Seattle Wedding and Vacation

August 8, 2008

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!

Featured on "Perfect Bound" Blog!

August 8, 2008

Christine and Alex's vintage SF City Hall engagement session is featured on the Perfect Bound online magazine blog! It's a great style source!

Bethany's Bridal Session

August 5, 2008

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

August 5, 2008

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:

Riva and Joe

August 5, 2008

It was cold and foggy (go figure) by the GG bridge on the night of Riva and Joe's E-shoot, so they asked if we could relocate to the De Young. I had a great time shooting at the De Young!

My wedding!!!!

July 11, 2008

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 wedding by Julie Mikos 1

Wedding at Auberge Du Soleil - Karen and Mark

July 11, 2008

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!

Auberge Du Soleil wedding by Julie Mikos 2

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Auberge Du Soleil wedding by Julie Mikos 10

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Christine and Alex's Vintage E-Shoot!

April 25, 2008

Christine and Alex told me they wanted to dress up in 20's/30's vintage clothing for their engagement shoot and after much thought about the right location, I think the SF city hall ended up to be the perfect choice! What fun!

Allie and Rick!

April 9, 2008

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!

Angela is having a baby!

April 2, 2008

My incredible massage therapist and friend Angela, asked me to take her maternity photos and I was thrilled! Angela is super creative and when she told me she had costumes to bring along, I knew we would have a great time. 12 days before her due date, she had amazing stamina and energy and was such a good sport. We shot for THREE hours! I love doing maternity photos and am thrilled when a soon-to-be mom is willing to do partial or full nudes. There's nothing more beautiful than a body about to give birth.

Beautiful Weddings Book

March 7, 2008

Jami and Mike's Dominican Wedding

February 2, 2008

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!

A Tasting Evening at Barbara Llewellyn Catering!

January 31, 2008

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...

Josslyn and Evan - Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA

December 17, 2007

One of my favorite locations in the bay area is the Headlands Center for the Arts. Josslyn and Evan chose this location for their December wedding and as usual, it was gorgeous! If you're looking for something different with an arty feel, near a beach and nestled in our very own hilly SF landscape, this is it! Katie Powers is the on-site caterer and always does a terrific job, Mary Louise Hare did the flowers (415-221-2706) and Rachel Leisling (415-821-9378) did the cake which was one of the best I've ever tasted - well it rivaled Lisa and Josh's cake! Josslyn was stunning in her sleek gown and DJ Robbie Socks (415-307-0627) rocked the house and played a GREAT mix of music. Congratulations Josslyn and Evan!

Smriti and Samit

December 17, 2007

I had the pleasure of photographing my second Indian wedding a few weeks ago at the Palm Event Center in Livermore and it was as colorful a beautiful as I had hoped! Congratulations Smriti and Samit!

Sarah and Matt's SF Wedding

October 9, 2007

Sarah and Matt's engagement photos were one of my first posts. I'm FINALLY getting to posting their 7/7/07 wedding at Grace Cathedral and The Lodge at the Regency Center. Sarah and Matt's wedding was totally hands-on. They searched at flea markets for months to find the little bottles that they used for their guest's place cards. Their theme was San Francisco shipping/port based and their guests received a "message in a bottle" as their seating card. Sarah and Matt wrote individual messages for each bottle.

Melissa of A Simple Ceremony did the flowers .....

Melissa of “A Simple Ceremony” Was the florist: www.asimpleceremony.com

Look at the gorgeous room at the Lodge at the Regency Center!

and Carolyn Wong Custom Cakes created this beautiful and delicious cake. Isn't it gorgeous!??

Shevaun and Harrison

October 1, 2007

Congratulations to Shevaun and Harrison! Their wedding was back in June, but I just had to post some images. Shevaun and Harrison celebrated Harrison's heritage with a Korean tea ceremony the day before the wedding. I've photographed a lot of tea ceremonies, but this was by far the most elaborate costuming. The wedding day was gorgeous and their location choices, beautiful. Their ceremony was held at Old St. Mary's in SF and the reception at The Julia Morgan Ballroom in the Merchant's Exchange Building. To celebrate Shevaun's Irish heritage, they hired a bagpiper to walk with the bridal party and all the guests the few blocks from the ceremony to the reception site. What fun!

Pairs and Pieces created the gorgeous flowers for the day....

and Patrick Davids was the caterer...YUM!

www.patrickdavids.com was the caterer. Yum!

Sarah and Matt’s Engagement Session (Stay Tuned for Their 7/7/07 Wedding!)

September 10, 2007

Although I love shooting engagement sessions at all those wonderful San Francisco Landmarks, I do encourage people to choose a location that is special to them or has a fun atmosphere. Sarah and Matt chose a quirky little town on the Sacramento River for their engagement session. They discovered this little gem and have returned several times to enjoy the sunshine and the zany locals. We persuaded the innkeeper to allow us into the run-down inn (a former brothel) to add some interest to our shoot:

Cecilia and David's Weekday Wedding at Auberge Du Soleil

September 5, 2007

Cecilia and David had a small romantic weekday wedding in the beautiful wine county setting of Auberge Du Soleil. Set in Napa Valley off of the Silverado Trail, Auberge Du Soleil is a special place. The staff is terrific, the food delicious and beautiful and the setting spectacular. Cecilia and David will celebrate another wedding day in David's home country of South Africa this winter!

Basic Album Design and Cover Samples

August 29, 2007

Local Album Design with Leather Cover and Photo Inset:

Parent Sized (8x8) Iatalian-made Graphi Album Sample with Photo inset on Cover. These parent sized albums are only available through Graphi and will be an absolute duplicate of the primary wedding album - no changes:

10X10 Album with Leather Cover and No Cover Inset Photo:

Graphi Studio Metallic Cover:

Black Background Inside Design:

Seam Samples: