Diana and Alex's Wedding. Berkeley

Long overdue! Ceremony in the Mather Redwood Grove at the U.C. Berkeley Botanical Garden and reception at Scott's Seafood in Walnut Creek.

It is quite a privilege to photograph the wedding of a peer. Afterall, there can probably be no more qualified a critic. Alex and Diana, the excellent photographer behind Heart Studios, asked me to photograph her wedding and I was only too happy to accept. She was also going to bake her own cake. That's right the bride is baking her own cake a few days before the wedding and not just some sheet cake with Betty Crocker frosting. Incredible! I couldn't resist offering to photograph some of that now could I? Two Kitchen Aid's, two ovens, and a bunch of friends over to help. It was fun. Check out her results below.

The Mather Grove is heavily forested and light was a concern for me. That morning I fretted about the heavy fog along the Bay but weather cooperated perfectly. A low overcast gave way to bright sun which pleasantly lit the ceremony area. The wedding party walked up a winding pathway to the front of the amphitheater where a good friend presided over the ceremony. Due to spotty cell coverage you will see below how the groomsmen used an advanced hand signaling protocol to cue the musicians.

After the ceremony we had almost an hour of fun with the bridal party in the botanical garden. This really is a cool place to work - filled with interesting trees, plants, flowers, nooks, and crannies. We finished by working with Diana and Alex alone and then drove over to Walnut Creek - couldn't wait to see the cake. Dinner and dancing, nice :)

Everyone was fun loving, Captain Morgan made several appearances, certain members of the bridal party seemed amenable to removing clothing (didn't take them up on the offer), and the party peeps enjoyed the DJ. There was even an afterparty party involving a hot tub. No rest for Diana though as she was shooting a wedding the week after.

Congratulations you two and thank you very much for including me!

Floral Arrangements: Deb's Flower Market
Cake: Patisserie Blazick
Music: Royal Sound Entertainment

Diana and Alex's Engagement

Diana loves trees, especially Redwoods! She expressed this to me when we all met for dinner one evening. They really wanted to be married among majestic Redwoods and were excited to find a large stand of Coast Redwoods at the U.C. Berkeley Botanical Gardens so near her home.

We picked a warm weekend in January at met there for their engagement session. The grove was very serene and quiet with trees growing very close to each other on the hillside. Winter was the perfect time to come as the afternoon sun crosses low in the sky creating beautiful shafts of light. The wooden amphitheater is the site of their ceremony later this summer. It's going to be great!

The rest of the afternoon was spent across the street wandering through the botanical gardens which plays host to a wide variety of plant life. We found some incredibly fragrant blossoms in the Mexico/Central America section and came across a HUGE Agave plant.

Melissa and Ed's Prewedding Session.

It had been a long time since I last set foot on the campus of UC Berkeley. I barely remember it really so I was gung-ho when Melissa and Ed decided to go there! What a beautiful place! I still think Ann Arbor is the best ;) but the Berkeley campus was very nice. There are lots of hills, grand and diverse architecture, green lawns, etc. I need more time to explore the area but it has definitely made it onto my favorite-places-to-shoot list. You can be sure I'll be on campus in the near future to do some advanced scouting.

Melissa and Ed are self-ascribed outdoorsy types and enjoy hiking around the Bay Area. During our shoot we walked on paths roughly following along the creeks that run through campus. They had familiarized themselves with the route and we stopped periodically when something caught our eye. The landscaping almost made it seem like we were in a park somewhere instead of a UC. We also seemingly had the campus all to ourselves as the last final had already been administered.