Brittainie’s many many late nights in rehearsals are finally paying off! She performed in the Woodside Community Theater’s presentation of The Music Man. I was so proud!

Here’s a group shot from one of the final scenes

We photographed a wedding at the Carmel Mission, what a gorgeous place to get married! The colors, the textures, and the light is incredible there. Everywhere you turn, there’s another amazing backdrop!

Inside the church itself, the photography rules are a bit on the strict side. I had to stand in a closet for the entire ceremony, but I didn’t mind, I was still able to get some great expressions of the couple such as this:

Here are a few images from the courtyard:

At the reception, I had noticed that one of the tables was labeled as the “kids Table” so of course I expected to see a bunch of little munchkins eating and coloring at the table once the guests were seated for dinner. But instead, it was all the now grown up cousins, who were so used to sitting at the kids table during family gatherings, they’ve kept the tradition going. It was  a very cute idea!

We love to get these “scene setter” types of shots during dinner. It’s a long exposure, just as the light has slipped away.

Sophia & Gareth are getting married in January at Kohl Mansion. We met up with them at Stanford for an engagement session. They ordered a Signature Book, which is a leather album containing their favorite images from the engagement session, and the guests at the wedding can sign the pages with their wishes and hopes for the couple. It’s a great way to combine the tradition of a guest signing book with a way to enjoy the engagement images.

Look at those lovely fall colors:

The day began at in Los Gatos where Phuong & her girls were getting gorgeous:

No photography during the ceremony but we got the kiss:

Phuong & Greg were so happy to be married finally:

Their reception was held at Nestldown, what a beautiful ending:

Maria & Josh chose the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay as the perfect location for their beach themed wedding. I love that property, even though it’s a “Ritz Carlton”  it feels very relaxed and casual. Every evening  a bagpiper welcomes the sunset. How can you not love that? Maria was one of the most calm brides we’ve ever seen! Maybe it’s because of her professional work as emotionally disadvantaged women and children. Did I mention Maria has a heart of gold? Her hair and makeup were done by Taylor Pham of Faces By Taylor. My mom says Maria has “magic in her eyes” what do you think?

Brides often worry whether it will be foggy in Half Moon Bay, but this is the type of weather we usually get:

Josh waiting at the alter for Maria. Maria was escorted down the aisle by her brother Robert, such an incredible gentleman. His eyes were on Maria the whole time:

Views just don’t get any better than this:

After the brief ceremony, guest were treated to signature cocktails while we did the family portraits.

After finishing up the family portraits, The Ritz staff drove us over to the stairs to go down to the beach for a few nice portraits. This is what they chose for the front of their thank you card:

Maria arranged to get a groom’s cake done like bi-plane since Josh is a pilot:

Those dance lessons paid off: