Vanessa Ko Has Arrived

Many of you know that my wife and I were expecting our second child at the end of October. Vanessa was a bit late but arrived on November 3rd. The last few weeks have been all about taking care of baby, big sister, and mom. I would like to thank my clients for your patience!

Several people have asked to see pictures so here she is just after the delivery.

Vanessa M. Ko
November 3, 2006. 2:09pm
8 pounds, 4 ounces
21 inches

Joanne & Randell's Wedding. Santa Clara

Ceremony at St. Lawrence the Martyr in Santa Clara with reception at the Hilton Santa Clara.

This past weekend I photographed my last wedding of the season. When Joanne, Randell, and I first met at the beginning of the year none of us knew my wife would be expecting within a week of the wedding! Needless to say we were all walking on eggshells for much of the day expecting a call at any moment that would send me to the hospital.

Joanne was busy manning her Bluetooth earpiece for much of the morning and everyone was running a bit late getting ready. With the bride ready and in her dress we squeezed in time for 5 minutes of quick shooting while the bridesmaids were preparing to run down to the limo. One final shot in the lobby and we were off to the church. Keeping the Hilton's automatic vestibule doors open long enough to photograph Joanne in the lobby was a bit tricky. Poh, the bridesmaids, and flowergirls ran through trying to trigger both sets to open at the same time and stay open.

The frenetic pace settled down as the ceremony started during which we learned that Randell was Father Andy's personal physician at Kaiser. Neat! After the Mass we took advantage of the incredible weather and shot outdoors at Sunnyvale Baylands. The bridesmaids seemed to decompress well after the fast paced morning. By the way, Joanne's floral arrangements were incredibly vivid; oranges, reds, and pinks. Great colors!

I can't put my finger on the reason, but this event just seemed like the right way to close out the year. Congratulations to you both and thank you!

My & Byun's Wedding. Santa Clara

Here is another wedding I shot recently with Poh Lim. We started very early in the morning capturing the activity leading up to a traditional Vietnamese celebration. It is customary for the groom and his family to bring gifts to the bride's home where they have a brief ceremony. Then everyone travels to the grooms home where another ceremony takes place. The western ceremony took place later at a catholic church with the reception at the Decathlon Club.

One of the features that really struck me about this wedding was the flowers. My and Byun had some beautiful bouquet, decoration, and centerpiece arrangements - awesome! Something funny that stuck in my mind was the "ball and chain" that Byun was made to carry around for part of the night as well. You will see that at the end of this post. It was a really incredible party.

Availability Calendar Added

While editing a wedding and waiting for image files to batch process... I added a tool to give prospective clients a way to see if I am available on their wedding day! Look under the "Links" heading in the column to the right. Click on "Availability Calendar" for a public view of the Karl Ko Photography Calendar.

Keep an eye out for more great client tools in the near future.

Kathy & Michael's Wedding. Livermore

Ceremony and reception at Rios-Lovell Estate Winery.

Kathy and Michael now live in the U.K. but were engaged in Las Vegas and loved the idea of a pre wedding photo shoot there as well. As luck would have it, our schedules lined up this April and we spent two evenings photographing up and down the Strip. An image from their session is currently displayed on the Karl Ko Photography home page.

Many guests traveled from England and combined the wedding celebration with an extended holiday. Some guests spent the earlier part of the day touring Livermore valley wineries and we caught up with them at Retzlaff Estate Winery where they had a tasting and lunch. It is interesting that Retzlaff keeps chickens on the property to control the insect population.

The late afternoon ceremony finished just in time to photograph among the grape vines before the sun set completely. A relaxed reception followed which featured toasts, roasts, jokes, speeches, and thank you gifts from the bride and groom - a British tradition.

Delia & Randy's Wedding. Pacifica

What do wedding photographers do on "off" weekends? We photograph weddings of course! This past weekend I worked at Rockaway Beach with a great photographer and friend Poh Lim. Delia and Randy were wonderful and they were really gung ho for shooting the sunset which is one of the great features of this beach. Its sand is also darker in color contributing some great contrast to the photographs.

When we were photographing the guys, I have to admit it was a little hard to resist watching the Michigan - Notre Dame game which they had on in the room. After I saw the score though, working was no longer a problem. ;-)

Michelle & Bill's Wedding. Pleasant Hill

Ceremony and reception at the Pleasant Hill Community Center.

What a fun couple and laid back wedding! During one of our first meetings they joked about wanting just a simple barbeque. Well, it wasn't a complete joke as the bride and groom donned his and her apron-like coverings during the reception to dine on brisket, ribs, chicken, cornbread, beans, etc.

We started in Danville at the Adora Bella Salon where Laura was assisted by her cute puppy. Then it was off to the home of Michelle's mother to get dressed. We thought we were late but guests were just starting to arrive for the four o'clock ceremony as we drove up with the bride. The rest is history. Michelle and Bob are just about to leave for their honeymoon, an Alaskan cruise - which reminds me that I should post some pictures of my family trip there. It's an amazing place!