There’s something all together different in the excitement of shooting a wedding when your first in-person hello is a few minutes before the actual wedding happens. T and I had spent enough time on the phone that we knew the match would be great (yay Team APW!), and I was able to laugh at the similarities between the weeks leading up to each of our weddings.

So on a lovely San Francisco afternoon, I met T in front of City Hall as we waited for J, whose face light up at the sight of T. After a few numbers and lines and a gorgeous display of patience from each of them as we hurried up and waited, I joined a small group of friends and family in witnessing their beautiful wedding. Thanks T & J for including me in such a special day! Congratulations!

(Huge thanks and love also to Elizabeth at Lowe House Creative who was awesome to work with! See her post on T & J’s wedding here)

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Considering how much fun I had during M & B’s Engagement session, I shouldn’t be surprised that their wedding was so entirely wonderful. Set inside a forest of redwood trees alongside a park in Saratoga, CA, their wedding felt to me like a perfect blend of casual fun and absolute elegance.

I couldn’t help but cry along with the guests during speeches, and I couldn’t help but find and hug Kirsten, my awesome second shooter, for no reason at all other than the strong surge of love in the air.

M & B’s wedding also reminded me how important chemistry is, even when finding your photographer. We spent so much time together on their wedding day that I felt constantly lucky (as I often feel at weddings I shoot), like a part of the bridal party- the last person with M before she met her father to walk down the aisle- the first person to spend time with them after their vows. I couldn’t love this more, and I couldn’t have been more (tearily) touched than when M & B thanked us during their speeches. Thank you M & B for letting us be such a special part of your perfect day. We had so much fun.

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I suddenly find myself in the middle of the madness, indulging in shoot after shoot of special gorgeous new friends, and so there’s a slight delay on my blog. I also took a quick trip to DC, so I’ve been spending lots of reflective time on planes, loving and getting (more) excited for the next few months (and all of the fun things already lined up for 2012).

So in the meantime, before I can get to the next four shoots in two weekends, I leave you with a peek at M & B’s bbq paradise wedding. Their faces and expressions leave my current status as: melted.

Much to my excitement, I had the pleasure of photographing J&G’s Mexican Ranch Wedding in Aptos, California last weekend.

I don’t need to tell you about J’s absolute calm and serenity leading up to the ceremony; or about S, the super special Matron of Honor who almost cried for the first few hours but then pulled it together to be the best, most supportive friend a bride could ask for; or the happiness of dancing guests who got to indulge in both a strawberry shortcake bar and handmade churros.

I won’t need to tell you about how lovely G is, or how he kept checking up on us to make sure even we photographers were happy and felt included, or how the band made your feet move without even realizing it.

It’s unnecessary to point out how awesome it was to find a very happy bridal party in colorful dresses with cowboy boots, or how the light changed every minute to reveal even more beauty. I won’t have to tell you because it was all so obviously wonderful that I’ll let the photos tell the story themselves…

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I had been spending a lot of time thinking about my love for A Practical Wedding (APW) and the community that thrives because of it. Filled with real stories and real weddings, ‘vintage’ weddings that are actually from 30 years ago, and reflections from real people instead of staged models, the blog brings together couples who are practical if a bit unique, and vendors who love what they do and want to be a part of something real.

Right in the middle of a few weeks obsessing over my love of APW, my heart skipped a beat when I read V&J’s email.

They had decided to give up the big wedding they were planning in favor of having a practical wedding- a wedding about just them and their exciting love, a marriage made for two. The next day we talked, and realized how right we were for each other, a match made in APW fashion.

One week later, I arrived at their hotel room door, bouquet in hand, beaming with shared excitement, their only guest and witness. I helped V make her veil on the fly, and then signed on the dotted line. I watched (and shared) their expressions, evolving throughout the day - a tad of anxious excitement, the itching of ‘hurry up and wait’ between the paper signing and the ceremony, the tears throughout the beautiful vows, and then the sheer joy of “OHMYGOD we’re MARRIED!!”

Together, we encountered a friendly judge who insisted on taking photos throughout the service, a street photographer who followed us and took a hundred photos of V&J for the newspaper, and some really excited bystanders who wanted to direct our flow. We took turns holding their Ring BEAR, we drank wine and ate cupcakes, we wandered, we absorbed the perfection of a rare SF hot sunny day.

