Geoff & I were very excited to work with Cay Lemon of Zest Productions on the gorgeous wedding of a gorgeous couple Jenna & Ryan (who may also be referred to as “the hotness”). Every detail was carefully planned & beautifully executed. It was absolutely stunning. The wedding celebration took place at the Villagio Inn & Spa in Napa Valley. The couple chose a color palette of black & white, with a bit of fushia & red thrown in. Karen Axel Tapestry Flowers created stunning floral centerpieces & accents. Jenna & Ryan were absolutely beaming all day long, and their guests had an amazing time. It was one of those weddings that people will never forget!

I LOVE how green the grass is here:

Jenna getting centered before walking down the aisle:

More of the hotness:

the guests were greeted with these yummy Italian ice drinks just after the ceremony:

After dinner in the tent, guests headed to the Barrel Room for dancing. They had this super fun candy bar set up for their guests:

Rachel & Michael are 2 of the most sweetest, beautiful & delightful couples you could ever hope to meet. Married at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, this couple is meant for one another. The ceremony took place  on the Gazebo Lawn, and the reception was held in the ballroom. Laura Little of Floramor designed the overall look and feel of the ceremony & ballroom based on Rachel’s love of a modern, fresh look & simple color palette. The couple used their date as part of their design theme, and I can already envision how the cover of their wedding album will look:

Rachel’s Vera Wang dress looked absolutely stunning on her. Here she is with none other than Mr. Tony White, the man who makes it all happen:

These two alternated between crying & giggling throughout their ceremony, it was very, very sweet:

Laura transformed the ballroom into a dreamy setting filled with candle light:

After the first dance Rachel changed into a dress made for dancing. cakes by Susan Morgan of Elegant Cheesecakes never fail to disappoint:

The couple took a moment to enjoy the sunset form the bluffs:

Always on the lookout for a clever favor idea, I’m posting some favorites to inspire you…the first ones are homemade jams and homemade lemon curd with homemade treats like this, it just doesn’t get any better.

This is a gift wrapped set of playing cards, which nicely ties into one of the themes of the wedding-the groom loves poker, and the wedding cake was done as hand of poker. Very clever!

People actually ate the apples, and the incense leaves were very unique.

This one here is from Omega & Tom’s wedding, they gave their guests a road trip play list, very cute.

The maple syrup is a nod to the groom’s Canadian heritage & the jelly beans were super cute in these little jars:

The little blue box on the left looks innocent, but it held the most insanely delicious toffee I have ever tasted, and I could be easily bribed to do almost anything for some more of that toffee! The one on the right is rosemary salt, which is really simple but totally useful.

more cute presentations:

This was like a gift table for the guests-they got take home honey & tea, a DIY candy buffet & some sort of baked treats in a box!

This is the final installment on the personal wedding style of Tarah & Eric, and it features their delicious dessert buffet & foodie details. Here are a few more images for you, and you can read the entire entry here:

http://www.celebrityweddingbuzz.com/celebrity_weddings/celebrity_wedding_series/

And from the dessert buffet:

Celebrity Weddings Blog has done a 3 part feature on Tarah & Eric’s wedding style. Part 2 focuses on how you can incorporate you monogram into your wedding. Here’s a few images that show how Tarah & Eric did it, and you can click the link below to get the full story:

http://www.celebrityweddingbuzz.com/celebrity_weddings/2008/09/working-your-mo.html

Set the tone right from the beginning by incorporating your monogram into the invitation:

The mongram was also featured on the wedding program, and as guests entered the ballroom, it was one of the first things they saw:

Here it is at the top of the menu, a simple way to tie all the elements together:

and on the cake:

finally, the mongram was used as a gift tag on the favors, and for their wedding album set:

Nancy & Larry were married in a stunning oceanside ceremony at The Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay (Because there’s no place else like the Ritz). Their wedding celebration was an intimate affair with close friends and family, and Nancy & Larry pampered their guests at every turn. It was one of those rare perfect days. Perfect weather, gorgeous couple, stunning details, amazing service from the Ritz staff, and a very very happy bride. Not a single hitch in the entire day. And I’ve got the photos to prove it. Not to brag, but these are just a few of the highlights…

Nancy planned her day so that she was ready a couple of hours prior to the ceremony, which allowed us to do a mini bridal portrait session with her,  a great way to take advantage of the gorgeous location:

Larry waited a long (long) time to find the perfect woman, and he finally found her, which is why he’s so happy:

All those workouts definitely paid off, I  was inspired to start working out so I can get some buff arms like Nancy:

Nancy BEAMED all day, she was so full of happiness and joy, she literally could not stop smiling:

The ceremony area overlooking the bluffs provides a dramatic backdrop for the bride’s entrance. She was escorted by her two sons David and Corey:

You definitely need 2 photographers to capture it the bride’s entrance from the front and the back, both perspectives are visually stunning-the guests & groom see the bride arriving from atop a green hillside like above, and the bride makes her entrance while getting that gorgeous view of the ocean & seeing her husband to be looking back at her:

