India + Brian in Livermore, CA

When Brian was five years old, he went to his parents with tears in his eyes and told them that he never wanted to get married because he would have to leave them.  But as it happens in boys' lives, one day he came home from a ski trip and all he could talk about was the girl he had met instead of the snow or his friends.  The girl was India, and it wasn't long before Brian's parents also knew how special she was.  Ever since, India and Brian have been inseparable.

India and Brian had their ceremony and reception at a winery in Livermore, California.  Their reception was a blast of color with peacock feathers and an array of turquoise, purple, red and fuchsia.   Of course, India looked absolutely stunning, and Brian couldn't keep his eyes off her.  It was an all around beautiful and fun evening.

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Jennifer + Eddie in Livermore, CA

Jennifer and Eddie’s wedding was one eleven years in the making.  Their romance started while in college at UCLA and reignited years later while they were both working in New York.  Now, these two are so in love that when I asked them to take a step apart for one portrait, they replied, “But we don’t wanna."

They had a Catholic ceremony at St. Michael’s church in Livermore, CA, which was followed by a poker-themed reception just down the road at a nearby winery.  I have to mention that as someone with a lot of school spirit (GO HEELS!), I also really enjoyed all of the UCLA touches they added to their wedding: a Bruin chant before the cake cutting, a Bruin garter, cake topper and M&Ms.  Also, these two totally know how to throw a raging dance party, so the reception seemed to just fly by with almost everyone out on the dance floor all night long.  Congratulations, Jennifer and Eddie!

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Joyce + Lucas in Menlo Park, CA

We found ourselves at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park again for Joyce and Lucas' beautiful outdoor summer wedding.  It was a perfect day, the garden was gorgeous, and Joyce and Lucas were radiant.  Throughout the ceremony, Lucas kept glancing at Joyce, and as soon as their eyes locked, he would break out into a sweet smile.  Both Joyce and Lucas are very close with their families - Joyce's sister was her maid of honor and Lucas' father was his best man, and it was truly a privilege to witness these two families coming together.  Both of their mothers shared stories and poems about the two during the ceremony, and after the ceremony, they held hands as they walked back down the aisle.  Similarly, both of their fathers gave beautiful toasts, sharing stories of Joyce and Lucas as little ones, and sharing stories of the two coming together.  With all the love and support surrounding these two, we know they'll have a long and happy life with one another.

For the wedding itself, Joyce worked with Andrea and Johanna of Lily and Mint to create thoughtful and beautiful details.  Joyce is a big Scrabble player (I think I overheard that she even played a couple of Scrabble moves the morning of her wedding), and so they used Scrabble tiles to decorate all of the tables.  They also had a soft pink, peach and pale blue color scheme that tied all of the details, flowers and table decorations together.  We love seeing and photographing all of the ways that couples make their wedding unique to them, and Joyce and Lucas' was certainly no exception!

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Here are all of the details (photographed by both Adm and myself):

Next three photos by Adm: Adm made this photo below of Joyce and Lucas' first dance, and it is one of my all-time favorite first dance pictures:

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Eli and Lilian

Here's the latest set of images of Eli and Lilian.  I photographed them at Lake Merritt in Oakland, and enjoyed taking pictures at the perfect time of day (just before sunset).  They're getting pretty big and were scooting around on their little bikes.

Marika + Felix in San Diego, CA

Adm and I headed down to our first wedding in San Diego to photograph Marika and Felix at the end of July (yes, we're still catching up on our blogging).  In one sense, many of their pictures feel so quintessentially "SoCal" with the sun streaming through the palm trees.  On the other hand, Marika completely transformed the Abbey, where they had the ceremony and reception, so that the wedding felt like an intimate, candlelight dinner, something even a little wintery and European.  Or maybe it felt so European because there were so many European guests.  Felix is German and a number of his groomsmen, family members and friends came out from Germany for the wedding.  And boy can the Germans dance!  They tore up the dance floor making this the most dancing we've seen at a wedding.  Marika, however, was not to be outdone and busted a number of her own moves on the dance floor, and she looked amazing doing it.  Actually, scratch that - Marika was drop. dead. gorgeous.  Seriously, she looked like she had walked right out of a Vogue magazine.  Felix, my friend, you're a lucky guy.  And we feel lucky to have met both of you!

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I thought Adm and I tag-teamed Marika and Felix's "first look" very nicely:  Adm made the photo on the left while I made the photo on the right:

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Adm lit and made this photograph of the first dance:  (actually, the Abbey was really dark so we ended up lighting the whole wedding, which was a good challenge!)

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Jaclyn + Andy in Santa Barbara, CA

Oh boy!  Where to start with this wedding?  First off, Jaclyn and I go wayyyy back to our softball playing days (yes, for those who don't know, I used to be a softball pitcher) when we played against each other's travel ball teams throughout high school before playing with each other as Tar Heels throughout college.  I have so many stories with Jaclyn - like this one time when our team was at the beach in Florida on spring break, and we sprinkled our coach (who was sleeping) with goldfish and then sat back to watch the gulls swoop....  Yeah, I have probably had the most laughs with this girl - she is ridiculous, but in the best kind of way, and a whole lot of fun.  Needless to say, you can only imagine what kind of guy it would take to both reel in Jac's craziness as well as add to it.  And lucky for her, Andy is that guy.  They are perfect together, and their wedding was an incredible reflection of both their personalities - they had games throughout the reception, in lieu of cocktail hour, they had "80s Power Hour," their dog Hogan made a special toast to the newlyweds.... the list goes on.  Since Jaclyn is one of my dear friends, I doubled as bridesmaid and photographer, leaving Adm with the bulk of the photo duties.  We also brought along our friend Justin Maxon to help make pictures so between the three of us, this was the most well covered wedding to date.  Jaclyn and Andy had a beautiful ceremony on a cliff called "The Bluffs" in Santa Barbara that overlooked the ocean, followed by a reception at Elings Park, which they transformed so that it felt like their personal backyard party.  After the reception, everyone headed to their favorite local bar, "The Neighborhood" for the after-party.  Jaclyn and Andy, I can't wait to have so many more good times with you two - you guys rock!

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