Karina and Mike! Great couple, super photogenic, awesome.

Last Saturday morning the got married at the Oakland Temple.

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After the temple ceremony, we headed off to Palmdale Estates in Fremont. Vena is the coordinator that runs that wonderful venue. I've been shooting weddings there for over 10 years!

www.palmdaleestates.com

The second ceremony was in the Sunken Gardem. They seemed extra relaxed during this one, and it made for some great photojournalistic shots.

I remember back to our engagement session, it was misty and foggy enough to need an umbrella to keep them dry at the beach. Today was perfect though, warm with a slight breeze. Perfect weather for an early afternoon reception.

Oh! and Palmdale Estates is a great place to get married. Vena and her staff really know what they are doing and weddings there are always pretty and fun. Check them out at www.palmdaleestates.com

I've had some great silhouette shots recently. This is my new favorite.

And Karina and Mike are now in Costa Rica, away from this fake-winter-San Francisco-summer weather. Gonna miss you guys, I really enjoyed being with you and your families! Congratulations.

Andre Askari celebrated his Bar Mitzvah last Saturday at his family's home in Palo Alto. The Askari's are special to me. For them I shoot everything from weddings, to babies, to estates, to bar mitzvah's.

This is Andre acing his reading responsibilities.

What a nice normal calm family. . .

. . .that is until nighttime when the party starts at 10:30 pm, and the real Askari's come out! :)

I remember Liana and Dan's wedding 6 years ago, it was 2am and I had to beg permission to leave!

To get this shot of Andre's chair dance, I ran upstairs and took out a bedroom window screen and shot from the roof. Everybody should have a party like that thrown by their relatives.

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or

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I'm super proud of the wedding album I designed for TJ and Austin from their Clos LaChance wedding.

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My old friend from way back Christina and her now husband Eric started their wedding weekend festival Friday at San Francisco's City Hall. What a great place to have a more low-key ceremony.

Awesome, a wedding ceremony ticket number? How often do you see that! It was a trip seeing so many other brides and grooms getting married the same day, but I took comfort in the fact that my couple was the best. :)

I remember Senior Prom celebrating with Christina and the same group of firends. How many years ago was that? 15? geez. . . Looking good Christina!

You're a lucky man Eric! (I am super down with him, great guy.)

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Goodness, doesn't that just feel so nice in black and white?

Do you remember the old Frisson restaurant? Well it is now 5A5 Steakhouse. Christina and Eric had their post-city-hall happy hour there. Didn't get to try the food, but the ambience was still great. www.5a5stk.com.com

Sunday was their official reception brunch at the S.F. Ritz-Carlton. Super nice and elegant affair. The Event Manager was Marianne Arata (marianne.arata@ritzcarlton.com or directly at 415-364-3470)

Just to bring it up again, in case you missed it the first time. . . Christina and Eric's engagement session was great. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THEIR ENGAGEMENT SESSION SLIDESHOW

and I almost forgot to bring up Christina's wedding dress, it was gorgeous! The city Hall outfit was definitely more wedding cocktail chic (does it sound like my fiancee makes me watch project runway?), but she really did it up on Sunday.

Congratualtions you two! It really means something special to me, especially when you have known your client for ages. My pleasure, really. It was cute, this last Monday Eric posted on Facebook that he was "ready for the next phase". Well you sure did the wedding chapter perfect, best of luck with whatever comes next!

I shot Annaliza's sister's wedding 6 years ago. When her and Manuel got engaged, she said she knew exactly who she wanted to call. :) I love watching families grow like that. It makes it feel more like a reunion with old friends than like work.

How cute is this bride!

That's Jocelyn Love just to the right of Annaliza. I love it also when the majority of the bridesmaids already know me, that level of comfort makes everything go super smooth: "hey James!"

I don't normally drink before a wedding, but the groomsmen were taking shots and made me take one. :)

They were a fun group, it's always a bonus when you have a bridal party that knows how to enjoy the day.

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Looking good guys! Everyone is always a little more relaxed after the ceremony.

Hey, I havent done this shot forever. Not the most flattering angle, but super fun. :)

This wedding took place at the San Ramon Marriott.

The flowers were provided by Design In Bloom at www.designinbloom.com

The videographer was Emil Siapno of Liquid Video Lab at www.liquidvideolab.com

DJ Dadgel provided the beats and entertainment at www.yabata.com

You probably couldn't tell cause she is such a beautiful petite bride, and I hope it is o.k. for me to share cause to me it is something that is all positive, but Annaliza and Manuel are expecting a baby. So there were multiple reasons to celebrate. Congratulations you two!

Danielle and Tim were one of those couples where the second we met I totally wanted to be the one shooting their wedding. Danielle has one of those super nice attitudes that is totally infectious.

Next to Danielle, Tim can be said to be the more shy and quieter of the two. But together they make a perfect pair!

Here's Tim getting into the session. It feels so good when client's finally realize of fun this can be. The photography can be the easiest and best part of all of the wedding stuff!

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Danielle and Tim are getting married at the Pacific Athletic Club in September. Looking forward to it you two!