here is a very cute, fun engagement shoot I did for my friend Autumn and her fiance, Chas! We went to Downtown L.A. and had a little fun around the FIDM Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising campus and park. Rain was in the forecast so I brought an umbrella, but luckily we missed a downpour and just used it as a prop. Since both Autumn and Chas are performers, they are really great in front of the camera. Makes my job easier! A big “Thank You” to Adrienne Trewolla for doing the beautiful makeup on this shoot.

Enjoy the Slideshow

So who doesn’t like cupcakes?

They are everywhere! But here is something cool and new to put around your cupcakes!

Dress My Cupcake makes these gorgeous little wrappers in a wide variety of styles and colors so that your cupcakes can look fashionable as well as yummy. They are perfect for weddings, as you can get any shade in the rainbow to match your color scheme. The wrappers are easy to use, they just fit around a cupcake that is already made and in its bakery paper.

So much prettier than what you usually get!

Thank you to Dress My Cupcake for sending me some wrappers, and a BIG thank you to Andrea at SUPERFINE BAKERY in Studio City, CA for making me some cupcakes to shoot!

Thats right you heard me right. Google got into the Wedding game by putting together a few of their much loved services like Picasa Web Albums, Google Docs, their newly acquire Picnik and Google Sites into Google Weddings. Its really a great way to share with everyone along the way from announcing the wedding, planning the wedding, and allowing all your friends have access on a special URL.

You can create a site and use themes that are already created for you, upload your pictures on Picasa, clean them up with Picnik and post them on your new site. Once again, like just about everything else Google has to offer us, its all free.

When you are planning the Big day you can go to Google docs and use their Wedding tools!

Browse through the Google Docs Wedding tools

• Wedding planner
• Address book
• Guest list
• Budget planner
• To-do list
• Seating chart
• Reception menu
• Music list

When you want to add more features to your planning try

More tools, more help

From customizable Google Maps to a new way to search for bridal shoes and dresses using Boutiques.com, there are many more Google products that can make the planning process faster, easier and more fun.

Just thought this was pretty cool worth passing along to all the new brides out there. Putting together a wedding costs money and free things like this are so helpful!

Greg — Barnett Lifestyles Photography in Tarzana, California

Then we sent the file off to Costco for a canvas print to be made. Costco did a great job, getting the canvas back to us quickly and looking really good. The project got a few hundred dollars at the auction, with that money going back to the school. I was happy that we did a great job, which always makes us look good. And of course it helped out the school, also good!

Also… got approval from the Daddy Man that Miss C can have a KITTEN! So she is very excited about that. Actually, if anyone in the L.A. area does have a kitten available, we would be interested. But just one please, Mommy does have allergies (achoo)!

Getting ready for the Holiday Portrait season as well. You know that the earlier you get this done the earlier you can get your holiday cards made, so call us. Right now, a $350.00 portrait session is $275.00 if booked before December 1st, 2010. That should still give you enough time to get cards ordered for the holidays. Come on, when was the last time you had a great family portrait? And I can do some individual shots as well, so that you have a good pic for Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Networking lunch today up at the Woodland Hills Country Club. Always a nice place to spend some time! Have a great week!

We recently got together with Danielle and Zach for an engagement shoot in Redondo Beach, California. Now the funny thing about L.A. beaches is that they are often overcast. So we took our time waiting for some pretty light to happen on the Redondo Beach Pier. And what better place to wait around than in a friendly bar, just like Tony’s on the Pier! Great setting, I won’t even say “retro” because that place is exactly as it has been since 1952. The perfect place for a Classic Martini and a Mai Tai!

The light was starting to improve outdoors, and we got some of that golden glow that we wanted for an engagement portrait. Danielle and Zach were relaxed and easy to work with, and it shows in the photos. We can’t wait to shoot their upcoming wedding at The Walnut Grove at Tierra Rejada Ranch in Moorpark, California.

Michael John and me after my hair cut and color *yay*

Michael John Derricott
MJ Hair Salon
310.659.8877
912 north la cienega boulevard
suite c
west hollywood, california 90069

Friday we appeared in “People in the News” in Valley New group‘s “Warner Center News” & “Valley Vantage” announcing our launch for our new Photography division Barnett Lifestyles that specializes in Wedding, Event & Portrait photography and our “Economic Wedding Stimulus” package.

Every wedding booked before Tax Day will receive a complimentary Engagement photo session – 2 hours of photo time. Thank you Kathleen for publishing this.