Zona + Eric in San Francisco, CA

If I had to choose one place in Golden Gate Park that feels as if you've stepped into a magical story book garden it would be the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers.  Add a room full of butterflies emerging daily from their cocoons and I think the magic might even be doubled.  What that all comes down to is it's a truly amazing and gorgeous space to explore, make pictures, and celebrate a wedding.  Especially Zona and Eric's wedding.  These two were so easy to be around, it's as if we had been friends for a very long time.  I always think the personalities of the couple sets the vibe for the wedding, and Zona and Eric, who were super relaxed and conscientious of their guests, set a great mood for their wedding.  Photographing their celebration was such a treat for us!  Thanks so much for having us and we wish you so much laughter and love!

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Next two photos by Adm:

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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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Jenni + Steve Engagement

Over the weekend, we met up with Jenni and Steve to do their engagement session.  As it turns out, we all are very close neighbors and so we started just a few short blocks from home at Gaylord's, a coffee shop off of Piedmont Ave. where Jenni and Steve had their first date.  After a few photos with their wiggly cats, we headed to Steve's old stomping grounds in Mill Valley.  Mini redwood forests surround this town, and so we had no problem finding beautiful places to take photos.  We stopped in at their favorite pizza place, Tony Tutto's to devour some delicious pizzas before ending the shoot along Blackies Pasture in Tiburon.

We can't wait photograph them with their family and friends at their wedding in just a few months!

Creating an Identity, Part II

When I was four years old, my mom let me pick out my own shoes.  Well, sort of.  She would take me to Nordstroms and pick out three pairs of shoes that fit her criteria - durability, budget and style, and then she let me determine which of those three shoes I wanted.  At the time, with the power to make the final decision in my hands, this made me feel like I was in charge.  However, in looking back, I of course now realize that it was still my mom who was running the ship.  When I made the decision to work with Emma on my (re-)branding, I felt this huge weight lifted off my shoulders.  I was finally leaving it to the professional, one whom I trusted and had great confidence in, to create the perfect logo.  Little did I know that Emma would put me right back where I was when I was four: she'd give me choices, all ones she knew she could stand behind, and leave the final decision up to me.  Lucky for me, I was in capable hands with Emma, just as capable as my mom who covertly stylized my feet for the duration of my childhood. The first step that Emma and I worked on for creating a logo was coming up with a color scheme.  She initially gave me four options, as shown below:

My favorites from the initial selection were the second and fourth choices.  I loved the second choice because the colors had been pulled from a floral arrangement that had two of my most favorite plants:  succulents and rhonunculas.  I also loved the last palette - something about it felt very French and rich to me.  We further explored these choices:

And, after a little tweaking, we landed on the color scheme below:

Once we had determined the color scheme, Emma sent me some font options:

I narrowed them down to 3, 5, and 6.  Even though they're the plainest of the bunch, the simplicity of these fonts felt very Marc-Jacobesque, who was one of my main inspirations for a clean and no frills logo.

Next, Emma presented her first stab at the logo!

And, here are some ways that it could be implemented into marketing collateral:

When I first saw the logo, I immediately loved the painted flowers.  I loved the whimsical feel of them, and I thought the colors integrated really well together.  I wasn't too crazy about the heart, which felt big and bulky to me, and left no space for the typography.

So, Emma played around with the painting and font and came up with this:

I loved this idea - at first glance, you can't tell what the design within the text is, but it's bright and colorful.  I can easily integrate the flowers into other aspects of my collateral so that the whole presentation holds together.  I didn't want all of my pieces to be matchy matchy, but instead wanted them to feel a little eclectic.  However, in this first round, there was a little too much purple within the name, so Ms. Emma went back to the drawing board and came up with this:

The yellow background did it for me, and voila, we had a logo!

Not to toot my own horn, but I love how the logo incorporates BOTH elegance and simplicity with a sense of fun and beauty, all elements that I want people to think of when they see our clients' wedding photographs.  In my next post, I'll be revealing all of the final pieces of collateral including business cards, stationery, packaging...

Reshma + Jimmy Engagement, Part 1

We had a lot of fun with Reshma and Jimmy.  I actually knew Jimmy from working with him at the Oakland Tribune a couple of years ago so it was great to catch up and to meet Reshma, who is wonderful!  We actually ended up doing three different engagement shoots so check back later in the week for those.  For our first shoot, Reshma and Jimmy introduced us to a hidden gem in Morgan Hill: Castillo Winery.  The winery is fairly new and owned by a lovely family who gave us free roam of the property for their engagement photos.  I immediately headed for the field of mustard flowers, which are so beautiful and only bloom during late winter/early spring.  Check out the color!