Kai and Douglas spent a  lot of time planning their gorgeous wedding that they recently held in early Spring this year with their ceremony at the River of Life Church and reception at the Half Moon Bay Ritz Carlton. It was all organized and planned by Frances Liu, of Charmed Events, who did an amazing job of bringing this couple’s fairytale day to life.  We love the classic elegance of Kai and Doug but also that they were really great at just enjoying the day, being themselves, and having fun throughout the wedding.  We love the photos of them with their bridal party and really captured what a wonderful time they were having together!Kai was simply gorgeous and stunning in her wedding gown.  She looked beautiful and elegant but added some playful fun with her veil.  Kelvin captured such beautiful portraits of them both at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay and enjoyed working with them.   Kai and Doug were fantastic at being both candid and posed for the camera, and Kelvin clicked away, capturing some breathtaking moments between the two of them. We loved this private moment they shared down on the sand.  This kind of photograph is equally interesting in black and white and makes for a very romantic moment.  Don’t you just love the waves breaking in the background?  Such a great moment between the couple, for just a minute, before heading up to their beautiful reception (coming up in another post). Congratulations Kai & Doug!

Event Design and Planning:  Frances Liu of Charmed Events Group, LLC

Florist:  Nancy Liu Chin Designs

Cake:  Cake Expressions

Linens:   Napa Valley Linens

DJ:  Big Fun DJ

Custom Graphics and Stationary:  Charmed Events Group, LLC

Lighting:  Enhanced Lighting

Hair/Make Up:  Fiona

We will be observing this Friday, March 18th, as a day of blogging silence in honor of those in Japan who have been affected by the recent disaster.  We urge anyone who can help to make a donation above to help those affected by this tragedy.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of Japan.

Heather and Michael’s wedding had so many fun and cute details to their special day at Hotel Vitale.  They love San Francisco, and having met there, knew they had to get married in the city itself.  Hotel Vitale is an excellent venue for a city inspired wedding and they helped bring Heather and Michael’s wedding to life.  We just loved all of the lights for the upcoming holiday season built into the design of the wedding and the elements of outdoor being indoor as well.
The flowers were simply stunning!  With bold shades of purples, hot oranges, and crisp greenery it really reflected Heather and Michael’s personality.  We love that they coordinated matching, customized M&M’s for their guests to enjoy as well as their personalized cocktail napkins with cute love birds on them.   Swirly shades of green, cream, and various other colors of frosting topped off cupcakes that look so good I may have to go have one now.  We love how personalized all of their details are and how festive their reception truly was.We want to wish Heather and Michael all of the best in their newly married life for 2011 and forward! Congratulations!

Venue | Hotel Vitale

Caterer | Hotel Vitale

Dress | Maggie Sottero

Make Up | Sarah Hyde

Flowers | Carol Antraccoli – An Added Touch

Cupcakes | That Takes The Cake

At midnight tonight, our 2-1 print special ends. We have also lowered the cost of prints for this sale, so any prints 8×10 and smaller are available for just $40. Each image is retouched and makes a wonderful holiday gift. Order any print and receive a duplicate print of the same size free. If you are using a print credit, simply choose to “pay by check” and then let us know in the notes field you are using your print credit. Any remaining balance will be billed to your c.c. on file. Easy! All prints will be shipped December 15^th, with plenty of time for gift giving. This is the ONLY time of year we offer this special deal, so don’t miss out!

Congratulations to EJ & Linh, their wedding was featured by Style Unveiled, and you are read the feature and see all the great images here:

EJ & Linh’s wedding feature on Style Unveiled

Congratulations to the fabulous vndor team that made this possible, and of course, thanks to Kelvin & Alex for their stunning images which captured this wedding so perfectly!

We are looking for a new Studio Manager here at Geoff White Photographers. The ideal person for this position will be a real go-getter, someone with great people skills, and a solid admin background. The position is a mix of sales, and office manager. Daily responsibilities include meeting with clients, preparation for sessions, client follow up, and of course that amazing customer service we are know for! If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please leave a comment or email me and I will send you the full job description. Thanks!

Kerry & Matt celebrated their engagement at one of our most popular engagement locations: Baker Beach. This romantic pair spent the session giggling and grinning at each other, completely uninhibited by the camera, giving Kelvin ample space to capture their relationship.

We love Kerry’s sundress paired with casual beach shoes. This is a girl that really knows how to accessorize! Great jewelry created a dressy edge to her look, and Matt’s blue shirt picks up the blue tones in Kerry’s labradorite and silver necklace.

Kerry & Matt wanted to include their dog in their engagement session, and the expressions this little cutie can muster are simply adorable.

Bringing a pet is a fun addition to a portrait session, and it provides more photographic opportunities. You’ll find you can relax much faster in front of the camera too, giving us more time to capture you interacting. It can create a few challenges – getting two people smiling at the camera is tricky enough at times, but Kelvin managed it beautifully.

The San Francisco coast is unpredictable when it comes to the weather, but Kerry & Matt struck the most perfect sunset we’ve seen in some time. The golden afternoon lighting made the couple glow, and the setting sun was spectacular. Kelvin’s low-light photography mastery created some end-of-session portraits that are utterly intimate and so rich in color. We can’t wait for their wedding at The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay for more beach-side portraits!

Congratulations Kerry & Matt!

Congratulations to Shalini & Martin, whose  gorgeous Indian wedding  was selected as a feature for Today’s Bride. This wedding was photographed by Kelvin (he’s getting a LOT of editorial coverage these days…)

This incredible Indian wedding celebration took place at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. This was definitely an international celebration, as Shalini had relatives from India while Martin’s family came from Germany. And the couple is living in London right now. This gorgeous celebration was put together by Nikki Khan of Exquisite Events and the florals were put together by the amazing team at Asiel Design. Everyone did a fabulous job in creating the most spectacular event.

