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It’s a beautiful thing when you see one of your best and oldest friends marry their soul mate. It’s a complete honor to be the lucky one to photograph it all. Sweetening the deal even more is the fact that we made a trade; I photograph his wedding and he DJs my wedding. You’re engaged you ask? No, no plans to marry any time soon but I can not wait for Luke to DJ my wedding! Aside from being one of the Bay Area’s top DJs, Luke is a great friend, hilarious, creative, funky, and so much fun to be around. Michele is a bundle of beautiful, sweet, creative, amazingness herself and I am so crazy happy for the two of them. Their wedding was small, intimate, completely DIY, and filled with amazing DJs, so there was no shortage of good music. It took place at Wildwood Acres Resort in the canyons just outside of Oakland, California.
I’ve been the lucky beneficiary of many a DJ Platurn mix and now so are you! Click on the image below for a free download to the stellar mix that each of their guests received at their tables. FYI Luke is Icelandic and his real name is Illugi which is pronounced completely different than it looks. When he moved to California as a kid, he chose Luke (Skywalker, of course) to make things a little easier on himself and everyone else to get his name right.
Yes, Luke is very tall, and Michele’s aunt is very short!
A few shots of Michele’s awesome style and details.
I did an engagement session with James and Alexis in San Francisco this fall (a full blog post to come soon!). They just sent me a photo of their wall with the canvas prints they ordered. I love getting to see the images displayed in clients’ homes. Thanks for sending me the shot James!
These two funky ladies spent the better part of a year designing all of the details of their Puerto Vallarta wedding. It’s so great to see it featured on Style Me Pretty. Congratulations Lorena and Dustyn!
Tom + NicolePosted on: Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Carlyle on the Green, Long Island, New York
On a beautiful summer day in New York, Nicole and Tom married their best friends. And I got to document it! With the help of the wonderful Kiersten Rowland of Prema Photographic.
Vanessa met Lempe while studying on a semester abroad in Senegal. After many late nights up drinking tea and Lempe fielding Vanessa’s endless questions, the two started dating. Their road wasn’t easy because she had to go back to the U.S. in a few months. It was 3 years before she made it back to Senegal and then only for 4 months. The next trip though, they married in Senegal! 3 years later they are back living in California together. When I got an email from Vanessa telling me that they were planning a California wedding and that she’d been hoping I’d photograph her wedding ever since I photographed her friend Caitlin’s wedding 2 years prior, I was so excited. Knowing that someone really connects with me and my work makes documenting their special time that much more precious. Plus I adored her when I met her.
The wedding was held at Vanessa’s family’s property in the gorgeous Redwood country of Garberville, California, an area with so much meaning to them. Her father spent the most part of the year lovingly preparing their land and garden for the festivities. They had to wait to lock in a date until her brother knew he would be able to get leave from the army. He also officiated their wedding. A toast given by Vanessa’s mom in the Pig Latin type language that Vanessa used to speak with her friends was a hilarious highlight.
Lempe’s father was the only family member that was able to make the long trip from Senegal. He is a police officer back home and speaks Senegalese and French. In the slideshow below there is a shot of Vanessa translating his speech for him, and Lempe’s reaction to follow. Since he is Muslim, Lempe’s father doesn’t drink alcohol. I love the shot of Scott (Caitlin’s husband) secretly handing Lempe a flask so he could sneak some wedding day booze without his father noticing.
One more great tidbit, their dress requirement was to add an element of flair!
Vanessa was so sweet to send me a great Zouk song to go with the slideshow and the love poem read at their ceremony which follows.
It’s best to let the slideshow load before watching it.
Love by Roy Croft
I love you
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can’t help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple.
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good.
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
I entered the wedding photography world as a music/editorial/documentary photographer. At first I was a little skeptical. I kept to myself and didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to what other wedding photographers were doing. Until I realized that there are AMAZING wedding photographers out there. Photographers that inspire me to be a better photographer no matter what my subject is. One of the first things I noticed was that there was a photographers’ association that kept coming up when I looked at the work of those who I thought were the best in the industry. This was ISPWP -The International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers. I’m proud to have reached a personal goal of mine to be approved as a member of ISPWP and to be among the best wedding photographers in the world!
They say it best….
Click on the image below to be directed to ISPWP and see what they’re all about:
I thought this might be interesting to read for brides looking for a photographer:
I had to take a pause during some West Coast wedding travels to announce this amazing post of Tami and Dan’s Playa Mujeres wedding on the Lovely blog today. Click on the image below to be directed to the Lovely blog and take a peak at the beauty of this wedding.
Justin and Katy live just up the road from me in San Pancho and run an outstanding wedding design and coordination company called Playa Bliss Weddings. When they asked me to photograph their wedding I was truly honored. I love that they adore the area and chose to get married in the town church and have some mariachi dancing and hang out time in the plaza with the locals. I had to do a whole slideshow to tell this story.
Here is the slideshow of their day. It’s best to let it load before pressing play.
