Joy and Teddy, Lark Creek Inn / San Francisco Theological Seminary, Marin County, California

(check out the slideshow by clicking on the image above!)

(Sorry for the blog posting delay - I have been enjoying a TON of great shoots and catching up on editing. Expect more in the next few weeks...)



I had the pleasure of shooting Teddy and Joy's beautiful Marin County wedding earlier this month. They had a morning ceremony at the beautiful San Francisco Theological Seminary (not in San Francisco itself, but North across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin), followed by an amazing lunch reception at the Lark Creek Inn. These were two venues that were new for me, so it was a thrill to be able to photograph them both in one day! Here's Mount Tamalpais - which is very close to my heart, since my parents grew up (and met) while living on various parts of the mountain, and when I was little we would drive from the east side to the west to visit both sets of grandparents.



It was neat driving between venues around the hills. We also got to get a tasting menu of cookies from one of our favorite bakeries!

Joy and Teddy live in Southern California but chose to return to Marin County (where they met, and where they used to live) in order to make it easy for many of their guests to attend. Some of their family and friends came from as far as Taiwan for their beautiful wedding!

Here's Teddy getting ready, with the sweetest chalkboard note I've ever seen.





And beautiful Joy - who has the most lovely smile, and who used it all day, truly living up to her name.





They chose the Stewart Chapel at the seminary, which was dark but so pretty and cheerful. Their minister was one of the guests to come over from Taiwan for the occasion - I believe he had been Joy's father's minister for most of his life, and his affection for her family definitely showed.









I have seriously hundreds upon hundreds of photos I'd love to share from this wedding, but in the interest of not alienating my audience, I've narrowed it down to a few dozen... I'm finding again and again that my absolute top favorite shots are often of the bride and groom. A very good sign I think!



Here are some shots we did while still at the chapel, which has a really cool labyrinth on the enormous terrace that overlooks the beautiful nature of West Marin.





And then, off to Lark Creek!



I need to find out who did the flowers - the bouquets as well as these unique centerpieces were breathtaking, and highly photogenic.





Besides being beautiful, fresh and homey, the Lark Creek Inn has absolutely delicious food. I hope we have a chance to go back when not working one of these days...



After the party (which included a fabulous cake, amazing choreographed first dance, loving toasts, lots of mingling and yummy food - as well as another self portrait setup!), we got some shots of the bridal party in the park across the street:



And then cut to the chase - lots and lots of couple shots! Joy and Teddy wanted a few portraits of the two of them at the seminary, but since they both have large families and groups of friends, we mainly focused on those while there. They wisely decided to hire me to stay an hour past the party's official end so that we could focus on some lovely couple portraits of the two of them - and I'm so happy we did!

Joy and Teddy let me know that they wanted a vintage feel to their wedding day, and to their photos, and that my classic, modern-vintage-y kinda sensibility is partly what attracted them to working with me. To that end, I played around with some regular, digital shots of them (don't you LOVE Teddy's amazing suit, and Joy's unique and elegant lace?!):



As well as busted out with my 1920's 4x5" view camera, shooting with both Polaroids and regular black and white negative film. I love the Polaroid Type 55 (which creates both a negative and a positive, with the cool funky border you see below), but it is sadly on its way out, so I am working with regular 4x5" sheet negative film when couples request this.

Here's the best Polaroid shot:



And here's the awesomeness of unpredictable, 90 year old cameras - check out how much the accidental light leak enhances this beautiful shot! I was stoked to see this, which is technically a "mistake" but is more like a happy accident.



Back to the 21st century - here are more portraits:



I have another great shot where both of their faces are in focus - but I really adore something about this version:



A funny, but cute, triumphant pose!



And a few where we played around with more serious faces (trust me, there are plenty of joyful smiling shots - it made me smile just to see how happy they were!). I wanted to capture the same elegant dance feel from their first dance, but with a calmness created by having the two of them alone:





This one has a random, but mysterious, feel that I really like:



And this is just plain snuggly cuteness!



Gotta have the shoes:



Congratulations, Joy and Teddy! You're not only married, but absolutely adored by your worldwide families and friends. It was such an honor to spend this time with you and capture these moments, thank you!



PS - Joy sent me this email reaction to their slideshow - "Wow. We're totally speechless at how awesome the photos look! We replayed the slideshows several times last night, so happy at how terrific the photos turned out. You have a great eye for framing the photos, and capturing the emotions of the day...
Thank you for being a wonderful (and patient!) photographer - you really helped make the day go smoothly."