I was thrilled when I received notice yesterday from Project Wedding that I made their "best of" list for 2008! If you haven't checked out project wedding for your planning, you should. Their site is well organized and really pretty too! Thanks to all of my brides who wrote a review and I encourage any of my clients to go to the site to review my work as well!
I was thrilled when Erik contacted me remembering he liked my style of shooting and work from his friend Kyle's wedding a few years ago. Erik was Kyle's best man and Kyle was Erik's best man. Erik was marrying Olivia down in San Diego and asked if I could come down to shoot. Of course, I did and what fun! The ceremony was at St. Paul's Lutheran Church and the reception was at the Bahia Hotel.
Sami and Lance got married this past Saturday at Thomas Fogarty Winery in Woodside. It was a gorgeous day for an outdoor wedding and the winery looked great. I was especially impressed with the staff at the winery and the wonderful caterer: Thomas John Events. Everything went so smoothly and the food was gorgeous! Sami and Lance were such an easy going couple and had great fun on their wedding day!
Table flowers by Sumito's Floral Design
Every once in a while the butter presentation deserves to be photographed. Loved this!
I have had the honor of photographing several weddings for Lisa Lefkowitz of Lisa Lefkowitz Photography and Kirsten and Alex's January wedding was the latest. Kirsten and Alex were so very sweet and I love shooting at both of their locations! Their wedding was at Calvary Presbyterian and the reception at the James Leary Flood Mansion in San Francisco.
Another Stephanie Beer, Covenant Coordinating wedding, Susan and Trevor's was at Stryker Sonoma. Their outdoor wine country ceremony ended up being indoors because of a downpour, but Stephanie and Stryker were completely prepared. The ceremony took place in the tasting room which was lit by a fire in the fireplace and lots of candles. The dinner was absolutely breathtaking in the barrell room. What a warm and cozy wedding! View their slideshow here: Susan and Trevor
It's a Date Hair and Makeup:
Catering by Pacific Connection....
Wow! You know, the weekend I photographed Annie and Ryan's wedding, I photographed three weddings in a row. I've never done this before and I'm not sure why I did. I think because Annie and Ryan were such a great couple and I really wanted to shoot their Cornerstone Vineyard wedding. In any case, I was a little fearful that by the time Sunday rolled around, I would be exhausted and creatively spent. Obviously I would have given it everything I've got no matter what, but amazingly I was just as invigorated as I was for wedding number one and I left the wedding that day reaffirming that I absolutely love what I do. Annie is so incredibly creative (she's a designer) and her creativity showed throughout the day. Her own mother did the flowers and Annie did all of the lovely paper cutouts. A perfect fit for the quirky and lovely Cornerstone.
Vanessa and Bryon have been such fun to work with. They brought their adorable beagles to our engagement session and then had such fun on their wedding day. The wedding was at the Half Moon Bay Golf Links with the ceremony looking out on the wonderful Pacific ocean. I love the new trend in patterned table linens for the reception tables and absolutely adored Vanessa's cheerful wedding dress.
Patricia of "A Perfect Look" was really sweet and did a great job with hair and makeup:
I can't believe I forgot to post Erin and Mark's Vashon Island, WA wedding! Mark is one of the first people I met after my move to the bay area from Chicago and although he now lives in Seattle, we've remained in contact over the years. I was so thrilled when he and Erin called me to ask if I could photograph their wedding at Erin's parent's home on Vashon Island/Seattle, WA. I love "at home" weddings and this one was so beautifuly done given that the key players are all architects and have a great sense of design!They had a pig roast and although it poured rain on and off, the rain always came at times when the guest could escape it. By the time dinner rolled around it was a gorgeous evening!
This is the downpour that happened right after the ceremony. Thank goodness it waited until after!
Cri and Lloyd were so sweet. So sweet that when they found out I was getting married they brought along a bottle of champagne for my husband and I to their engagement session! Riva and Joe did the same thing. I love my clients! In any case, Cri and Lloyd were married at the pretty St. Patrick's cathedral across from Yerba Buena Gardens. I love shooting here, not only because it's a pretty church, but also if there's enough time we can go across to the gardens for a photo session. The reception was at the always fabulous Julie Morgan ballroom at the Merchant's Exchange in SF. I love this ballroom. I'm pleased to say that the catering manager, Linda, has chosen my photos from Shevaun and Harrison's 2007 wedding to use on their website and marketing materials. A great honor given how gorgeous and historic this ballroom is. Thanks to Cri and Lloyd for choosing such a gorgeous location and man, did this party rock!
