Lau Family Photoshoot!

Special thanks to Sarah of The Family Cookbook for capturing such great moments!

While we've made a ton of videos to capture my dad and our family's recipes, we actually don't have a ton of photos of our family to show for it.

(I think the last time we took a family portrait was my wedding. They're great photos, but don't really capture us in our element doing what we do best: cooking and eating together!)

We recently got in touch with an incredibly talented photographer named Sarah Yeoman of The Family Cookbook, who makes custom cookbooks for families who want to celebrate their food traditions and preserve their recipes.

(Scroll down to the bottom of the post for details on Sarah's Black Friday Deal on the photoshoot + cookbook experience!)

Basically, Sarah comes to your house, you and your family cook and eat your favorite recipes together, and Sarah takes beautiful photos of the whole day. Afterwards, you choose your favorite photos and family recipes to include, and she puts it all together into an incredible book that’s part cookbook, part family photo album.

Although I felt nervous at the outset, Sarah has a really calming demeanor, and the whole experience was really relaxed and fun.

As soon as we got connected, I fell in love with the idea and booked a session immediately. Her mission is so aligned with what we do at Made With Lau, and I felt compelled to share with you.

It's perfect timing with holidays right around the corner and a great gift for a friend or a loved one.

Prepping for the session

Sarah sent this beautifully wrapped and curated gift box with a bunch of goodies from her hometown in Portland, Oregon, along with a pamphlet of how the session works. (It's very gift-able!)

Leading up to the session, all we had to do was upload our recipes to a Google Drive folder for Sarah.

For the day of the shoot, we chose a mix of recipes we thought would go well together for a single meal. We went with a bunch of family favorites, like Steamed Spare Ribs, Char Siu, and Soy Sauce Chow Mein.

She mentioned it was pretty flexible in terms of which recipes we wanted to do, and just wanted recipes that the whole family could get involved with (even if it was taking turns with different steps.)

The day of the shoot!

We all met at my parents' house, where our YouTube magic normally happens. This time, I wasn't going to be behind the camera.

We were all kinda nervous, but Sarah quickly put us at ease. It felt a lot like having a friend or cousin over for a meal - we all chatted and cooked, shared stories about our childhood and favorite foods, while Sarah unobtrusively snapped photos in the background.

And finally, Sarah and our family sat around the dinner table to eat the meal we'd just prepared.

(As someone who spends a lot of time documenting traditions, we naturally had a lot in common!)

Creating the book

Shortly after, Sarah sent over a gallery of photos so we could pick our favorites to include in the cookbook.

It was a super easy process, as we were able to “star” our favorites within the gallery interface. We could all log in separately and didn’t necessarily have to be in the same room to review everything, so everyone was able to pick their favorites whenever they had time to take a look.

Not long after that, Sarah had a proof of the book for us to review, along with a form to fill out in order to easily customize our font preferences, cover design, book spine design, and binding material/color.

After a few tweaks, our final book was shipped to us a few weeks later, in a beautiful box with tons of amazing local products from Sarah’s home base in Portland, OR.

Some of the goodies in there included chocolate powder, a scented candle, and beef jerky!

The quality of the book––the weight and feel of the paper, the quality of the printing, and of course Sarah’s beautiful photography––was really above and beyond.

THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE WAS SO MUCH FUN. She captured so many beautiful moments and recipes for us, and I know it'll be a treasured family heirloom for generations to come 🙏

If you’re interested in booking a family cookbook session with Sarah, or giving one as a gift, check out the special offer below.

Black Friday Deal!

Sarah’s offering a special Black Friday Weekend Deal (Nov 26 - 29th) on creating your own family cookbook & gift certificate box that you can give to loved ones for the holidays!

Mention Made With Lau on the inquiry form to get $200 off your cookbook package in addition to a free bonus copy of your cookbook. Go to TheFamilyCookbook.co to get the information guide or DM @thefamilycookbook.co on Instagram to learn more!

Once you've read through the info guide you can request a gift box to surprise your loved ones this holiday season. You don't have to plan out your custom cookbook experience right now! Gift boxes come with a voucher that is good through Dec. 31, 2022, so you can schedule your photo session and make your cookbook anytime in 2022.

Note, while Sarah is based in Portland, OR, she travels for sessions (she came all the way out to the Bay Area for us!)

If you have friends or family who love to cook and share food with loved ones, it really is a unique and memorable gift idea that can be enjoyed for many years to come.

THANK YOU SARAH! WE LOVE OUR COOKBOOK!

PS - This is not a standard recipe cookbook that you'd buy at a bookstore, but we definitely want to create one in the next few years!