As any Bay Area resident would know, the weather here has been strange of late.  It’s been raining a lot lately and it was bound to rain on a wedding one of these weekends.  Sure enough, Murphy’s Law prevailed and the day of Kris & Gabe’s wedding started overcast and quickly degraded to a full shower by the time of the reception.

Good thing we had their revealing earlier in the day so that we got a chance to take some bridal portraits at Stanford University before heading to the Silver Creek Valley Country Club.

With the weather being so unpredictable, it was decided that they move the ceremony indoors.  The original ceremony site was an outdoor area near the golf club’s waterfall.

Even though they had seen each other prior to the ceremony, Kris couldn’t help but shed some tears when she walked down the isle.  Of course, the bridesmaids seeing their friend cry, started crying too!

After the ceremony, the rain was really coming down hard but not letting the weather affect her wedding day, Kris made the best of it by breaking out her bright purple rain boots!  She asked me if we can go outside to take some pictures with her wearing them.  Being one to not shy away from a challenge, I readily agreed and we set off to find a good spot for the quick shoot.

Not surprisingly, it was quite a challenge to: stay dry, direct, take pictures and smile!  Somehow we pulled it off and we got some of my favorite wedding images ever!

Here are some highlights of one of my favorite weddings.   Enjoy!

(Make sure to start the slideshow at the end of the post)

I’ve shot a few engagement as well as some wedding day portrait sessions at Stanford throughout the years and always wished I had an opportunity to to shoot a wedding at the church.  Well when I met Lily and Terry for their consultation early last year and they said that their wedding ceremony was at Stanford Memorial Church, I secretly was jumping for joy!

We did their engagement session in San Francisco soon after the consultation and I was just dying for their wedding day to roll around.  With the busy summer wedding months, their day came around quickly enough.

When Giao and I got to the Sheraton hotel in Palo Alto, you would think they were nervous… you know, considering that it’s their wedding day an all but nope.  Everyone was pretty laid back and no one was in much of a rush.  Quite a change from the weddings that I’ve shot lately!

With the makeup done, we had a few minutes (very rare!) to take some bridal portraits of Lily before we headed out to Stanford University.

As my first experience shooting a wedding at Stanford’s beautiful church, I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful ceremony.  Even with the church’s many rules on where/how/when photographers can go for the entirety of the ceremony, we got some spectacular wedding ceremony pictures.  Having shot e-sesions AROUND Stanford several times before, we had little trouble finding some nice spots to do the portraits of entire bridal party.

Well enough introduction, here’s some pix from their wedding in Palo Alto.

VENDORS:

Hair & Makeup:  Giao Nguyen Hair & Makeup Artistry

Chair covers: Especially Yours Chair Covers

Reception: Sheraton Palo Alto

I had met Roxann and Dan through another client ages ago.  During our e-session, Dan had some questions about digital photography and little did I suspect that those questions led to him loving photography!  This is why I love taking pictures so much.  It’s a chance to meet others that have the same passion for it and to see them grow in their skills and artistry.  You never know, we may see Dan Wehrle Photography in the future!

You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to do a wedding.  The temperature was moderate.  Since the wedding was being held outside in one of the Monterey Plaza Hotel bayside terraces (with a spectacular view of Monterey Bay no less) I was afraid that the sun was going to be a problem.  But I guess the stars aligned themselves just right and we got just the right amount of cloud coverage to provide shade and a beautiful backdrop to the ceremony.

If you take a look at the first image, you’ll see the wedding bands nestled in one half of a metal sphere.  When we were capturing the details shots, Roxann told us that the minister of the peace had requested that NO ONE touches directly the wedding bands except for Roxann or Dan.  We could certainly open the metal sphere but it was Roxann that position the rings for us.  To top things off, the ring shot was taken next to the balcony that was right on top of the rocky shores that the Plaza Hotel overlooked!  Talk about nerve racking!

The reception, just like the ceremony was small and intimate.  They had a huge desert/treat table setup for the guests with tons of home made goodness.

Here are some highlights from their wedding in Monterey Bay.  Enjoy!