It was (in my humble opinion) a day of perfection, a day about V&J and love and marriage. It was a day that white dresses and dance floors were less important than being happy together. Biggest-Endless-Congratulations to V&J, and infinite thanks for trusting me to be by your side. You’re MARRIED!

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I (obviously) love weddings. And happiness. And love. And my beautiful clients who I want to steal as friends. When these things align for a New York meets all-over-California wedding in San Francisco, and E & E bring their friends and families together, you get magic. The kind that makes you remember that sometimes fairytales can come true because the chemistry is so alive you can feel it in the air.

E’s father gave a speech about this, and about the first time he realized E & E were in love- when it was clear that the world around them paused while they shared a moment of bliss. It only took me ten minutes of meeting them for the first time in person this week to share the exact sentiment. I usually don’t give a play by play, but this one needs a few in line.

Once upon a Saturday night in San Francisco, E & E got married at the Terra Gallery in San Francisco.

Instead of bridesmaids, E had fourteen friends to hang out with while she got ready.

I’m pretty sure I squealed when I saw that she had yellow shoes.

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This is B, E’s Grandma. She was a show stealer. I was warned she was warned awesome.
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Here is their ultra meaningful and perfect ceremony.

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We escaped to Yerba Buena Gardens to pause.

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And play…

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From what I hear, E actually Made these place cards and crafted most of the details.

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The speech about love that stops time…

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And a really beautiful take on love minus the wedding…

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This is one of my favorite moments. Look carefully for one very happy grandmother.

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And then the night partied on. Grandma danced to rap and hip hop…

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I also love this, the expression on E’s face when they tell her what’s about to happen.

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The end.

I knew when I first met C & S that we were a team meant to be. A creative and fun couple, they felt more like instant friends than clients. We even later found out we had a friend in common.

When we met for dinner a few weeks before the wedding, they were sure to tell me to pay special attention to the guest book, which they made using the engagement photos we took earlier in the year. About halfway through the wedding, I finally realized why. Detailed beautifully in the first pages, C & S described their feelings on our session together for guests: …The collective result is a set of photography that beautifully presents individual personalities, the interplay of two, and the anticipation of life together, as captured by the eye of an insightful artist… (cue shocked omg-how-special look on my face for the next 20 minutes).

Their wedding, perched high atop rolling east-bay hills was a perfect marriage of color, details, friends from across the country, and the best food and pie imaginable. Perfectly put together by friends instead of vendors, it was truly like an art exhibition of their personalities.

Thanks C & S for your special words and a beautiful, colorful day of togetherness.

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Sometimes, words can’t describe feelings.

This week was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. Really really (I know, I exaggerate and am sometimes dramatic, but this time I mean it). I had the extreme pleasure of being 100% photographer and also a guest at Claire & Jose’s Buenos Aires wedding. I had a full week with them and their friends and family, who I now can’t imagine being without. They’ve become family (enough that I’m crying thinking of leaving them today).

The wedding itself was the most stunning night possible. I photographed for seventeen hours- SEVENTEEN. By the fifteenth hour or so I let loose and partied hard, dancing my heart out, singing at the top of my lungs, all pausing to photograph something I saw. Beer in one hand, camera in the other, I felt This.

And nothing else.

Thank you Claire and Jose, for including me in your most special night, and one of the best nights of my life.

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Best write up ever?
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Indisputably one of the most important yet difficult wedding planning tasks is choosing your photographer. Not only do you need to find someone whose vision you trust, someone who has a passion for the art of wedding photography, you also need to find this in someone you can respect and trust with your most precious memories. Without a doubt, Jillian West of Little Bat Photography fits the bill, and then some.

Thanks Ruffled Blog!

http://ruffledblog.com/sponsored-post-little-bat-photography/

Without (further) further ado, I’m happy to post some of the photos from the wonderful wedding I photographed with Belathee Photography back in September. You might remember, if you read this blog or know me, that I serendipitously wound up sitting next to an amazing photographer on a plane to New Jersey in July. Annabel was a photographer originally from the West Coast, now East, and I was from the East Coast, now West. We talked for six hours and a few months later, she invited me to shoot a wedding with her in California. It was marvelous, and a great experience to work with someone else. You might notice that the photos aren’t my usual telling of a story, as these are just mine, and acted as a supplement to Annabel’s. Here are some of my picks of my picks. :)