Catherine + Brian in Woodside, CA

As we drove to Catherine and Brian's wedding, I felt like I was going on vacation.  We wound our way through the coastal pines of the South Bay to Thomas  Fogarty Winery, nestled in the Santa Cruz hills overlooking the entire bay.  The view was absolutely breathtaking and you could see all the way to San Francisco!  Maybe that was why Catherine and Brian traveled all the way from Bloomington, Indiana to have their wedding here.

On top of their mountain, among the trees, Catherine and Brian exchanged some of the most heartfelt and personal vows we've heard.  It was truly a family affair as Catherine's two brothers presided over the ceremony, her mother and aunt worked tirelessly on the flowers, cakes and other decor, and both Catherine's and Brian's fathers and Brian's uncle roasted the newlyweds after dinner.  Thank you, Catherine and Brian, for sharing such an intimate day with us.

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Katie + James in Solana Beach

Katie's mother Peggy and her husband Tim were our neighbors a couple of years ago when Adm and I first moved to Oakland, and so when Katie contacted us about photographing her wedding, we were incredibly honored.  And once we met Katie and James and the rest of their families, we felt even more privileged to document this special day for these two.  Their families were so nice and so easy going about everything.  During James' toast, he talked about how while growing up, he never saw his parents fight or lose their composure, and although we just met Katie and James, we have a feeling these two are the same way with one another.  It was such a pleasure just being around the two of them.

Their wedding took place at James' parent's beautiful home in Solana Beach, and it was the perfect backyard summer wedding.  Katie and James included their dog Ember and their parents' dog Cabo in the wedding festivities.  The ceremony was lovely and personal and included moments where Katie and James honored both of their parents and James' grandparents, who were the longest married couple.  After the cake-cutting, we were able to sneak these two off to a nearby beach for some photos at sunset, and we arrived just in time to catch a glimmer of the sun peeking through the clouds.  It was the perfect way to end a wonderful day.  Congratulations, Katie and James!

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Sonja + AJ's Engagement in Goleta, CA

You know the look that couples get in their eyes when they are sharing a special moment together?  Well, we got to share a lot of special moments with Sonja and AJ during their engagement session.  They have that way of looking at each other where you can that these two are brimming with love and passion for one another.  Plus, they both have a great sense of humor, and check out Sonja's hair!  Yup, it's all real (I asked).  Lucky girl.

Sonja and AJ chose Stow House and the old train station in Goleta (just a little north of Santa Barbara) for their engagement shoot.  Since Sonja is from this area, she used to romp around all the grounds surrounding the ranch while growing up.  We had a great time romping around the grounds with them during our session.  There were so many fun places to shoot: Stow House, the South Coast Railroad museum and Lake Los Carneros with a wooden bridge through the reeds.  We're really looking forward to their September wedding in Santa Barbara.

Ichien Family Portrait

I love this family.  You may recognize Stephanie as one of the bridesmaids in Erika and Colin's wedding last summer.  In addition to bridesmaid extraordinaire, she has been one of my best friends since sixth grade, and so I have so many fun memories of playing with her and being at her house with her family.  Even though she now lives in Oregon and we're in the Bay Area, we've managed to stay in touch throughout the years.  While we were both down in southern California last week, we got together to photograph not only her immediate family, but her extended family as well.  It's amazing how time flies and everyone has all grown up - Steph's older sister Jess now has her own baby, Hank (who stole the show for most of the shoot), and their littlest brother Nick, who was five years old when I first met him, is now in college in New York!  Yikes that makes me feel old!  At any rate, Adm and I had a fun evening with them all in Culver City, and the light was absolutely perfect.

Adm took the following two photos of Hank:

Sneak Peek: Katie + James in Solana Beach

After a weekend full of shoots in southern California, we are now cranking away on the editing side.  For now, here's a sneak peek of a portrait of Katie and James during their Solana Beach wedding.

Dana + Marc in Santa Rosa, CA

Dana and Marc were married in late June at Kenwood Depot, an old train station in Santa Rosa.  When I arrived, I was immediately greeted by a flurry of family and friends who were helping decorate and set up everything for the ceremony and reception.  You can't come away from this wedding without feeling the immense love not only between Dana and Marc but also for Dana and Marc by their friends and family.  So many people happily pitched in to help out with the wedding - from good friends acting as parking attendants to helping set up and clean up to DIY reception decorations made by the mothers to heartfelt beautiful toasts by close friends to the lovely bouquets made by Dana's sisters to Marc's brother as the MC and train conductor extraordinaire to the gorgeous quilt used for the Chuppa and made by Marc's mother.  I don't normally blog a lot of details, but since there were so many that were so personal to this couple, I've included a number of them in this post.  Additionally, Dana and Marc had the best ceremony intro - a complete recreation of the marriage scene in "The Princess Bride."  Everyone involved in the ceremony was in on the skit and had their own line.  Here's a snippet to refresh your memories:

"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...  And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva...  So tweasure your wuv."

OK, enough yammering.  Dana and Marc, I wish you two all the best with lots of laughs for years to come.