Sonoma Wedding: The Depot Hotel and General Vallejo's Home - Margaux and Patrick!

Margaux was picture perfect in her Melissa Sweet gown and birdcage veil. Absolutely stunning look for this fairytale wedding at the CA state park location of General Vallejo's Home and the Depot Hotel in Sonoma. 

I loved that Margaux and her mom went with Emily of Green Snapdragon Floral to pick out flowers. Margaux's bouquet was stunning and the florals on the tables at the reception went perfectly with the lovely gray runners Patrick's grandmother made. I thought it was a great touch that the runners were gathered at the base with a floral.

This wedding was all about family and friends and as Patrick's father said in his toast: "BIG LOVE!" Wonderful time had by all!

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Ceremony Venue: General Vallejo's Home

Reception Venue and Caterer: Depot Hotel

Event Coordinator: Natalie Wiezel and Zohe Felici 

Floral Designer: Green Snapdragon Floral Design

Invitations: Wedding Paper Divas

DJ: Dansations

Rentals: Grapevine Party Rentals

The Fairmont Hotel Wedding, San Francisco - Emilie and Andrew!

I love the Fairmont and yowsa! The views from the Crown Room can't be beat! Emilie and Andrew's Fairmont Hotel wedding was small and intimate by Fairmont hotel standards and I had such fun documenting it! They had gotten married at SF City Hall a few weeks before but you would have never known given the emotion during their ceremony and vows. They were happily getting married all over again!

Relaxed and unhurried was the theme of this day and Emilie and Andrew were just that. Smiling the whole time and simply enjoying being surrounded by their friends and family was the great joy of the day and then when the lights came up in San Francisco the Crown Room wowed everyone with the views. Simply magical!

Venue and Caterer: The Fairmont Hotel

Event Planner and Floral Designer: Koryn Pachla 

Cake: Inticing Creations

Hair Stylist: Lyon Street Salon

DJ: Sutherland Entertainment 

Lisa and Ian - E-Shoot!

Terra stole the show at Lisa and Ian's engagement shoot! Their bulldog Terra, loved to sniff around all over the place while I was shooting, but when I wanted her in the shots - well, it took a LOT to get her attention and to get her in the right place. We had a blast photographing this session at the location where Ian proposed which was their favorite hiking trail where they used to walk Terra when they lived nearby. I'm looking forward to photographing their wedding at the DeTurk Round Barn in Santa Rosa this year!

The Lodge at the Regency Center - San Francisco Wedding of Thalia and Ian

Oh what style and grace! Loved this classic San Francisco wedding. In Thalia's previous career she was a set designer and she let her previous work shine at her wedding. Thalia and Ian are both now firefighters and I have to say, Thalia may be the most good-looking firefighter ever! She was also one of my most stunning brides ever in her classic lace, mermaid Maggie Sottero gown! I thought her look was perfect for the venue and style of the wedding.

Alex and the team from Dreams on a Dime Weddings worked with Thalia and The Regency Center to create the perfect setting for this classic wedding in one of my favorite rooms in the city. The Lodge at the Regency Center is the top floor venue at the Regency Center and was originally a Mason's lodge! The Regency Center has kept all of the old stage backdrops and they let each couple choose their own backdrop for their wedding. I LOVE the backdrop Thalia and Ian chose. It worked so well with the gorgeous florals by Carol Antraccoli.

Congratulations, Thalia and Ian!

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Venue: The Regency Center

Event Coordinator: Dreams on a Dime

Floral Designer: Carol Antraccoli 

Caterer: Englund's Catering and Cafe 

Cake: Lotta's Bakery

Stationary: Foreignspell 

Hair and Make-up Artists: Painted Ladies

Ceremony Musicians: An Elegant Touch of Strings

Reception Musicians: Horns A Plenty 

Rancho La Puerta Photo Shoot!

I feel more than lucky every time I get to go to Rancho La Puerta to photograph for their marketing materials. Rancho La Puerta is truly an amazing place and one of my favorite places in the world! They are consistently voted #1 destination spa in the world by Travel and Leisure magazine readers and if you go you will see why! Go for a whole week and carry that wellness with you for a long, long time. Go every year for a week and you'll be a new person!

