Megan and Allyn

Megan and Allyn married on July 11 at the Carnegie Museum in Oakland, then celebrated afterward with their friends and family in the Carnegie Music Hall Ballroom. What a gorgeous couple and a beautiful wedding!! I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves here. 🙂 Megan and Allyn return from St. Lucia on July 23, and the full gallery of their wedding day photos will be released at that time for their friends and family to enjoy. In the mean time, enjoy a sneak peek!

I also want to recognize Christina Montemurro, who acted as my second shooter for the day. She did a wonderful job and I’m looking forward to working with her again!

The big day started off at the Wyndham in Oakland where the whole bridal party dressed…

Al gave Megan a romantic note along with a beautiful infinity necklace packaged in every woman’s favorite robin’s egg blue box. 😉

In this next pic, I loved the hand holding a bobby pin off to the side! 🙂

Meg and Al had their “First Look” in the bridal suite, seeing each other for the first time. It is one of the greatest privileges I have to witness the bride and groom’s first moment together. I love the reverence with which Megan was touching her groom’s lips here.

These guys took the time to savor the moment. A smart decision, considering they’d be surrounded by family and friends nonstop for the rest of the day!

Meg really wanted some pictures on top of Mount Washington, overlooking the city. Since the rain seemed to be holding off, we decided to try it out. Unfortunately we hadn’t anticipated the wind!! After grabbing some pics of the guys, we decided to head for shelter back at the museum and photograph the bridesmaids there.

(Which was A-ok with me, considering the endless possibilities for elegant images in the museum!) 🙂

Unfortunately because of our late start and botched time at Mount Washington, we weren’t left with much time for photographs of Meg and Al. But 10 minutes is 10 minutes, and these guys were troopers, flying through the museum as quickly as possible! We were still able to grab a couple of pics in Meg’s favorite room, the Hall of Sculpture.

Since there was an art exhibit in the room at the moment, we grabbed a quick shot there, as well!

The wall of color is a sharp backdrop for romantic images. We grabbed a few here before the insane heat through the window started to melt us all. 🙂

Luckily a beautiful large yellow painting was in the shade, nice and cool for a couple of quick snaps!

And then it was time to exchange vows! This handsome couple chose to marry in the museum’s Hall of Architecture. It was a gorgeous backdrop for such a romantic moment!

And of course I can’t blog about a wedding without sharing a couple of dancing pics… 😉

Congratulations to you both on your marriage, and on creating such an elegant, romantic affair! I wish you the best with everything.

Friends and family of the bride and groom can access all of the images from the wedding here, after Meg and Al return from their honeymoon on July 23. Keep in mind that all prints will be HALF OFF for the first week (through July 30). You will see the discounted rates directly in the price list online when you attempt to buy an individual image. (So the reduced rates will be immediate- not just applied when you check out.) The promotion will last 1 week, in this case until July 30, at which point the prices will revert to the normal rates.

Jennifer and Jason

Jennifer and Jason married on a warm spring afternoon this weekend, sharing vows at St. James, a beautiful church in Sewickley, before heading out to Gibsonia’s Greystone Fields to celebrate. It was easy to photograph such a fun loving couple!

I was particularly impressed with Jennifer’s design sense, incorporating a consistent modern romantic feel throughout the day, from custom designed invitations through the bridesmaids’ simply elegant clutch bouquets to the creative reception centerpieces and accessory decor. It all made sense when I realized she is trained as an interior designer! So to showcase all her hard work and maybe inspire some other brides out there, I’ll be featuring all the little details in a separate blog post. Which means that below are a few of my (non-detail) favorites from the day.

Enjoy!

 

We started off at Pretty Hair Salon near Northway Mall. These guys did a fabulous job on Jennifer and her bridesmaids’ hair! (Incidentally I loved the fuschia accent walls… how perfect that they fit right into Jennifer’s color scheme for the wedding. 😉 )

Then off to Jennifer’s home, where the girls dolled themselves up and ready to head to the church. Since we were there for a bit of time, I was able to grab quite a few beautiful images of the wedding day details; I will share some of those in the later “details” post!

I’m sure you can tell I love working with mirrors! These moments are so great to find, because they are so natural and unplanned and real. What great emotion!

This next shot might be my favorite from the entire day. I was working on some detail shots in the dining room when I glanced up and noticed Jennifer’s new sister-in-law in the kitchen. What a great find!

And no blog is complete without a “bride putting on makeup” shot. I love those mirrors- and how even more interesting with all the empty space!

As I mentioned earlier, Jason and Jennifer married at St. James Church in Sewickley. The building features some gorgeous stained glass windows! The perfect setting for catching an intimate moment between the ring bearer and his dad. 

What a beautiful moment during the ceremony!

As always, I’ll post a couple of group shots… Since the photo time after the ceremony was pretty crunched, I got images of the groomsmen beforehand. After the ceremony and some formal shots at the altar, the ladies had their turn before it was time to head to the reception site.

But before we left, I grabbed Jennifer and Jason for one quick church shot… had to make use of that stained glass!!

The reception was held at Greystone Fields, a fairly new venue on a farm out in Gibsonia featuring a two-story banquet hall surrounded by walls of windows. My assistant Mark and I got there a few minutes before the limo to set up in back and grab some detail shots. Once the limo arrived and the bridal party started lining up for their announcement, I grabbed the bride and groom for some quick pictures outside. Even though we had less than 5 minutes for photos of the newlyweds, I think we were able to get some beautiful images! (It helps that these guys felt like old pros after their engagement session!) *

I think that last shot was as the wind picked up, just before the rain hit! Perfect timing. 😉

Of course there’s the requisite ring shot. (Love the little bench!)

… and the couple’s first dance! After I caught some close-up images from the dance floor, I headed up to the balcony for a wide shot of the entire venue. I love the result- so romantic! 

To Jennifer and Jason… I had a great time working with you and I wish you both the best in your new life together!

To Jennifer and Jason’s family and friends… you will be able to access all of the images from the big day here, once they are ready. 

 

* To my clients…One of my strengths is my ability to create fine art from a photo session, and most of my clients book me based on this skill. If this is a priority on your own wedding day, then I always recommend setting aside at least 2 solid hours for photos, including the formal family pics, bridal party shots, and romantic images of the bride and groom (and most of my clients allow for more time than that). Whether you do these before the ceremony or after is up to you (although I always recommend beforehand if possible, to ease the flow of the day). I can take photos in shorter time frames, but it tends to cut into the time that we have for couple pictures. And of course the more time we have together, the more comfortable you become and the greater variety of photos you have! Every couple and every wedding is unique, so give me a call and we can talk about your own priorities for your wedding day.