Hair & Makeup:  Giao Nguyen Makeup Artistry & Hair Design

Venue: Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa

Flowers: Boulder Creek Flowers

DJ: DNA Entertainment

Before heading to the Golf Club, we stopped by the waterfall to take some bridal party pictures.  Lucky for us, with the rain throughout the whole week, the waterfall was running.

With the uncertainty, every one felt that it would be safer to move the ceremony indoors.  With the awesome team of vendors that they had, it was seemingly effortless.  Despite the threat of imminent rain, the day turned out to be perfect.  I took all the chances that I got (much to the chagrin of Patty Lee, Ashley’s wedding coordinator) to steal the couple away for additional bridal portrait shots.  The more the merrier right?

After the ceremony, Ashley and An-Yen had a surprise for their guests during cocktail hour.  They had brought in a magician to entertain everyone.  Some of my favorite shots were taken by my associate photographer.  You can see one of the images that I posted below.  It’s the one with the column of flame!  I’m not sure if the Bridges Golf Club had any rules about indoor fires.  :-)

The Bridges Golf Club offered some amazing views and once the clouds cleared, we were left with a stunning blue sky that we took advantage of in bridal portrait session.  During the reception, the sunset was just spectacular.

Here are some of the highlights of their wedding day.  This blog post would be very, very long if I had the time to post all of my favorite captured that day.  Enjoy!

Giao Nguyen Hair & Makeup Artistry

CineMatt – San Ramon wedding videographer

Nicole Ha Floral Designs

8events.com – event planning

Ceremony & Reception venue: Bridges Golf Club

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Bridges Golf Club wedding photos of couple's first dance

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The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time doing our first out of state wedding.

Hair & Makeup: Giao Hair & Makeup Artistry

Florist: Elegance Flowers

Reception: Kim Son Bellaire

For Yen and Bobby, their first dance was to John Legend’s Each Day Gets Better (also added another song from JL in the slideshow that I liked).  I’ve heard of John Legend before but never really brought myself to listen to any of his songs.  It’s hip, cool, modern and sweet.  These same words aptly describes Yen and Bobby too!

Here’s some additional pictures from Yen and Bobby’s wedding with a slideshow of highlights of the day.

Enjoy!

Yen and Bobby contacted me on November 8th 2009 and their wedding date was going to be sometime in January 2010… That’s right, 2 months to plan their wedding and they didn’t have a date yet.  Well, after some 8 furious and most likely very likely stressful weeks, they manage to set their wedding date on January 9th, 2010.

I found out that a loved one wasn’t feeling well and they had to push the ceremony up from July 2010, their original wedding date.  I’m unfortunately already booked in July but was SO glad that I had a chance to capture this part of their wedding plans.

I’ll have more pix from their beautiful wedding up shortly.

Enjoy!

Gorgeous wedding Dress from Marina Morrison Bridal Salon

Their wedding examplifies why I love photographing weddings so much.  The day was filled with so much emotion and beauty.  Both Sally and Edwin come from a large, supportive family.  You know that there are strong family ties when the Maid of Honor is Sally’s sister and Best Man is one of Edwin’s brothers.  You don’t see much of that these days.

Not only do they have the love and support from friends and family, Sally and Edwin also had their artistic support too.  Xe (pronounced like a soft C), Sally’s Maid of Honour was also the creative mind behind the flower arrangement (bouquets, boutonieres, table center pieces) and I’m sure there are things she did that I’m not aware about.  To top it off, Amy Byrd, one of Sally’s close friend is also an event and wedding planner!  Amy took some of the crazy pressure off Sally’s shoulders so that she can enjoy her special day at the scenic Bernardus Lodge and Winery.

Not to be outdone by the ladies, one of Edwin’s groomsmen did their wedding cake.  The were a lot of creative minds at this wedding!

Here are some pix from their wedding day.  Enjoy!

Hair: Ashley Hernandez (Salon Medusa in Carmel)

Makeup, favors and candy buffet:  Xe (sister of the bride)

Wedding planner: Amy Byrd (www.amybyrdweddings.com)

Wedding Ceremony venue: Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley

Wedding cake: Joseph Pokini (friend)

Check out the second part of Sally and Edwin’s Bernardus Lodge wedding in Monterey!