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The InterContinental The Clement Monterey Wedding - Lisa and Ken

LOVED the yellow and gray/charcoal color scheme for this gorgeous Hotel Clement Monterey wedding which was beautifully planned and executed by my former bride, Lauren Sloan of Ryder Sloan Events. Lisa was radiant in her Ace gown by Allure and I loved her bridesmaids gray flowing dresses and yellow flowers by Laughin' Gal Florist!

What a setting and what incredible weather for January! Sometimes winter weather on the west coast can be better than summer weather and this proved that point. It was downright hot out and there was no fog in sight for the glorious view of the Monterey bay throughout the wedding. Plus the wedding was set right off of the main drag, so we were able to sneak away and grab a shot of the bride and groom with their bridal party in front of the iconic Monterey Cannery Row sign! 

What fun was had by all, but especially Lisa and Ken. A super sweet couple who was smiling all day long. Ken was doing the traditional surprise honeymoon for his bride and I'm just DYING to know where it was. How romantic overall! Congrats to Lisa and Ken!

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Venue and Caterer: InterContinental The Clement Monterey

Event Coordinator: Ryder Sloan Events

Floral Designer: Laughin' Gal Florist

Cake: Patisserie Bechler

Hair and Makeup Artist: Oya Salon

Linen Rentals: La Tavola

Rentals: Chic Events

Musicians: Sound in Motion

Dress Designer: Allure

Bridesmaid Dress Designer: Bill Levkoff

Tina and Spencer - E-Shoot!

Tina and Spencer love their life in San Francisco so wanted to shoot their engagement session in a great SF setting with great weather AND views. That would be Potrero Hill! They were totally adorable together as we ran around the neighborhood and it was obvious they had a great time on our shoot. Can't wait to photograph their fall wedding at the San Francisco Ferry Building!

Interior Design Fair San Francisco Home Shoot

Always fun in the off-season to photograph interiors for some of my fave designers! IDF (or Interior Design Fair) is one of them! Love their style and how they are able to work with typically tight San Francisco spaces. Loved that this nursery was tucked into what was once the dining room off of the living room. That mural by Alfredo Lopez Nunez in the nursery is also pretty gorgeous as well as that darling ship themed mobile over the crib!

Featured: Karyn's 50th Birthday Bash on Hostess With The Mostess blog

I'm so excited to see that Karyn's 50th birthday party which was held at Tante Marie's in San Francisco is being featured on the blog Hostess With The Mostess! It was such a delicious night and the perfect way to celebrate the big milestone while drinking and cooking with your closest friends. Amy Nichols Special Events did a great job with planning and Design and the florals by La Fleuriste set on old cookbooks were a great touch. Click here to see more of the fun-filled night.

Hotel Vitale San Francisco Wedding - Damon and Eunmin

What a lovely wedding and an even lovelier couple! I was so happy when a former bride of mine, Lauren Wakefield, who is also a planner extraordinaire contacted me on behalf of her clients for this intimate November wedding at the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco. With only sixty guests and a sunset ceremony scheduled to take place on one of the many terraces at Vitale I knew we were in for a treat. 

Not only was the setting gorgeous and lush florals, by Natalie Bowen Designs, in soft pinks beautiful to photograph, I was more than thrilled that the rain cleared in time and Eunmin and Damon were game for a super fun and extended portrait session out on the Embarcadero before the ceremony. We had a blast and I loved that the colorful streetcars seemed to be waiting just for us! 

The ceremony couldn't have been more magical as the sun set over the bay and then the outdoor family portrait session and cocktail hour had the added treat of the city and bay bridge lights coming up. Then we all got cozy in one of the intimate rooms for the dinner and dancing. Such a lovely little wedding and thank you Eunmin and Damon for being so enamored with each other! Everyone made my job super easy that day!

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Sebastiani Sonoma Wedding - Amy and Michael

Lovely wedding, Lovely couple! I loved that Amy and Michael's love for music (they are both musicians!) flowed into their elegant Sebastiani Winery wedding so perfectly. They had live musician performing throughout the event and even took dancing lessons so that they could expertly swing dance to the music for their first dance!

Christopher of Leftwich Event Specialists made sure all of the elegant touches in this gorgeous setting were perfect including the lush flowers by Taste Catering and Event Planning both in the outdoor ceremony setting and in Sebastiani's spectacular barrel room. I love this barrel room and am fortunate enough to be on the preferred vendor list at Sebastiani and have seen it in so many gorgeous iterations depending on my client's style. Amy and Michael were the picture of happiness as then entered the room down the giant curving staircase surrounding the huge barrel at one end of the room. The railing was decked out in garland making it even more of a spectacular entrance. 