Flowers: The Prim Petal
Catering: James Stanfield Catering
My very good friend Akemi's (the person responsible for my husband and I meeting) brother got married to the lovely Hannah in August at the Carmel Mission with the reception at The Monterey Plaza Hotel. Carmel Mission brides, I would LOVE to photograph there again so pick me, pick me! What a gorgeous church AND their bride's room is so gorgeous, I highly recommend getting dressed there! Ken and Hannah are such a great couple and I really enjoyed photographing their wedding. This lucky couple lives in Hawaii, so I'll miss seeing them in person again, but maybe can take a trip to Hawaii to visit.
Flowers: Fleur Du Soleil
Now that Grace Cathedral has relaxed its photo restrictions a little, Riva and Joe provided me with two of my favorite SF locations! Their ceremony at Grace was gorgeous. Although I've photographed many weddings in the chapel (see Sarah and Matt, 2007 for the last), it was the first time I've photographed in the Nave. I was a little concerned about intimacy, but it's so spectacular that it didn't matter! Then we were off to the Green Room and the War Memorial building. I LOVE the Green Room for it's architecture, yes, it's color, the outdoor terrace and it's spectacular view of City Hall. Riva and Joe have good taste. And wow! look at her shoes. Hot! Thanks Riva and Joe, you were such fun. PS - I've promised Riva that I would figure out how to post their slide show. This is next on my to do list and I'll get it up ASAP!
Catering: Patrick Davids
Flowers: In Water, SF
Cake: Cakemaker
What a gorgeous and emotional wedding! Michelle and Elisa were married in the Redwood Grove at the UC Berkeley Botanic gardens. A magical site for an historic event. Their reception immediately followed at the Julia Morgan designed Berkeley City Club. Always a joy to photograph. Michelle and Elisa incorporated the signing of their marriage license into the ceremony to demonstrate the importrance of this event in our history as a nation. It was a highly charged and emotional moment for everyone present. It was even hard for me to hold it together behind the camera given the significance of the recognition of same sex marriage and love. As I photograph these unions, I'm touched by the universalness of love. It doesn't matter where you're from, how much money you make, what sex you are or even how old you are. Love is love and a vow is a vow and it is beautiful when two people commit to each other.
The florist was Soul Flower:
I'm off to Seattle today to shoot Mark and Erin's wedding on Vashon Island and then taking a week to sail in the San Juan islands with my new husband and good friends who live in Seattle. I won't have access to e-mail or voice mail while I'm sailing, so have patience and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Oh what fun! Bethany is getting married this month and being from the south, wanted to do a southern traditional bridal session. Ours probably wasn't "traditional" by southern standards, but wow we had fun! Well, at least I did. I think Bethany was a little cold, but such a good sport. I NEVER get this much time with a bride and had an absolute blast! Look for Bethany's wedding pics next month!
Rachel and Dan were married at the gorgeous Mayacama Country Club. It's a private club in the Sonoma hills. Did I say GORGEOUS???? Stephanie Beer of Covenant Coordinating was the fabulous coordinator and Rachel and Dan were just adorable all day. Rachel had a HUGE smile on her face the whole day and Dan told everyone during his thank you speech that he had felt like he won the lottery. What a wonderful pair!
My assistant Breck took the next three lovely shots:
So here I am, myself a married woman! Some of you know and some don't that on Tuesday, June 3rd my sweet man of 3 1/2 years and I exchanged wedding vows in a small ceremony with a view of Yosemite Falls in Yosemite Valley. We had a good portion of our immediate family present and had a lovely dinner at the Ahwahnee hotel afterwards. Then Brennan and I pitched a tent in Camp 4 (the walk-in camp in the valley) for a couple of "honeymoon" nights. It was simple and lovely and perfect and it was nothing like I ever pictured my wedding to be!
Brennan, being a very practical and no frills kind of person had asked if we could elope. I asked if he realized he was asking a WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER to ELOPE???? Oh my. I wanted to have a small simple wedding, but never imagined I would elope! But through much discussion, I realized that the most important thing out of any of this was that I was marrying the man that I would love so very much and so I agreed. We looked at my crazy wedding and travel schedule and set the date for a Tuesday. Why not? It was just the two of us! Then we decided to invite our parents. Then we decided to invite our siblings. Then I decided since one of my nieces was coming, I would ask her to be a flower girl. Then I begged for a reception in the midwest so that our extended families and friends could meet and then our SF friends who couldn't make it to the midwest wanted to throw a small party here and so on and so on, until oh my. I was planning two weddings within two months time with a two week trip to New Zealand in the middle of it all! So, it went fast and was crazy and emotional and great and I thank all my wonderful clients who were getting married during this period for their patience with me while I was away! I also want to thank all of my wonderful friends and family who helped and our friends who threw the lovely SF party.
