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!

Next two photos by Adm:

Next three photos by Adm:

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:

Photo below by Adm:

Photo below by Adm:

Photo below on left by Adm:

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.

Donna + Robin in San Francisco, CA

I photographed Donna and Robin's wedding at the San Francisco Limn Gallery with fellow wedding photographer Preston Davis, who's awesome.  We started their relaxed Sunday affair with some early morning portraits along the Embarcadero before heading to the gallery for the ceremony followed by a lovely luncheon.  Donna got uber-creative as she made many of the details including the cake-topper and invitations!

Stephanie + Bill in Fullerton, CA

Here are a few photos from my cousin Stephanie's wedding to Bill.  I was part of the bridal party, and Adm and I set up a photo booth so I was only able to take a few photos here and there.  Stephanie was an absolutely gorgeous bride so I decided to create a digital contact sheet (above) since I had such a hard time deciding which was my favorite photo.  The reception, which Stephanie and Bill worked really hard on creating, was beautiful as well with lots of sweet, homemade details.

Steph and Bill put a lot of thought into their details including making homemade strawberry jam as favors for their guests.

I can personally attest to the deliciousness of the desserts... they were FABULOUS!

Baby Eli + Baby Lilian Round Two

Remember Eli and Lillian?  I had another session with them about a month after the first, and I'm pretty amazed by how quickly they're growing and developing into their own person.  I'm very happy to continually photograph them and can't wait to see how they change throughout their first year!

I love the leg-warmers and sandals!  So California!