The traditional Jewish touches throughout the wedding also made it special and festive. Especially that EXTRA long Hora dance! I think the friendly band was torturing Amy and Michael and the lucky guys holding up the chairs just for some extra festive fun! 

Congrats to Amy and Michael!

Venue: Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery 

Wedding Coordinator: Leftwich Event Specialists

Event Designer, Floral Designer, Caterer, Cake Artist: Taste Catering and Event Planning

Wedding Dress and Veil: Amy Kuschel

Hair and Makeup Artist: Melisa Hall

Music: AMS Entertainment and D'Lilah Monroe and the Tom Cats

 

 

Pebble Beach and The Inn at Spanish Bay Wedding - Molly and Aneep

In my questionnaire that I send to all my brides, I have a question that asks for any favorite moments or memories of their day. Molly's answer was: "Too many to list. Day was perfect." and that it was! I have NEVER photographed a wedding in the Carmel/Monterey coastal area that wasn't a bit chilly and often foggy. Molly and Aneep and everyone else were completely surprised by this unseasonably warm wedding day! Pebble Beach and the coastline were stunning and sparkly in the warm sun and it really WAS a perfect day. Molly was absolutely the picture of "stunning" in her Vera Wang gown and Aneep was smiling every time he looked at his gorgeous bride! 
 

Melia Yust of Wedspring in San Francisco designed and planned this simple and elegant wedding for this intimate gathering. I loved the use of dahlias in the florals, the sparkle of the cocktail tablecloths and especially the intimacy of the candlelit dinner set in a small private dining room at The Inn at Spanish Bay. Molly was one of the most calm brides I ever photographed and it was a joy to connect with that calm and gorgeous face through my camera all day long. Stunning.

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Ceremony Venue: Pebble Beach Resort

Reception Venue: Inn at Spanish Bay Resort 

Wedding Coordinator & Florist: WedSpring

Caterer: Peppoli Restaurant

Stationary: Alee & Press

Timber Resorts and Mayacama Weddings 

I was flattered when the Timbers Resort Group asked if they could use my photos to illustrate Mayacama weddings. I love shooting at the GORGEOUS Mayacama Private Resort and Golf Club and am thrilled to have my work represent a wedding at the property. Here is a glimpse of the post, but you can view the full Timbers Resort post here and Thanks to Stephanie Beer of Covenant Coordinating for all of her hard work producing these weddings!

Calistoga Vineyard Wedding - Tanya and Allen

Oh my! What a wedding, what a crowd and what a couple! I loved shooting this wedding. Not only was it simply gorgeously executed by Mary Ellen and her team from Off the Beaten Path Weddings, but Tanya and Allen and their guests were all so full of love. It was a giant love-fest! 

This private residence was the perfect "off-the-beaten-path" venue for this truly picturesque wedding. The guests got slow glimpses as the ceremony in the late afternoon transitioned up the hill to the glorious views of the mountains just north of Calistoga and then back to the lovely lawn area for dining and dancing as the sun set over the vineyard on the hillside. This wedding was so perfect for this couple because they love wine country, the forest, camping, and hiking. The location not only had vineyards and rolling hills, but there's even a small redwood grove in which they nestled a lounge area with a dessert and coffee bar for later in the evening. The grove and the dining area were strung with lights making the evening portion of the wedding just as magical as the late afternoon and sunset portions of the day! 

There were so many personal touches beyond the gorgeous florals, the luscious family style meal and of course event design done by Mary Ellen of Off the Beaten Path, but friends, family, bride and groom also contributed in so many special ways! Tanya's sister married the couple and helped design the ceremony so it was personal to Tanya and Allen. The bi-lingual ceremony included touches from both the bride and groom's background including ringing Swiss cowbells to mark the official moment they were married.

Overall, one heck of a perfect wedding and one terrific couple. So much LOVE! Hooray for Tanya and Allen! I feel so fortunate to have shared in such an intimate day of their lives!

Event Designer, Floral Designer, and Caterer: Off the Beaten Path Weddings

Hair and Make-up Artist: Betten Chaston