Of course, everyone asked when they learned I was getting married "who would photograph the wedding?". I've always told my good friend and fabulous wedding photographer, Ann Hamilton that she would be the one (Joe Buissink supporting if I had an unlimited budget), and she and our friend Gene Higa (also a fabulous wedding photographer) even offered to shoot, but here I was having this tiny, intimate, family-only wedding in Yosemite. In comes Rebekah Silver. Beka lives in Arizona and is a young and budding wedding photographer. She's assisted for me in the past and I suppose considers me her mentor. She's become like family to me and is wanting to build her portfolio and so I asked her if she would photograph and join my family for dinner afterwards. These are the lovely photos she took:
My darling niece Sarah:
I loved my shoes!
It was really a magical spot:
We got on our Burning Man bikes to ride off to the Ahwahnee!
Oh, I hammed it up for Beka! It was fun!
Besides the moment when I said "with this ring I thee wed" which was probably the most emotional moment of my life, we took a little stroll mid-dinner and when we walked back into the spectacular Ahwahnee dining room, the pianist played "Here comes the bride" and the entire dining room (which was completely full) clapped. It was overwhelming and I cried. I'm so glad Beka captured this shot moments before it happened:
There was no official photographer for the low-key midwest party, so friends pitched in and took some pictures. The location was in Door County Wisconsin which is a resort area about five hours from Chicago (I'm from Chicago and my family vacations in Door County every year). We had the party at a lovely private property called "Ellison Wonderland/Silver Poplar Studios" in Ellison Bay.
My other niece Grace, joined Sarah as a second flower girl for the very casual midwest party:
This is my dear friend Laurel who was a HUGE help with this party and also does all of my web, collateral and advertising design (kscreative):
Brides, I have to say I'm proud that I somehow managed to do all of my centerpieces and table runners for under $200.00!
We had a traditional Door County "Fish Boil" and this is the pot boiling over!
We went into this gorgeous barn for dancing after dinner:
My man surprised me with a traditional first dance. The song he chose was a song I had never heard. It was Al Green's "Perfect to me" and it's a gorgeous song. I married a man of few words and the lyrics in this song were incredibly special.
Auberge Du Soleil four times in one year! What fun! Thank you, Karen and Mark for a wonderful wedding to photograph! It was so exciting too, since there was a big celebrity event going on in Napa that weekend and a bunch of the celebs were staying at the resort. The paparazzi helicopters were buzzing above, but Karen kept her cool!
What wonderful locations and crafty details for Allie and Rick's wedding. Allie and her mother were completely hands-on for this wedding and the care put in the details showed. They even made the tablecloths! The locations were The Mission Santa Clara and Nestldown in Los Gatos. I had never photographed at Nestldown and met Allie and Rick on a foggy drizzly day for a pre-scout and fell in love with this location. It's tucked in the Santa Cruz mountains and with its rustic feel and roaring fire, it's a wonderfully cozy location for a winter/early spring wedding.
to add to the winter wedding feel, Allie and Rick had a candle lighting ceremony right before they exchanged vows....
Florist: Violetta Flowers
Baker: Satura Cakes
Oh my. Look how in love he is with his "lovey"......
and then lovey had him arrested by REAL Star Wars Storm Troopers! Now who do you think is the Star Wars fan?.....
and then they made their grand exit! Congratulations Allie and Rick! I had such fun photographing your wedding!
Last week I had the pleasure of going to the Dominican Republic for the wedding of Jami and Mike. I photographed Jami's sister's wedding in Cabo San Lucas last year and so enjoyed seeing the family again. We all had a great time in the gorgeous 85+ weather. It rained the morning of the wedding, but then cleared long enough for the ceremony to be outdoors and for a photo shoot with the bride and groom on the beach! What fun we had!
Oh, the lucky couples that got to attend this incredible tasting event given by Barbara Llewellyn Catering last week and how lucky was I to be invited to photograph! The event was set in the commercial kitchens of Barbara Llewellyn Catering in downtown Oakland and it couldn't have been a cooler venue. I had a wonderful time arriving early to photograph all of the prep. work and watch the staff set up a spring-time yellow, black and white themed dining table right in the middle of the kitchen, a bar complete with lemondrop martinis and wonderful wine and champagne and then watch as the guests arrived and joyfully started sampling all of the incredible food that was prepared for them by this most talented catering staff. The dinner itself was a stunning sample of course after course, followed by a sampling of FOUR wedding cake flavors and a selection of the most amazing mini desserts. Unfortunately I didn't bring a menu home with me, so I can't give you the details on the food, but I'm sure the nice folks at Barbara Llewellyn can help you out! You're going to want to eat after looking at these pictures!
OK, I do remember that these were little lemon meringue tarts.....
Imagine serving these chocolate dipped poached pairs to your guests!.....
Oh! and these were mini root beer floats! (funny how I remember all of the desserts)....
Bread pudding with caramelized banana...