Congrats to Kelvin for capturing  magazine-worthy images yet again, and to Shalini & Martin for being trend setters in your wedding style!

This is the beginning of an educational  series on getting the most from your wedding photography. Each week there will be a new “lesson” in the series, and this information is for all couples, regardless of who their wedding photographer is. It is meant to help you get the very best experience from your wedding photographer and images. This was originally part of a presentation that I gave with Kevin Chin at the Wedding University, and it’s great info for anyone getting married. The first part talks about engagement sessions.

While Summer and Fall are typically our “wedding season”, Spring is usually when we are busy with engagement sessions. Engagement Sessions are great for a couple of reasons – they are a fantastic way for couples to get comfortable both in front of the lens and with your wedding photographer. Plus it is really nice to have some casual images as a couple, just being real with each other.  Weddings are all about glamorous, once-in-a-lifetime celebrations, whereas Engagement Sessions celebrate your every-day relationship.

When it comes to the engagement session, it’s a good idea to put some thought & planning into it. After all, this is an investment of your time and money, so why not make the most of it? Here are some great tips on how to get the most from your engagement session:

Location – You could select a location that has a special meaning to you, or that reflects your personalities in some way. You could plan a mini-date in order to capture the two of you enjoying life – something like mini-golf, getting ice cream, having a drink, etc. You should also consider the background setting you prefer,  such as a park, urban, beach, architecture, and so on. It is completely up to you. However, if you are having trouble deciding on a location your photographer most likely can help you brainstorm, and they probably have locations that have worked well for them in the past.

This couple chose a forest setting for their engagement photo session, as the groom is an arborist, and so trees and nature are very important to the couple.

Clothing & Makeup – Once you have the location set you will want to start thinking about clothing, hair and makeup. You want to show off your relationship and also your personality, and one of the best ways to do that is through your clothing and accessories. Don’t be afraid of a little flair! Scarves, belts, hats, shoes and jewelry all add to your look and will help create some amazing images for you. From a creative standpoint, your wedding photographer is going to be much more inspired if you bring some personal style to the session! If you have the ability to schedule your wedding hair and makeup trial on the same day as the engagement session, you ensure you’ll look your very best in the engagement photos. We also recommend coordinating your two outfits together – when choosing clothing for the two of you, think of the different pieces as one outfit, so that everything works well together and has a pulled together look. Also, think about clothing that will suit the location.

Notice how much fun the various accessories add to the image? This couple put a lot of thought into their clothing and accessories, and it really paid off!

This couple brought a couple of different accessories to add a touch of playfulness to their session.

Notice the colors the couple on the left is wearing-the fuchsia color of the woman’s blouse is picked up in her fiance’s shirt. The couple on the right chose dressy, casual clothing that looked great in the setting they choose for their session.

Look Your Best – Whatever you like to do to look your best, try to plan these activities prior to your session. Things like eyebrow waxing, highlights, haircuts, teeth whitening, manicure, etc. We aren’t saying go all out here, but if you do those things regularly, then plan to them prior to the session.

Play it Up in front of the Camera! – Another big way to really make the most of your session is to play up your relationship for the camera. At first you might feel a little nervous and shy, which is very typical. In fact, we usually don’t get many great photos during the first 20 minutes or so, as the couple gets warmed up to the camera. So don’t worry if you feel nervous at first, but do try to have fun and relax. The idea is to capture the real relationship between the two of you, and the best way to do that is to act naturally with each other, but in a way that reflects your relationship. If you are typically goofy with each other, then show that to the camera. If the two of you tend to be more intimate, then go ahead and snuggle up, hold hands, embrace, look into each other’s eyes. If you are very romantic and tend to be more on the sensual side, then don’t be afraid to show it!

This couple turned up the heat to show off their passionate side.

Head shots – Since you are going to be dressed up for professional pictures, why not ask your photographer to take a couple of head shots for each of you. You never know when you are going to need a nice head shot for work, Facebook or whatever. It only takes a minute, so take advantage of the opportunity!

This is an example of a casual head shot and a more standard head shot – both of these would work in different business situations, and will come in handy down the road.

Sunset –Ask your photographer if it is possible to schedule your engagement session about an hour before sunset. This is the very best time of day for lighting (besides dawn) and the difference this will make in the quality of your images is HUGE. We always try to schedule our engagement sessions at this time, because you are making an investment in these images, and we want the very best for our clients. In fact, the time of day is much more important than the location. It’s all about the lighting!

Be on Time – Most photographers will allocate a certain amount of time for your session, and if you are late, that eats into your time, plus you’ll probably be stressed (and so will your photographer!).

Loosen Up – You want to be relaxed and comfortable prior to your session, so if a glass of wine before your session starts will help you relax and have fun, go for it.

This couple is super easy going and fun. Their relationship really comes through on camera, because they were willing to just let go and be themselves.

Don’t Be Nervous – A lot of people are very nervous about the engagement session, as they don’t really know what to expect. It’s really fun! There’s lots of kissing and cuddling! So just think of it as a mini date, you’ll be in some romantic location, looking into each other’s eyes, walking hand in hand, giggling, and that’s about all there is to it. The goal is to capture your real relationship on camera, so just be yourselves and have a great time!

Ok, well that’s it for part 1. Look for additional posts in the coming weeks. If you are a photographer looking for photography business and marketing ideas, I recomend checking out PhotoMint.  I’d love to hear your comments and feedback!