Valerie & Justin's Wedding. Blackhawk

Ceremony at St. Victor's in San Jose and reception at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville.

It's like six-degrees of Kevin Bacon. A previous client and Valerie when to high school together. Justin worked with the sister of a different KKP client. That client referred me. Valerie's and another client's family go to the same church. Valerie and I both have black hair. OK, that last one was a test to see if you were paying attention, but it is true!

Readers recall part of Valerie and Justin’s engagement session was photographed at the Niles Canyon Rail Yard in Sunol. You may have thought that they loved trains but truth-be-told, this couple is all about beer! We stopped briefly at Justin’s where the guys were assembling. Notably, each groomsman had a different set of cufflinks. The story behind Justin’s dated back to his brother’s wedding. He was in a spot and bought his at an antique store in Niles on the day of. They look pretty cool, I need to get myself a couple sets of vintage links! At the same time over at Valerie’s parent’s, Monina and team had hair and makeup running at multiple stations. We kept ourselves busy with details like the dress, bedazzled shoes, lockets, etc. Check out the dress form (aka mannequin) used to display Valerie’s gown, what a terrific idea!

I last photographed at St. Victors five years ago when Jennifer de la Cruz and Michael Padua were married. Valerie’s was a childhood parishioner of St. Victor’s and returned now for her wedding. After the ceremony, Valerie and Justin had a surprise for their guests, the Wow Silog Truck. Yes, a roach coach was in the parking lot serving up Filipino snacks! Yes, haha, guests of the wedding after ours was taking advantage of it too!

That afternoon we took advantage of Blackhawk Plaza and photographed the couple and wedding party around the property. A museum anchors one end of the plaza and houses a collection of classic cars. The reception was hosted amongst Ferrari’s, Bentley’s, Jaguar’s, Alfa’s, Benz’s, … and beer. A testament to Valerie and Justin’s persuasion, tables were outfitted with coasters donated by many of their favorite brewers. They even had a special bottling just for them! The beer references don’t stop there. Somehow The Delicate Daisy was able to get their hands on Hops, lot’s of Hops, Hops were everywhere.

Honeymoon? Hah! Oktoberfest of course; across Europe!

Thank you James and Sotheary for referring :D

Event Coordination: Events by Satra
Hair/Makeup: Moderne Beauty - Monina Wright
Floral Design: The Delicate Daisy House of Flowers - Roxane Rockwell
Cake: Edith Meyer
Music: Pierre Galang
Videography: MiCha Videography
Photo Booth: 247 Media

Patsy & Devin's Wedding. Los Gatos

Ceremony at St. Christopher's in Willow Glen and reception at the Toll House in Los Gatos.

This cute couple met their freshman year in college while Devin was offering his IT and networking services to his new hallmates. What a novel way to "meet people". ;) Well, there must have been something special about the way he configured a 802.11 WPA-PSK connection because he and Patsy have been together ever since. If only everyone on my hall needed a 2400 baud modem configured for their Apple SE30's when I was in college... After graduation Devin moved back to the Bay Area and Patsy followed a little while later. In August of last year Devin planned a little weekend in San Francisco to see the musical Beauty and the Beast, complete with a stay at the top of Nob Hill and fine dining in Hayes Valley. That's when he asked Patsy to marry him.

Patsy used the words classic and pretty when we first met and their wedding was. That morning we bounced back and forth between Devin and Patsy's rooms - so convienent to have everyone at the same place getting ready! They both got ready at the Toll House in Los Gatos where Patsy was the queen of cool. You can see it as she lounged in her bathrobe sipping her Starbucks. I dunno, maybe she knew she was in good hands with Nicole Lisanne's team - Andrea Doll and Nancy Do - handling the setup and schedule.

At the church Father Dave talked what he had learned about the couple over the course of their preparations. He also exposed Devin's penchant for basketball shoes. Jordan's to be specific - many many many Jordan's. Devin had told me earlier that Nike's were in the running as the shoe of choice for the wedding. The reception featured some charming country accents. There were subtly unmatched glass flower vases, chaulk boards at the dessert table, menus, signs, and gift tags with country-western font faces, deconstructed flower arrangements, and fruit preserves favors for all the guests (wow! which Patsy's mom made herself!). The fingerprint tree and fondant cake toppers figures were cool too. To the joy of their guests, there was a photobooth. Photobooths are always a fun addition to wedding receptions. I love seeing all the crazy things people do behind the privacy of a curtain. Check out what happens when the bridesmaids and groomsmen take over the booth. It's like night and day.

It was flawless, right down to the limo drivers. I gotta say, I've rarely been at a wedding where the limo either beats me to the location or is right there a few steps behind me. I swear they have some sort of light-changing-button thingy.

Event Coordination: Nicole Lisanne Weddings and Events by Design
Floral Design: Precious and Blooming Floral Design
Cake: Sweet Tooth Confections
Music: Big Fun DJ
Photo Booth: Perfect Day Events Photo Booth
Transportation: Lone Star Limousines