What perfect settings for such a beautiful wedding.  Kelly and Manny did an excellent job with every little detail for this wedding right down to Bogey’s (their pet chihuahua)  little outfit.  I loved how the color theme of their wedding coordinated with their  settings.  The blue of the dresses was incredible with the atmosphere of the church and reception atmospheres.   Everything just blended together beautifully.  They incoporated little touches for example,  their monogram as accent and decor.   Kelly was able to find monogram stickers for the windows that made it look like they were part of San Juan Oaks ballroom. It was such a simple but elegant display of class.

One thing that was unique about their ceremony site was both their parents and some of their siblings was married at the mission.  What an amazing place to have a tradition.  I love how they weaved their families in to their day.  All siblings were involved plus most of their nieces and nephews that could walk.  They were adorable and almost stole the show.   The boys, I believe there was 8 of them,  all came running down the aisle ringing their bells at the beginning of the ceremony. People were delighted with them as you heard the bells echoing throughout the sanctuary.   It was so unexpected and so much fun.

Another funny little tradition is that the girls arrive at the church in a motor home.  It all started off with getting to the church without having to sit and get the dress wrinkled. I was able to hitch a ride with the girls and it was a hilarious ride as Kelly stood and weaved back and forth trying to keep her balance, getting aspirin for people out of the cupboards,and people honking congratulations.  To top it off it was just a great place for the girls to chill and hang out in air conditioning before the ceremony began.

As for the reception is was filled with fun starting off with a photo booth for guest to sign as their guest book.  This is always a great way to entertain guest as the bride and groom  get some of their own photos taken. Plus, I feel they are more interesting to look at then just a photo of everyone sitting at a table.  Most guest have  a good time playing with the booth and creating goofy shots.   Another great thing was Kelly and Manny designed some signature drinks special to their wedding location.  The “Bogey” was one of them.  I don’t know if it was because they were at a golf course,or they namedit  after their dog or both.  I never thought to ask.  There was so many wonderful things about their wedding I wish I could share them all. IF you have a memory please share it.  But I know they had help and picked some wonderful vendors to create the day they wanted.  (I’ve listed them below for you to check out).  Please check out their photos and leave a comment we would love to know what you think or just to leave a congrats for the new Mr. and Mrs. Freitas.  And if you love this post don’t forget to vote for it.

Click here to see their slideshow:   TO SEE SLIDESHOW CLICK HERE

To see their engagment photo slideshow click here.

Kelly, one of my brides, sent me over the coolest thing when I asked for her final papers.   Normally , I ask all my couples to send me a wish list.   I ask them to list things that they want us to try and photograph during the day.  I tell them I know to get you coming down the aisle, the toast, the cake, all the things that happen at most weddings.  What I like to know is the broche that your wearing was your grandmothers, the watch he’s wearing was a gift from his father, we decorated with wheat because it is significant to my fiance’s family etc.  Make sure you get the different centerpieces I spent 50 hours picking them out and I want to remember them.   I also ask them to make a list of groupings they want taken.  I have about 6 standard family formals that I do.  If there is time and they are requestiong more I ask them to list the people and the groups they want.  For example my mom and her brother, they haven’t seen each other in 5 years and he’ll be there.  I’d like a photo with all my nieces and nephews.  Family dynamics can be difficult at times so this is also when I ask will divorced parents be in a photo together etc.  It is like a blue print for the day and for us to know  what and who is important.

So when Kelly sent me over this page with family member photographs I loved it.  I didn’t have to guess if they were family or not and I knew ahead of time who to look out for during the day.  She called it Faces to Recognize.  It was great.  She also sent me another page that had some poses and photos I’d taken at other events that she loved.  This was such a fantastic asset.   Thanks Kelly for the inspiration.  I’m going to ask other couples to do the same thing.

We had such a great time doing Lindsays session. This session is known as so many things at the gallery, the girlie session, the boudoir, the booty-wah,  the pin up I”m sure there is more that I”m forgetting.  But what is great about these sessions is they are custom built to who were photographing and the feel and image they want to create.  So whether your looking for nostaligic, sexy, funny, dramatic, hot, steamy, innoncent, etc. or all the above we set out to create the fantasy.

Creating the timeless images of  old pinup with a modern twist was really inspiring and fun.  Lindsay was awesome and gave us everything she had. I love how she has an Elizabeth Taylor quality in some of the photos. Especially the first one of her on the bed.  This is one of my favorties.  It is just reminenescent of hollywood glamour of the 40’s and 50’s.  I can almost see Marilyn in the same pose.

On the last shoot of the day it happened to be in the elevator.  We loved the red velvet walls inside.  ( I know we find some of the craziest locations).  Best part was of course people had to get to their rooms, so in between letting people on and off we would do the shots. Well what made the ride so interesting and funny  was there was a rugby team from England in town.  There was two elevators but I swear as they rode up they called their buddies and told them to get on the second one.  We would laugh so hard at these guys.  They wanted to know if she was famous, or an upcoming model, or was it for a band cover.  They got even more excited when we told them it was a boudoir shoot.  I love where the guy on the right is looking.  Lindsay was so fun she just hammed it up for them.  In fact, they wanted us to go meet them at the bar to celebrate their victory.  If they only knew how exhausted we from the entire shoot.

Thanks so much to the Cypress Hotel who allowed us to use your their beautiful hotel for our backdrop. Thanks to Tia Reagan my partner in crime who waved her magic wand and transformed Lindsay back in time with her make-up, hair, and wardrobe skills.  And to Lindsay who worked it all day for us.  You were perfect for what we had envisioned.

Would you like to do this for someone special? Or maybe it is something you always wanted to do. Please contact us at the gallery and find about the session.  These make a great gift for your someone special.  Ask us about the little black book.

Had this idea for a while and in the end it took its own direction.  I laugh because we had to reschedule this shoot several times due to weather, vacations, sicknesses, or the sheep.  Yes, I said sheep.  Ronin and Sean’s parents are originally from Ireland and I learned they grew up on sheep farms.  Well, a while back I found these great rolling green hills with sheep on them.  Hence the idea for the shoot.  But as Murphy law works by time we were able to get it all together the sheep were moved days before the session.  We ended up in this great field of wild everything but it made seeing and photographing them hard.  So, the sheep shoot will have to wait for another day but we got some wonderful shots of the boys which was the whole purpose anyway.  These little guys were awesome as they trudged across this huge field.  They got a couple of stickers in them and they still kept going.  The best part was our Shepherd gave them a little science lesson about the different things in the field, what the sheep were eating, and found them some mustard plant to taste.  They had a great time and it was fun to spend an evening with them.  They were delightful!

We had a great day and so many wonderful doggies that showed up with their best smile.  These are only a few and I hope to put some more up soon but I thought you would all enjoy these little guys.  We even had “Jack” the Lizard come and get his photos done too. (I still need to get some Jack photos)  But the day was a success even though it rained we were able to capture some awesome puppy portraits and was able to raise money for Santa Clara Humane Society.  Looking forward to doing another one of these this fall, and thanks to all of you who made it out.