I hope you saw Mulemwa and Senait’s engagement session from a while ago because we finally had the wedding and it was amazing!  Such a fun couple and wedding party!  Their wedding at the Corinthian Ballroom in San Jose was such a great way to start the year.  Both are from Africa and brought in some traditional dances with their families before their first dance.  It was a great way to bring in their traditions and families to the day and celebrate their beginning together as a married couple.  It was a total pleasure to be able to photograph their day.  All the very best to you in your future together!

I’m honored to have another wedding on I Do Events!  Michelle and Dan came all the way from New Jersey for their destination wedding at Arista Winery in Healdsburg.  They were such a lovely couple and their family and friends definitely brought Jersey to the West Coast by dancing long before the dance floor “opened”!   The day was lovely, intimate and fun was had by all.   The flowers were by Dragonfly Floral who really did a great job with the setting of the vineyard during the Fall season.   Taking them into the vineyards with the setting sun was just gorgeous.

This family owned winery is so beautiful and the McWilliams are just delightful.  There are two large lawns for the ceremony and reception as well as a Japanese Garden and of course vineyards.  During the Fall this is truly one of my favorite venues.   The wines, well they too are amazing.  Pinot Noir is my favorite and this is really one of the best.  A venue is a huge part of a wedding.  Some people even choose their date based on the availability of their favorite venue.  It sets the tone and atmosphere of the day whether you want a winery, seaside or 5 star hotel ballroom.

So when thinking of your venue start with what means the most to you.  Do you like nature and trees then there are a lot of locations nestled in the woods.  Seaside?  Well in California you have more options than anywhere else!  Hotels are so amazing in San Francisco that you can have new and modern lines like the Intercontinental or go retro in places like the Westin St. Francis and Palace Hotel.   But where ever you choose just love it and the people who coordinate there.  They will make sure it is as memorable as you hope.

Wine Country Wedding Portrait

I had the honor of being featured in Ceremony Magazines debut San Francisco issue this year.  It’s a truly, truly beautiful magazine!  Some seem so redundant and pushing the same old information but this one works with the best of vendors.  Here is a link to a floral spread that I did with them and Michael Daigian Floral Designs.  As well I did a spread of wedding I did with Sara and Todd Stone at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco with the moody Golden Gate bridge in the background (page 216 if you want to check it out!).

It’s always an honor to get weddings published.  It isn’t easy!  So many photographers are submitting and a wedding really needs to stand out and be unique.  Sara did an amazing job with planning her wedding and pretty quickly too!   Here is my original blog about them…Sara and Todd Stone at St. Francis Yacht Club.  Magazines can help a lot for a bride who wants to do design and plan things on her own.  They provide excellent ideas and information that helps sift through all those Google searches!  I still always recommend a wedding planner as they know they ins and outs of weddings but when you prefer to do it yourself or it isn’t in the budget magazines help immensely.  Ceremony Magazine did a great job of pulling together some amazing locations, florists, photographers, videographers, caterers etc.  Use this resource!

Welcome Ceremony Magazine and thanks for having me!  All the best in your future in San Francisco!

I love doing engagement sessions and I love doing engagement portraits in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The reasons are simple really. First I get to know you as a couple, no wedding stress and just us photographing in the environment. I’ve done engagement portraits at the standard Chrissy Field, Baker Beach and Ferry Building and unique places like a wine bar, cigar bar and Flora Grubb.    I get to see how you act and are with each other.  This is really important.  A lot of people don’t think them necessary and they certainly are not.  However, we get to learn about each other during this time.  You get to see how I work too and then know what to expect on the day of your wedding.  Then when I walk in you don’t see me as a stranger but as the photographer you trust, know will make everything right and have fun with!

I’m not about posing people in my images.  It’s actually just not my forte.  I also believe that if I just let you “be” as a couple the images will say SO very much more than some standard pose.  If you look at the images in this post.  Not one is posed.  Not one and bring your pets!  But anyway, I may have directed things a little bit and yes, I instigate!  But I want you to feel comfortable to be who you are.  I look for those moments that say something.  That make me feel something about you.   I think this is the way that when you look back at that day and like your wedding day you will be able to say I remember it all like it was yesterday.  Success!

Professional images for business or corporations are more important now than ever.  They are used in promotional materials, websites, LinkedIn, blogs, speaking engagements etc.  Setting consistency in business is always important and now that images are so prevalent these days it’s just as important in most any corporate and professional service industries.    Business owners, attorneys, corporations, speakers, realtors, authors and all types of industries are changing from the standard gray or black or white background to something that shows more personality and depth.  Environmental corporate portraits can take place in an office or on the street which makes for an image that can really stand out from the rest.

My experience photographing people in and environmental setting have an easier time and feel less stressed in this situation which brings about an image that can express a person and personality far better than the sit here, turn, angle, chin down image.  Images have texture and depth that just isn’t the same in a studio shot.  I often hear a client say “I just want my image to have more personality than the standard kind of gray look.”  This is exactly what you do get.

Living in the San Francisco/Bay Area we truly set the tone in many industries especially in technology and creative industries.  There is no reason why your photograph shouldn’t represent you at your best, be something you are actually proud to use and help your business too.

A partial list of my clients are here.  If you want an image that resonates and makes a great impression, call me.  See the difference yourself.

ABC 7, AIG, Alain Pinel Realtors, Anshen + Allen Architects,  Bingham, Bryan Cave LLP,  Buzz Media, Cisco, Colgin Cellars, Dave Flemming-Giants Announcer, Disney,  Goodwin Proctor, Green Ivyed,  Incisive Media, Merrill Lynch, Payne + Fears,  Reid Hoffman-LinkedIn, Ropes Gray, SAP, ShotSPotter,  TAJ and many more.

