Category Archives: Destinations

All American Elopement| Red, White, and Blue Wedding in Sausalito, California| Featured on Ruffled blog

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Oh say can you see…….. the fun and beauty you can have with a red, white, and blue theme.  This idea was something that popped in to my head a while back and I was so happy that we were able to pull it off in such a short time.  Nothing screams summer then the colors of the flag and all of the fun that summer brings.  We had a wonderful time putting this together quickly and as with any shoot with the fabulous Tia there is always an adventure.  Our favorite this time was the naked guy sleeping below the deck of the boat that we photographed on.  I think he may of forgotten we were coming but it sure made for a very interesting afternoon.  He was so sound asleep he didn’t even know we were there until we were already packing up.  The best part is he said ” I thought you guys were gonna use the boat?” and I replied “we just finished!”  But good ole Tia couldn’t resist “yelling nice butt!”.  Jeff (the naked guy) just shoot his head and laughed.

A special thank you to Rachel at Sweet Tooth Confections for the sweets and whimsical cake  and to  the girls at RBK Creations for creating such fun accessories at a drop of a hat.  Your button bouquet, boutonniere, shoe clips, and windmills just worked perfectly in to the look we wanted and enhanced it greatly!  Last a special shout out to JE Models in San Francisco and Cast Images Talent Agency in Sacramento for helping us find beautiful talent for this last minute inspiration.

Last we were so thankful to Amanda at Ruffled Blog for hosting this shoot of love we created.  To see more please check out her wonderful blog on wedding inspiration.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day.

A Michigan Farm Wedding| Amanda and Liam

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I had such a great time at the wedding of Amanda and Liam.  I had the privilege of meeting Amanda in Puerta Vallarta a couple of years ago, when she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Amirah and Eric at the beautiful Dreams Resort.  At the time she was a traveling nurse who’s rotation was in San Francisco.  Well she ended up settling there and found the love of her life at an Irish bar on St. Patrick’s Day of all things. The couple decided to get married near Grand Rapids, Michigan where Amanda grew up.  Liam’s family traveled from all over but mostly from Ireland as everyone converged at the Post Family Farm in the town of Hudsonville, outside of Grand Rapids,  to watch the two exchange vows.  The wedding was unique, laid back, fun, and full of quirky and beautiful things that made the day their own.  Some of my favorite things they had were the pumpkin donuts made fresh on the farm, ( I ate way to many of those), the I spy for the kids at the wedding, the girls dresses in the same shade but all different styles, their food station reception instead of a sit-down.   The food stations created by Catered Creations Inc. were fun and filled with so many wonderful food.  One of my favorites was the potato bar, it had all the fixings. There was so many it is hard to name them all but another fun thing was the smore’s kits and bonfire outside of the tent to enjoy a beautiful autumn night.  But how could we forget about the rock-in reception with a little bit of both families contributing to the mix.  From Polka dancing to Irish drinking songs everyone had a wonderful time. I even had the chance to do a little dancing myself with Uncle Peter and the rest of the gang.  It was a perfect night.  Click on MICHIGAN FARM WEDDING to view a slideshow of their day and please leave them a little love below or your favorite memory of their day so they know you visited.

Sunflowers and barnsDonuts and sign in book

Style Unveiled | Samantha and Jeffrey get featured!

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I was so excited when Heather contacted me to let me know that Sam and Jeff’s wedding was chosen as a feature. What is even more exciting is they are the first feature for Style Unveiled’s  new Michigan Real Wedding section.  They did such a fantastic job on making this wedding their own.  I’m so glad they get to share it with everyone.  To see their whole feature click here.

Thank you to my past clients for nominating us for Wedding Wire’s 2010 Bride Choice Award!

Posted in Boudoir "Girly" Sessions, Destinations, Engagements, Misc., Personal, Weddings on

San Jose, CA Febrruary 09, 2010 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Jill Johnson Photography has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Wedding Photography.

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Jill Johnson Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that Jill Johnson is among the very best Wedding Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards.

Irma and Ernie’s Rome Wedding at the Pantheon or the Most Breathtaking Entrance Ever

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First of all I’m not even sure where to start on this adventure or even what to share.  There is absolutely no way to fully capture the feeling of the day, the people, or the location with just a few photos and words. The sites and sounds were so much a part of the excitement.  From the vibrant colors and smells  of the Campo de Fiori where I started documenting the day til the pouring rain and  lighting storm that brought the day to an end.  There was so many great moments during the day but I decided I would share with you my favorite one.  This left me awed.

I’ve photographed weddings for years and in my opinion this was the most breathtaking entrances ever for a bride. I felt like I was watching a classic black and white movie but realized I was there  live in color  watching it unveil thru the lens of my camera.

The outside of the Pantheon was just buzzing.  Who gets married at the Pantheon?  Is that the king of the Phillipeans?  Is she a famous actress?  Hundreds of people huddled together to get a better view as the Rolls Royce pulled up to the Ancient Monument with its towering columns.  Irma looked  like a version of Audrey Hepburn as she revealed herself from the car.  Congratulations and best wishes were being sent to her in so many different languages and cameras were just clicking away.  It was so sweet as she stopped in shyness, smiled, and waved at all the people.  It had to be an amazing moment to experience her face was just beaming.  With a parent on each side her mother tenderly pulled her veil over her face as she entered the Pantheon with its massive and majestic doorways.  To think of how many brides thru the centuries  had entered thru the threshold of this church to be wed was just awesome.  I can’t even imagine what went thru Ernie’s mind as he saw her enter.  It was one of the most majestic and dramatic entrances I’d ever experienced.   It was truly breathtaking.

To see more of their day click here.

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