The couple kept their family portraits to a minimum so we’d have time to focus on the bride and groom, and we took the opportunity to head down to the beach:

The bride chose the color scheme to match the Ritz Carlton decor, and it turned out beautifully, cobalt blue and gold, with hints of orange for contrast:

Cake by Elegant Cheesecakes, cake design was inspired by the bride’s dress:

The cobalt blue glassware looked amazing in that room:

A big part of what helped us create these amazing images from this wedding is that the couple put together a great time line that allowed a lot of down time and relaxing for their guests. Dinner service was leisurely, and the reception wasn’t so action packed with events that the natural flow of the evening was being constantly interrupted. Which allowed the guests to really relax and have a good time. As photographers, this allowed us the time to get creative, as we weren’t running around like mad trying to get family portraits done left and right, or making sure that we were on guard to capture 5 toasts spread out over the course of 90 minutes.

We snuck out for a few minutes around sunset to get some nice portraits during the last light:

As if the meal itself wasn’t amazing enough (believe me, it was) the couple surprised their guests with a s mores station out on the patio, which also has a fire pit & lounge area. It was truly sublime:

After the cake cutting & dancing, guests relaxed on the patio with s mores and custom made espressos from the espresso station:

On sunday Geoff & I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Hilary & Jeff at Villa Montalvo (which you will see soon enough!). While at the wedding, we ran into our clients Carrie & Chris, who are now expecting their first child. I love seeing our clients at weddings, and it means a lot to us when people refer us to their friends. Plus it’s really fun for clients to get a chance to see us in action, and they gain a whole new perspective on what we do. Carrie & Chris even helped us out with a certain shot, we wanted the couple to kiss during dinner, but wanted it to be “spontaneous” so Carrie and Chris made it happen “spontaneously” by clinking glasses with forks, which caused the desired result. And at the end of the evening, they snuck out some cupcakes for us! Carrie & Chris’s wedding is featured as a “real wedding” on brides.com and their wedding was the absolute definition of classic style:

http://www.brides.com/weddingstyle/realweddings/162452

Green is definitely going to be a hot color for 2009, hopefully along with “green” weddings. Green works well with so many different colors, and you can create completely different looks and feelings with the second color you choose for your color palette. Green works with chocolate, whites and ivories, orange, yellows, pinks, even blue. I love to photograph weddings where the color is a strong element of the decor through the wedding, starting with the invitation, all the way through the reception, and all those great little details in between. Here are some ideas for you to consider when planning your green wedding, and let me know if you’d like to see another color featured, of if you’d like the name of one of the talented florists or designers who put these great concepts together. Starting off with flower girl and ring bearer ideas:

Grooms wearing green:

Ceremony Details:

Cocktail Hour ideas:

Reception:

Jen & Travis were recently married at the gorgeous Ralston Hall in Belmont. This couple is so easy going, so much fun and so COOL! We had an absolute blast working with them. Both Jen & Travis have amazing style as you can see. They chose to have a “green” wedding and we were honored to be a part of that. They incorporated as many “green” elements as possible into the wedding, including printing their invitations on recycled paper using soy based ink, limiting the invitation to the essential pieces, working with the caterer to use organic and locally grown produce, and florist Asiel Design to use locally grown flowers,forgoing boutineers and otherwise limiting the amount of cut flowers used, hiring photographers (that would be us) that are all digital & use an online proofing system, offsetting their carbon footprint by offsetting all wedding related carbon emissions through Carbon Fund Foundation among other things. It was a great way to make a statement about something that’s important, and also a great way to share values with your friends and family. Education is the key. Here are a few highlights:

Here’s Travis & the guys:

A few close-ups during the ceremony:

Just after the ceremony finished:

There’s this very cool little bamboo area:

This is one of my favorites:

Linnae & Jon did a fantastic job with the florals, and the color palette Jen choose was perfect for this room:

Jen has a thing for the chandeliers, so I think she’ll be happy to see the dozen different takes Geoff did for her, all gorgeous. Here’s one:

Their guests had SO MUCH FUN with the photo booth, and they even had props available:

Of course, the first dance:

For those of you planning an autumn wedding, here are some ideas to inspire you. I love the rich fall colors, it’s my favorite time of year & the weather here in the Bay Area is amazing. Starting with ceremony ideas:

All the groomsmen wore ties in various shades of greens to match the bridesmaids dresses. I love to see groomsmen in suits, I think they are more comfortable, and it allows you to tie into the color theme with the tie (no pun intended!):

2 different takes on the chocolate bridesmaids dresses with dark pinks:

The maple leaf shaped maple syrup bottles were selected to honor the groom’s Canadian heritage:

This reception was lit by candle light, and the florist, Sharla Flock of Sharla Flock Designs used pears for the place settings & maple leafs throughout:

You can see they selected 3 different shades of autumn colors for their table cloths. Colorful linens make a huge impact on the overall look: