Las Vegas Wedding Photographer Emily Ku

Welcome to my blog and please take a look at my galleries above! I love capturing memories with my camera and I drag my camera almost everywhere with me. I love getting to know people and showcasing their personalities in amazing photos!

I am a portrait and wedding photographer who resides in Las Vegas. Every once in a while, I'll documenting my travels and my life on the blog.

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(photo by Binita Patel Photography)

Posts Tagged ‘fall’

Children’s session at Chicago Botanic Garden

March 19, 2011

When I was in Chicago a few months ago, I was able to hang out with my good friend Tricia and her girls, who were the flower girls at my wedding! I love these girls and my how they’ve grown! They are bundles of energy (I’ve babysat them a few times and they always succeeded in wearing me out!), so we decided to hang out at the Chicago Botanic Garden so the kids could have plenty of space to run around and play. It’s a huge park and very well kept..not to mention really pretty! These are my favorite types of parks to shoot in! Tricia’s youngest daughter napped the entire time we were there, so I was only able to take pictures of her other two girls. The girls had lots of fun playing “botanical garden bingo”, where you get to place a sticker on every picture that you find in the botanical gardens. They were so into the game that I couldn’t pry it off their hands, so you see the bingo card in practically every picture. And then when they finally finished their bingo cards, they wanted to play it again haha!

Today is Tricia’s birthday too so happy birthday Tricia!!

These are some intense looks as she’s studying the bingo card.

My favorite image is the bottom left of her running and screaming. Ah so carefree!

Finally completed their bingo cards! They are so happy and proud!

Family picture with Tricia!

Tags: Chicago botanic garden, children's portraits, fall, Las Vegas children photography, Las Vegas portrait photographer, park
Posted in Lifestyle/Portraits | 3 Comments »

Jeanette + Steven married!

March 17, 2011

This is my last New England wedding left to blog! Emotionally it’s been very hard to blog this wedding, because this really signifies the end of my time in New England. Literally right after I shot this wedding, my husband and I packed up the car with our belongings and drove across the country to Nevada, where we now live. I really enjoyed living in Boston despite the long winter, meeting amazing couples, and photographing at equally amazing locations and venues. Jeanette and Steven are no exception! They had a beautiful wedding in picturesque New Hampshire, where the leaves were changing to stunning reds and oranges, then a reception at the Marriott.

Jeanette and Steven were planning their wedding from DC, so they booked me over the phone. I like meeting my couples before the wedding so I can really get to know them, but it’s not always possible, especially if they live in another state. But luckily I was in DC for a weekend for a friend’s wedding and was able to meet with both of them despite both of us having really crazy schedules! We had talked a bit over the phone already, so by the time we met in person, it was almost like meeting old friends for coffee. I found out that they met while both conducting research at the National Institutes for Health…then one thing led to another! Now Steven doing his residency anesthesiology while Jeanette pursues a MD/PhD. Talk about one smart couple!

This wedding touched my heart in so many ways. I thought that after photographing a certain number of weddings, they wouldn’t affect me as much, but I still get that warm fuzzy feeling during ceremonies. And this wedding was no different. I could really see and feel the love that Jeanette and Steven have for each other and for God. And I don’t Steven took his eyes off Jeanette the whole day! I have so many pictures that I want to share, so here goes!

My second shooter Karman Lee and I got up bright and early and started shooting at 8 AM since their wedding ceremony was in the morning. I started by taking getting ready pictures of the bride getting her hair and makeup done by her mother, who did a phenomenal job on her hair.

Meanwhile, Karman took pictures of the boys getting ready.

Jeanette and Steven decided to do a first look before heading off to the church, which I love! The fall leaves in the background were the perfect backdrop.

Jeanette looking and feeling so happy as we walk to the church!

I was hanging out with the bride before the wedding, while Karman went around to get some other shots, like of the cute flower girls and ring bearer. Aren’t they so cute! Everyone was really relaxed and having fun right before the ceremony.

I love getting a photo of the back of the dress as the bride walks down the aisle, but this can only happen with a second shooter!

Karman’s view of the first kiss

It was really windy and Jeanette’s veil was flying everywhere, but it can be really cool, like in this image.

Jeanette changed into a purple sash for the reception, which I thought was a great idea!

Speeches from the best man, maid of honor, and father of the bride.

Jeanette changed into her qipao (Chinese dress) for the first dance. Her qipao was made by her very talented aunt! I really like the color of her qipao too.

Having fun on the dance floor with the ring bearer!

Congratulations again Jeanette and Steven, and I can’t wait for your new little addition to your family!

Tags: fall, Las Vegas wedding photographer, New Hampshire, wedding
Posted in Weddings | 4 Comments »

Thanksgiving

November 30, 2009

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I equate Thanksgiving with fall, so I could not resist adding some gorgeous red maple leaves to this post! I loved maple trees ever since I was a child, so much that my father brought a sapling with us when we moved from Detroit to Baton Rouge. Then one day the cable guy accidentally ran over my tree when he was laying underground cable. I went from agitated to distraught when I realized that he accidentally replaced it with the wrong tree–a Southern sweet gum tree, which did not produce gum as I had hoped. Now almost twenty years later, I am living in the North again, and I had forgotten how truly beautiful maple trees are!

