Rosa and Richard's Wedding, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California

Last Sunday we drove down to San Jose to shoot Rosa and Richard's wedding at the lovely San Jose Museum of Art. I had met them briefly at their work (a sweet, downtown SF dot com - such things do still exist!) a few months ago and we just talked and talked - about music, movies, and, of course, photos.



What I loved about photographing Rosa was that she was all about posing in silly, over the top cartoon faces and poses:



but then the next minute, she would be back to her gorgeous, striking, natural beauty. And both are so fun to photograph!



These two are obviously VERY in love. Their friends and family were awesome but I could tell that there's definitely a unique connection between Rosa and Richard that is private and unbreakable... and that was really cool to witness.











I met Rosa and her ladies getting ready at the Fairmont hotel, which is just across a lovely palm-lined courtyard from the museum. The hotel's lobby was quite lavish and elegant, and the walk across the courtyard was gorgeous.







(Also, there was some kind of fan/ anime (fanime?) convention going on across the street - we didn't shoot the passersby, but many of them had kitty ears, short skirts and tall boots, and all kinds of strange costuming we didn't understand. One even had a fake - I mean, I assume it was fake - bazooka over his shoulder!)



The museum itself has changing exhibitions all the time, but one constant are these primary-colored chandelier-type glass pieces made by Dale Chihuli. I love these, and I know Richard did too.



One of the current exhibits was by Camille Rose Garcia - who is one of my favorite contemporary artists, and my good friend Nicole's cousin. I've only seen her works in books and magazines before, so it was a real treat to see them in person. They are super goth and fun, filled with secret glitter spots, tons of interesting details, and lots of metaphors... okay, that made them sound really nerdy, but I loved them so much - the exhibit's up until September 23rd, so go check it out!



I just saw this on her site, which I also thought was cool... most artists don't just give away tattoo persmissions like that!

Rosa and Richard had planned their wedding colors to be bright and citrusy - but I didn't realize that they were going to incorporate actual citrus until I got there and saw how great it looked mixed in with their flowers and table decorations! I love the neon colors of their centerpieces, the lemons as place cards, and the lemon and orange topped cupcakes. Dinner was yet another delicious vegetarian meal! - catered this time by >Catered Too!, the in-house SJ Museum of Art catering company. Yum!







There were some hilarious moments during the reception - they played a video they had made for all of their guests of a sort of "day in the life" of Rosa and Richard. I can't explain it all, but it did involve some Twisted Sister and lots of laughter, so I was definitely won over. The cupcake cutting was also funny - I'm always down for a good cake smashing if both parties are into it, and, boy, were they ever!





I am also a fan of unusual wedding and engagement rings, and Rosa had this lovely black pearl engagement ring. I've seen a lot of bright blue stones lately, too, like aquamarines, and sapphires, as well as opals and black and red stones... My wedding band has a big turquoise-colored sapphire in it, so I'm partial to the unique and different.



Of course, big diamond sparklers are always pretty too! But I digress.

So many great details... the flowers (more great, simple, bright bouquets!), the yellow sundresses, Rosa's super flattering gown, the staircase going up to the ceremony area, the group photos we did, the tea bar in lieu of cocktails, ... I could go on. It was a great party from start to finish!








Here is their whole slideshow!

edited 1.2.08 - the slideshow has been taken down for server tidiness. Please let me know if you're interested in seeing it.