Torie & Todd Prewedding Shoot.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Stanford University photographing some well known and lesser known locations around the campus. As many of you may know, the campus is a bridal party magnet on weekends as limo after limo drop groups off at the Oval to photograph around the Main Quad. I called ahead and had campus security cordon off the best locations for us. OK, I admit we were just plain lucky and didn't see any wedding parties as we wandered around campus.

Afterwards, we sped along the windy backroads of Palo Alto and Woodside hoping to make it up to the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve before sunset. The park has special significance because it was the location of Torie and Todd's second date and there is a special bench along the trail ;)

Well, we beat the sunset all right, but not the fog. Walking along the trail we watched as it rolled in from the West. Boy did it get cold! No matter, we took some nice pictures and besides, what would the Bay Area be without a little fog in the frame? Check out what I just found! Fog Forecast. When they actually forecast it, you know it's serious.

Wedding Faire in Santa Clara

How many of you are planning a wedding?

Come out to the Wedding Faire at the Santa Clara Convention Center located at the corner of Tasman and Great America Parkway. The show is this coming Saturday and Sunday (July 21 and 22). Hours are 10am to 4pm on both days. There is plenty of free parking at the Hyatt's shared parking structure right next door.

I will be exhibiting so please come by and say hi!

Incidentally, I have several $1 off coupons which I am happy to provide anyone interested in attending the show. Just get in touch with me and we can see about getting you a few.

Sabline & Aaron Prewedding Shoot.

Sabline and Aaron are San Francisco Giants fans and season ticket holders. It was fitting that we started at Pac Bell, no, SBC, oops, I mean AT&T Park, right after a game against the division rival Dodgers no less.

Unsure of how long we had after the game, we managed to shoot for about 30 minutes before they really started shutting the park down. I was very disappointed when the light behind a duratrans display we were using was turned off. We got the message, it was time to leave. No matter, there are many great locations just outside of the field we can work with.

After a quick hit of expresso at Starbucks, we hopped cross town to Baker Beach because Sabline really likes views of the Golden Gate Bridge. No fog, the weather and sunset were perfect!

Theresa & Toan's Wedding. San Jose

Ceremony at Church of the Ascension in Saratoga and reception at Grand Fortune Seafood Restaurant in San Jose.

Finally, July 7, 2007, my big Vietnamese wedding! How cool was it to shoot a wedding on such an anticipated date? I wonder what it will be like next year with January 6, 2008 (168) or August 8, 2008 (888)? You know how the Chinese love numerology ;) Just check out some of their license plates.

I arrived at the home of Toan's parents at around 8:30am for some quick shots of the groom's family preparing gifts and getting ready for the tea ceremony held later in the afternoon. The day's first event took place at the home of Theresa's parents. Per tradition, Toan, the groomsmen, parents, and other family members and friends presented gifts to Theresa's family. Toan and Theresa then poured tea for important family members and burned incense for ancestors. Next came a western church ceremony followed by a similar tea and acceptance ceremony at the groom's home. But wait, we are not done! In the evening there was a huge reception for a few hundred friends and family members. Throughout the banquet family and friends performed Karaoke. Parents of the bride and groom were especially popular entertainers. Amazingly, at the end of the night Theresa and Toan were still all smiles.

In between, we had a nice block of time for picture taking! Yay for me :) We visited a wonderful location in downtown San Jose where I swear it seemed like people congratulated the couple every 30 seconds.