Thanksgiving did not go as planned as we had to cancel our trip to Chicago at the last minute due to a family emergency, so we ended up cooking dinner at home. I’ve experienced so much change this year that I don’t even know where to begin, and I would never have imagined that I’d have a photography blog that people actually read! Thank you so much to my readers for encouraging me to keep posting pictures!

We stick an aluminum tent over the turkey (thank you Alton Brown!) so the breast meat doesn’t dry out. It makes the turkey look like a superhero and give a whole new meaning to “dressing”!

Beautifully colored turkey!

I know this doesn’t look like much, but we are still trying to finish the leftovers!

Tags: fall, Food, leaves, Thanksgiving, turkey
Posted in Food, Nature | 1 Comment »

Vermont

November 11, 2009

A few weeks ago, some of my friends from DC flew up to Vermont for the weekend, so Frank and I drove up to see them. I was so excited because I was dreaming of taking photos of bright red maple leaves covering the Vermont hills, even though we were going a little past peak foliage season. When we got there, I was so disappointed because it rained all day Saturday and Sunday was too windy to go hiking. And I did not see a single maple tree with lush red leaves! Even though our plan to spend the whole weekend outdoors was scrapped, we still had lots of fun exploring Burlington and our trip quickly revolved around the local food. Vermont is filled with dairy farms, maple houses, cider mills, and so much more, so we ended up taking more factory tours than I’ve ever taken in my life (including Ben and Jerry’s, which will be featured in the next post)! Almost everything I eat over the weekend was tasted really fresh, and I love how the locals are so proud of their food that all the restaurants we went to mentions “locally grown in Vermont” in their menu whenever they can.

Frank was really nice and did all the driving, which leave me free to take pictures from inside the car.

We planned on hiking near Mt. Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont, only to find that there were no more leaves! Maybe I’ll come back in the winter for skiing.

Since it was raining, we decided to stay dry and visited the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center. It’s a fairly small aquarium, but they had lots of different frogs and turtles. We were lucky to catch a special tour of baby soft-shelled turtles, which was held in a special room that’s not open to the public. The baby turtles in the photo are four weeks old and are endangered, so the aquarium staff raise them over the winter where they become the size of four-year old turtles. Then they are released back into Lake Champlain. aquarium collage

Here’s a view of Lake Champlain.

Inside the Lake Champlain Chocolates store. They make amazing chocolates, and my jaw dropped upon entering the store when I saw the mouth-watering caramel apples and a over dozen different types of fudge! I was really disappointed to find out that their factory tours are only given M-F, but they do give out chocolate and hot chocolate samples in the store.

Next stop: Cabot cheese. They have so many different varieties of cheeses! I probably sampled close to twenty of them, and I don’t think I tried them all! I really enjoyed their extra sharp cheddar. They also make interesting specialty cheddars like “hot buffalo wing cheddar” and “horseradish cheddar.”

Now for beverages. Right now is apple season, so at Cold Hollow Cider Mill we got to see the workers use an old-fashioned cider press (I found out later on their website that they make cider year round). The leftover apple bits are sent to local farms and fed to livestock.

Finally, we visited a microbeer brewery called the Magic Hat Brewing Company. I was a little confused when we pulled up because the first thing I saw was this huge metal tower, and I didn’t believe this was a brewery until I went inside. The facility is decorated with lots of groovy modern art, and they have both guided and self-guided tours of the factory. Beer drinkers will love this place because you can sample nine different beers at the bar. I love their beer tap handles!

Tags: aquarium, Burlington, fall, Food, Nature, Vermont
Posted in Travel | 2 Comments »

The Lake

October 28, 2009

Earlier this month, Frank and I took a nice stroll around Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield, better known as The Lake by locals. The loop around the lake (~three miles) is really popular, and there are always walkers and joggers. For the foodie, my favorite muffin shop (which taste more like cupcakes because they add icing to some of them, yum!) is located along the lake called The Gingerbread Construction Co. It’s sad that it took us so long to visit the lake even though it’s a two minute drive from our house, but the mosquitos were really bad this summer, so I didn’t want to go. Guess what, the mosquitos are still alive and biting even in this weather! I was a little upset that I didn’t use bug spray, so we just walked faster.

The leaves are just starting to change color.

I don’t understand how these maple leaves bypass the yellow phase and turn from green straight to red, while some maple trees turn yellow, then orange, then red. They have to be different species right? Anyway, it looks so pretty!

I love how the little dog is staring at the big dog. He looks like he wants to go for a swim too but thinks the water is too cold.

I absolutely love water reflections and how peaceful the water is. Supposedly the lake isn’t suitable for swimming but it looks clean to me.

The lake at sunset. The sun’s reflection on the lake was blinding, but I couldn’t stop looking at it either!

Tags: fall, lake, Lake Quannapowitt, maple trees, Wakefield
Posted in Nature | 4 Comments »