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01 Jun 2009, Posted by Carmen in Blog, Outdoor Wedding, Santa Cruz Wedding, Weddings, 0 Comments

Erica & Nicholas | Santa Cruz Wedding | Highlands Park | Santa Cruz, CA


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Erica & Nicholas chose the natural setting of Highlands Park in Santa Cruz for their beautiful wedding… some gorgeous secluded trails that start there offered a great woodsy sneak-away portrait session.  It really is a beautiful and special privilege to spend a little time with the bride and groom right after their ceremony, away from everyone else, creating portraits while they get to relax & enjoy the first moments of this new stage in their lives…

And I confess that I’m a sucker for photographing cute flower girls, which this wedding definitely had, from the moment she arrived with her outrageously cute sunglasses!  So be warned, she appears a lot! ;-)

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Here’s her brother, walking Erica down the path to the aisle – I love how much alike they look, and how expressive she is…

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Here’s the best-dressed guest at the reception:

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Besides being pretty funny, I think, this next photo goes out with a big thanks to Karissa Paxton, of Coastside Concierge, (in the middle, laughing her head off) for her awesome, super-reliable and sweet wedding coordination!

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And as a parting shot, all I’ll say is that the cake cutting got nasty, in the best way! ;-)  Congratulations, Erica & Nicholas, and I can’t wait to show you the rest of your photos!

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15 May 2009, Posted by Carmen in Blog, Church Wedding, Marin Wedding, Weddings, 1 Comments

Trisha & Jeremy | Old St. Hillary's Church Wedding | Water's Edge Hotel | Servino's Restaurant Reception | Tiburon, CA Wedding


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Trisha & Jeremy were SUCH a joy to work with!  I liked them straight away from our first meeting, when they told me one of the funniest engagement stories I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot!  I’m not going to retell it all here, but suffice it to say it involved oysters, volcanoes, and toilet paper – and I’m not kidding!!  But it’s how heartfully in love they are that really got to me.  They are so beautifully connected, it was a privilege to be with them on this day.   I was so happy to be shooting such a gorgeous couple, in such a stunning location on such a glorious spring day… I know that’s a lot of positive adjectives, but this wedding deserved them!  I love Old St. Hillary’s Church – you’d never guess we were still in Marin.  The bride was fashionably late to the Water’s Edge Hotel (don’t worry Trisha, you’re not the only it’s happened to! ;-) ), so I had a little extra time with her carefully-chosen flowers and accessories both at the hotel and at Servino’s Restaurant on the water just a few doors down… Trisha is an artist who works at a gallery, and was clear from the beginning that she wanted classic Dutch still lives as the theme for the flower colors – so super rich!

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Here’s Jeremy, the handsome groom:

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And Trisha getting ready… a little wolf whistle for this first one, please!  ;-)

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This one makes me want to get back to hand-making old-style platinum/palladium prints:

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A quick drive up the hill to Old St. Hillary’s, and here is Jeremy, preparing himself just moments before the ceremony started:

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This next one was all done in camera (not Photoshop) with portable strobes adding to the drama of the late-afternoon sun…

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And just a couple quick shots from the lovely reception at Servino’s, where we had such a clear view of San Francisco across the bay.  Thanks to Julie Durkee from Torino Baking for such a beautiful cake with a very unique color & design (you can see it in b&w in the left corner of the last shot), and to Katy Baker of Adagio Weddings & Events for keeping everything flowing smoothly…

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