Engagement Session at De Young and The Flower Conservatory

Jeremy and Krista started the session off a bit stiff and giggly. It was really fun to watch them become more and more comfortable working with me and the camera. They went through the gamete of emotions starting with stiff and giggly; then serious and sexy to playful and finally calm and relaxed.


They are all ready for the wedding day now; with a ton of new poses to pull out of their pockets. And how great does Krista look in white!


There were so many good images from the session I had a difficult time choosing which images to post!


Can't wait for their wedding in Monterey June 2009!

Wedding at Santa Clara University and Freedom Hall

Hoang and Karina decided to take all their family and bridal party images prior to the ceremony. They gave me about 3 hours and had family arrive in intervals. It was like a perfect dream! Karina's organizational skills made the day a breeze.

We met at Santa Clara University near the mission and started the shoot with just the two of them. We then photographed the bridal party and family as they arrived.




After photographs at the university we all went over to Freedom Hall and took a few more images as the sun set. I know the image below of them kissing has the worst sun flare ever but I think it makes the image even better! It's like they are surrounded by the suns energy!

They had a short and sweet ceremony followed by a yummy buffet dinner and a jamming dance reception. Hoang and his sister must have taken dance lessons together because they really worked the floor when they danced together. It reminded me that I need to make time for dance lessons.

Congrats to Hoang and Karina!
Thanks to Jen Low for second shooting.

Engagement Session at Stanford

Brett and Sara met while attending school at UC Davis. They moved to the Bay Area last year and are planning their wedding at Wente Vineyards for May 2009.

I find that everyone responds differently to being photographed. Some couples I have to work with for an hour or so until they become comfortable in front of the camera. Other couples take their best images at the beginning of the session. Brett and Sara warmed up to the camera right away!

Here are a few of my favorites.


Can't wait for the wedding!

Garre Winery Wedding in Livermore, CA

Shawn and Clara were married in early October at Garre Winery in Livermore. They were both pretty mellow even prior to the ceremony which made it easy to work with them.

Chris Flitter owner of Events by Twist did an wonderful job of planning and coordinating the day for this sweet couple. She made sure no detail was missing.

The beautiful floral design was created by The Pedal Pusher located in Pleasanton.

The winery has a small bridal room were the girls were able to finish up their hair and makeup and get dressed. The porch made for the perfect place for some last minute portraits of Claire just before the ceremony.

Garre also has vineyards in every direction so we didn't have to walk far to find a green location for the bride and groom photos. It was also nice that Clara didn't mind getting her dress a little dirty for the vineyard photos. So we were able to get lots of nice shots of them roaming among the vines.

And they took a 5 minute break from the reception for my favorite night shots!

Congrats to Shawn and Clara!

Fogerty Winery Wedding

This place is fabulous! I had never had the chance to photograph at Fogerty Winery so when Jay Kelly asked if I would second shoot Kim and Kimberly's wedding I was super excited that I had the date open!

I photographed Kim (the groom) and his brother prior to the ceremony while Jay worked with the girls.

Amy Burke Designs did an awesome job with all the floral decor!

Krista Strader played beautiful music with her harp for the ceremony.

While photographing guests during the cocktail hour a yellow jacket stung me. Ouch! This was the first time I'd been stung by a yellow jacket so I freaked for a minute until I Found some ice and realized I wasn't going to die. Even though the sting itched and burned the rest of the weekend it was nice to finally get my first sting behind me.

Kimberly was one of the coolest brides ever! Shortly before sunset we took her out to the vineyards so she could run through the rows of grape vines! I liked her attitude about getting her dress dirty. She bought her dress to look fabulous for the day and she wanted to get the most use out of it as possible on this one day.

The videographer David Etheridge worked pretty much none stop from the time he arrived until the time the bride and groom left.

The Amazing DJ's out of San Jose area were really entertaining to watch. They work as a team and one or more of them will get out on the dance floor to lead the crowd in dance moves. They really had the crowd going!

The catering was done by Le Papillon and it was mouth watering! It was some of the best catered food I have tasted.

These two newlyweds were so entertaining I couldn't put my camera down! I had too many favorites to even blog them all.