I had a day off last week and decided that FINALLY after living in San Francisco this long that I was going to Safari West in Santa Rosa.  It wasn’t nearly the same as my adventure in August to South Africa  where I got very up close and personal with some amazing Cheetahs at the Le Sueur Cheetah Project.  But this place was lovely and had me back for a moment to almost the same place.  I’m a total animal lover and this was meant to take me out of my element and push me just a bit photographically.  This is a private reserve and the owners live on the property.  All of the people who work there seem to really love animals and their jobs.  They have giraffe, cheetah, numerous types of monkeys and birds and kudu, zebra, buffalo and wildebeest and very shy rhino’s.  I really wanted to play with the cheetah again but alas, it was not possible.  But it was an amazing day with the most beautiful sunset to close it out.

I’m admittedly a shoe hoarder.  My friends tease me constantly but I don’t mind as it is quite true!  When I see the bride before the wedding one of my first stops after a hello hug to the bride and meeting her family is the shoes and then yes, the dress!  This year’s weddings have had some amazing shoes and the trend of colored wedding shoes that I saw starting a few years ago has not stopped!  This year I have to even give huge kudos to a bride’s mom who was wearing some spicy shoes I truly envied.

Wedding shoes no longer are just the plain white they used to be.  Color, sequins, rhinestones, heels, flats, even cowboy boots have made my bride’s lists!  Sometimes they are a hidden surprise that really only the bride knows but other times in a shorter dress or tea length wedding dress they be total show stoppers for guests.  One bride even taught me about Milk and Honey Shoes where you can totally design your own shoes.  Unbelievable!  You design everything from the heel height to color to texture and straps.

I love California weddings and truly San Francisco weddings.  We have some amazing and unique people here and this truly shows through to their weddings.  Don’t be afraid to try something you normally wouldn’t wear and don’t be afraid to have a few pairs!  You think the bride in the bright green McQueen shoes wore them all day? Absolutely not!  She had another pair for walking on the grass and dancing later.  After all a girl can never have too many shoes and wedding shoes too!

I had a wedding I photographed recently featured on IDoVenues.com.  It was a great day with Jessica and Brett at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in  San Francisco’s Union Square.  It was a beautiful sunny day and this was one fun crowd.  You can see in the post just how fun and beautiful this event was to photograph.

My good friend Laurel Winzler of Laurel Designs did an amazing job with the flowers and it’s really important to work with great people to help you in your own job.  It can be really daunting to plan a wedding and book vendors.  I always recommend a professional wedding planner or professional event planner but sometimes it’s just not in the budget or people really want to do it themselves.   Be prepared to spend a lot of time planning your wedding!  When you hire a professional they can recommend people they know well and trust.  This is the most important step. A lot of times I walk into a wedding event and know the DJ, florist, venue coordinator or caterer and it’s great because we make sure we are all on the same page and make sure it goes off without a hitch.  Other times it’s important to introduce myself and make sure we keep communication open during the event to keep things running smoothly.

However way you decide to go with either a wedding planner or no planner make sure you are in communication with your vendors and you know they are dependable and reputable and experienced.  I know budget is a concern sometimes.  But just be sure you hire the best you can afford. One example of a vendor I worked with that was not good is a videographer I had never met before.   I’m not sure what their experience was but some things that I noted and actually had to point out or fix myself was:

1. An electrical cord lying completely across the dance floor
2. Electrical cords untaped in the middle of walkways
3. The light from the camera always in my shots
4. No communication on planning and staying out of the way of each other

These are all very serious issues.  Can you imagine if your grandmother were to trip over a cord?  That is really inexcusable.  So hire the best you can!

I hope you enjoy the images on IDoVenues but here are a few too from the hilarious engagment session we had at the Embarcadero waterfront and Flora Grubb in Hunter’s Point, San Francisco.

Cheers,

Misti

Kissing at Flora Grubb

I came across a posting on StyleMePretty that was totally unique.  If you aren’t aware of this site and are getting married you should surely check it out.  It’s a great resource of ideas and vendors that you know are reputable and should check out.  I had a wedding of mine posted on it for the wedding  theme of red, white and blue which was fabulous.

It was about two women who were both recently married and contemplating changing their names to their spouse’s last name.  They totally surprised their husbands and brought back the officiant that married them to have a “ceremony” celebrating the name change.  They included wedding photographs and many of their guests that had been there that day.  By incorporating all of these things they brought together all the best moments of the celebration of their weddings and kept the fun going in their marriages and with friends!

They women (remember the husbands were surprised!) went all out on the theme of “Maiden Voyage”. You do get that right?  Emphasis on MAIDEN!   The colors were yellow, blue and white and the theme nautical of course.  Their professional photographer did a great job of capturing the event, the people and definitely the details.

While they went all out on this idea you could do it with your own special spin in the backyard of your home and just keeping it intimate with your closest friends and family and a Do It Yourself or hire professionals to help you out with resourcing vendors and supplies.  DIY does bring on other issues like finding vendors, supplies and all the time it can consume.  I have come across many unique ideas when I’ve done DIY weddings but the common comment I hear is just how time consuming it is!  Remember this of all things though to be sure to research your vendors thouroghly before hiring them.  This is on you in DIY as a planner will be able to make great recommendations based on experience with them personally.

This is an amazing idea.  So many of my couples get married not deciding on the whole thing about doing the name change.  This is a great idea and one I’m going to be sure to pass on!

Here is my original post on my blog for the red, white, blue theme.