Miranda and Matt’s Wedding

Remember Miranda and Matt?

Their wedding took place in November at the beautiful Sova Gardens, a hidden gem in Sonoma.

This is one of those weddings full of vibrant colors: from the decor of the venue, to the morning attire, everything shined.

Miranda’s bridesmaids helped out and made everything fun.

In the meantime, Matt was getting ready outside, waiting for the “First Look”.

Miranda waiting to see Matt and to be seen for the first time.

And here it is: the first, magical moment, bride and groom see each other on their wedding day.

Weddings are a team sport. Here are the wonderful people who made this event a success:

Photography: Aurora Meneghello Productions

Second Photographer: Hardy Wilson

Florist: By Madeline Trait

Venue: Sova Gardens

 Make up: Angela LaFlamme

Caterer: Preferred Sonoma Caterers

Alison and Justin’s Wedding

I loved Park Winters the moment I first saw it and couldn’t imagine a better place for Alison and Justin’s Wedding. The Locally Grown Weddings team transformed the property into a magical and romantic place to gather with friends and family.

Getting married in October has its advantages, such as beautiful light, gorgeous weather and giant pumpkins!

Alison has amazing eyes: I have never seen the like.

Do you remember Alison and Justin’s engagement photos? They chose this one image for their gift table.

Madeline designed this beautiful map of the premises.

Every time I have been to Park Winters, I have seen wild turkeys!

Pei-Yee worked closely with Alison to choose an alternative to the traditional wedding cake. A dessert table is always a great option.

Weddings are a team sport. Here are the wonderful people who made this event a success:

Photography: Aurora Meneghello - Locally Grown Weddings

Second Photographer: Genevieve Shiffrar

Wedding Coordination: Sadie Waddington - Locally Grown Weddings

Caterer: Chef Stephanie - Locally Grown Weddings

Florist: Madeline Trait - Locally Grown Weddings

Dessert: Pei-Yee Woo - Locally Grown Weddings

One of my favorite photos from my Art Deco Shoot now on Style Me Pretty. Thank you, Masaye, for being such a wonderful model!

Leah and Justin’s Wedding is featured on Style Me Pretty today, take a look and leave a comment :)

Wente Vineyards Wedding - Michelle and Matt Part Two

Let’s pick up from where we left off.

Michelle worked closely with Madeline to add flowers and decor that worked well with the venue while being modern and sophisticated. From the beginning she like the color purple and in October, dahlias turned out to be the perfect choice. 

I love this colorful bouquet, especially the green accents.

A boutonniere can be as creative as the bride’s bouquet. I love how Madeline used the different flowers for the groom and the best man.

Dahlias are perfect in their simplicity. Madeline used them in vases all around the reception area and with such a gorgeous setting, they enhanced the location, without being overbearing.

In addition to the flowers Madeline and Michelle selected pears and purple artichokes for the escort cards, adding something unique, as well as coordinating with the purple hues of the flowers and other decorative elements.

Then the same flowers and decor elements were used int he ceremony area.

Here come the bride…

More photos every day this week!

All weddings are the creation of a team of great professionals. I am so lucky I got to work with:

Venue: Wente Vineyards

Flowers and Event Design: By Madeline Trait

Hair and Make up: Cinta Salon

Wedding Dress: Amy Kuschel

Catering and Wedding Cake: Wente Vineyards

Michelle in her beautiful dress. You can see Part One of Michelle and Matt’s wedding here. The rest next week!

Wente Vineyards Wedding - Michelle and Matt Part One

Last October I had the great pleasure of photographing Michelle and Matt’s wedding at Wente Vineyards. I absolutely loved this location! Founded 125 years ago, Wente Vineyards is the country’s oldest, continuously operated family-owned winery. Check out their website to read all about it.

Michelle and Matt saw the engagement photos I took of their friends online and that’s how they found me. How cool is that? My first Facebook wedding ;) Michelle is also friends with Madeline Trait, the amazing florist and event designer I work with in Locally Grown Weddings, so I was really excited when I heard they wanted to work with me.

Usually I like to meet in person, but in this case we couldn’t, as Michelle and Matt had just moved to Wisconsin. So we skyped instead and worked collaboratively to plan their wedding.

Madeline and I see each other every week as part of Locally Grown Weddings, so we also had fun talking about this day as it approached. And we went together to Wente, to scout the location and plan all the details.

So, here’s Part One of this wonderful wedding from last Fall. Let’s start with Michelle getting ready!

Michelle’s dress was designed by Amy Kuschel. After photographing her wedding dresses twice last year, I have to admit I ma now a fan! It’s all Madeline’s fault: she is the best at discovering new and old talent.

There’s nothing more special than sharing this day with a loving family: Michelle was radiant from the very beginning.

While I photographed the bride getting ready, my second shooter, Christopher Mackessy was in the other room, capturing Matt and the rest of the guys getting dressed.

I am a big fan of photographing The First Look and Michelle and Matt were totally game. Chris stayed with Matt and took him downstairs. Chris and I coordinated all the couple’s movements, so we could make sure the first time Matt saw Michelle in her wedding dress would be just as special as they wanted it to be. As I waited with the ladies upstairs, it was fun capturing this little candid moment.

Everybody is waiting for the bride…

The afternoon light in October was just perfect.

Here’s the end of Part One of Michelle and Matt’s Wedding. Check out Part Two and Three next week! And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a special extra photo from this wedding ;)

All weddings are the creation of a team of great professionals. I am so lucky I got to work with:

Venue: Wente Vineyards

Flowers and Event Design: By Madeline Trait

Hair and Make up: Cinta Salon

Wedding Dress: Amy Kuschel

Catering and Wedding Cake: Wente Vineyards

San Francisco Portraits: Madeline Trait

The last shoot of 2012 was a portrait session with my friend and colleague Madeline Trait from Locally Grown Weddings. There nothing better and more exciting than photographing somebody you know well.

Madeline came to me with some pretty clear ideas of what she wanted. In particular, she was looking for a photo to add to her new website and wanted to stay away from the usual “florist with flowers” look. She does much more as she is a really awesome designer, so we went for a very black and white look with strong lines and a more modern feel to it. You can see how she used her picture on her website here.

Then we tried different things, so she would have a few different looks to play with a use in blog posts, in print, etc. I scoped a few streets and found an intersection with interesting walls and plants. We were able to move from one corner to the other, achieving quite different results.

Since Madeline and I often collaborate on projects and work together on weddings, the shoot went fast and we found ourselves wandering around for an extra unplanned for image. We found one a few blocks away.

By the way, I love Madeline’s blog. She posts short, concise stories and now added little reviews of her favorite books. Check it out here.

See the final installment of Julie and Michael’s wedding on the LGW blog! Just click on the photo.

Check out Part Two of Julie and Michael’s wedding of the LGW blog and leave some comments :) Just click on the photo.