Weddings

Chelsea and Chava celebrated their wedding on a sunny summer day in August at the Wedgewood Sequoia Mansion – and what a celebration it was!  Between the handmade, personal touches (s’mores trail mix!) and the enthusiastic mariachi band, this was a wedding that was guaranteed to make you smile.  Of course, a bride and groom as completely in love as Chelsea and Chava are doesn’t hurt matters, either!  Chava kept us laughing with his joking ways, and Chelsea’s bridesmaids (who also happened to be her sisters!) kept things light and fun for the bride. Chelsea and Chava shared their how-we-met story…

Rarely do we see this level of familiarity in a couple after 1 month of courtship…this depth of love and strength of connection is typically reserved for those brides and grooms with a 6, 7+ year bethrothel! Just kidding!  Hayle and Mason have been a couple for a lot longer than 1 month (since their late teens), so there is certainly no question about their familiarity and love for each other.  They just chose a fine weekend in early June to make it official. Watching these two together, the word “soul mate” comes to mind again and again.  Hayle and Mason…

We uncorked a bottle of Pinot Noir and chatted between shots. I learned that they have been together for 20 years, that they are adventurous, love to travel and are in fact heading off to Portugal for three weeks this month. By the time we were done it had felt more like a girl’s happy hour than a photo session, although we had more than enough gorgeous shots of them together.

Melanie and Mark were married at St. Joseph Marello Catholic Church in Granite Bay on a beautiful Friday afternoon, with a reception at Flower Farm Inn in Loomis.

Late summer in the middle of a four year drought and Elaina and Henry’s wedding day was blessed with summer rain, just as my own had been. The difference for Elaina and Henry was the fabulous undercover arches that David Girard Vineyards has and that provided the perfect plan-B ceremony site. That and the cloud cover that came to filter the sun and create beautiful light that we more-than took advantage of during out time together. I loved Elaina’s father’s speech during the reception which was superbly delivered and very moving. Another beautiful touch was that her dad orchestrated a…

Casey is one! And adorable and adored by her parents, Katrina and Joe, plus older siblings, Jordan and Shayla. The family purchased my baby package to document Casey’s first year, beginning with a maternity session, and this was their last session before I put together their one year memory album. It seems almost impossible that it was a year ago that I arrived 5 minutes late to photograph Casey’s birth. One minute Katrina was 4cms dilated and then the next Casey was already with us. I couldn’t believe how quickly she zoomed into the world and that I had missed…

Vicki and Wayne purchased their Folsom home with the goal of fixing it up especially to host their intimate-affair, September wedding and I was honored to capture their celebrations recently. Their ceremony and reception took place poolside shortly before sunset and with lights strung overhead. Vicki forgot her bouquet at the end of the aisle and, as one is able to do in a home environment, Wayne so sweetly ran into the house to bring it to her. I loved the his-and-hers ribbons strung from their gazebo, holding their rings in lieu of ring bearers, and the fact that Wayne…

Nate and Shelly are good friends of mine. In fact, if you’ve been following my blog, you’ll remember Nate’s name from my previous post about Kirby and Sam, as he was the primary photographer for their wedding. Nate really wanted me to photograph his wedding this September (and even consulted me on a date that he knew I would be available) and, believe me, I really wanted to photograph him and Shelley too. But like Kirby and Sam’s wedding, here was another party where many good friends would be present and where I really did want to kick-back a little,…

I wasn’t going to photograph Kirby and Sam’s wedding. Kirby is the son of one of my really good friends, Mary, and I had fully intended to attend their Montana wedding as purely a guest. Our mutual friend, Nate, was on-point as the photographer for the day and so I knew they were in good hands. But then I arrived and I saw the mountains, the green grass, and breathed in the lovely, clean air and I couldn’t let the idea go that I had to photograph this wedding, at least in part.  Nate had everything covered but I wanted to…