Family Photos: the Wolffs (Berkeley, California)

I met up with this lovely family in Berkeley, where all of us had a great time exploring the Botanical Gardens. There were so many great photos throughout this session, that it was hard to narrow down the choices for a blog post. Looking through them I am so drawn to the big smiles, laughter and sweet relationships between the family members. Enjoy!

Whenever possible, I always like to take time to get a few photos of just the parents. This relationship is so important to the entire family unit and I want to take time to appreciate their bond too!

Family Photos: the Coates (Berkeley, California)

This is one just one great family and good friends to us. I got the chance to capture all of them together at the Tilden Botanical Gardens in Berkeley, California. Looking back through the photos, I couldn’t help but smile at some of the moments captured – these little glances and interactions add up to a lovely family relationship.

Family Photos: the Groenenbergs (Berkeley, CA)

These photos make me so happy! Good friends, an outgoing little girl with tons of personality, a great location and beautiful lighting. I can’t ask for a better photo session.

Engagement Photos: Aymara & Kevin (Berkeley, CA)

I’m definitely way, way behind on posting these (they were taken over a year ago). Normally, I’d just let them go, but I enjoy everything about this set of images – the couple, the locations, the photographer I was tagging along with – so they still get posted. Thanks for such a lovely day and seeing these photos made me excited for them all over again.

Renee of Renascent Photography was kind enough to invite me along, see her photos from the session here.

Wedding: Emily & Marc (Berkeley, CA)

Almost a year later, but the photos are still so beautiful! I’ve always wanted to shoot at the Brazil Room in Tilden Park and finally had the chance! Nearby, the botanical gardens are the perfect place to wander and take wedding photos. This wedding was nothing short of awesome, with the sweetest bride and the nicest groom to work with. Emily & Marc were as much fun on their wedding day as they were at their engagement shoot, two fun people seriously in love. From the first look at an overlook of the entire Bay Area, to the traditional Greek dancing, the whole day was great. As always, many thanks to Renee of Renascent Photography for having me along as her second shooter.

Event Invitation: YEAH! Berkeley Fundraiser

Following the Save the Date, the next piece to work on was the invitation for YEAH! Berkeley’s upcoming fundraiser. I wanted to keep the color scheme in order to tie the printed pieces together, but make a more visually interesting piece to hold all the pertinent information. The final invitation and RSVP card are definitely eye-catching and a fun part of the event.

Wedding Decor: Shauna & Steve

After designing one of my favorite wedding invitations for Shauna and Steve, there were some great ideas for matching items for the wedding ceremony and reception. I designed signs, custom photo booth strips, table numbers, programs, favors and escort cards. My absolute favorite piece was the favors/escort cards. They wanted to do custom Jones Soda labels as their favors, using my engagement photos of them, with tags that would double as escort cards. I letterpressed each card and then added the calligraphy for names and table numbers. They definitely turned out top notch!

Special thanks to Jamie Jones Photography for letting me use the last four photos from the event!

Engagement: Tiffany & Curtis (Berkeley, CA)

Choosing the perfect words for these two is difficult. I remember when they started dating, meeting Tiffany for the first time, and being excited that Curtis found a girl just as cool as him. It’s been a pleasure to watch them grow together, bring out the best in each other and hear the engagement plan before it ever happened. You see, Curtis is already family (my brother-in-law) and Tiffany will soon be family (yay!). More importantly, they’ve also become my friends and a great part of my life.

I love capturing emotion with my camera, that’s why I shoot weddings and engaged couples, but it’s a whole different level of awesome when I get the chance to capture a relationship I’ve watched over the years.

Since I have done shoots with them before, we decided to go somewhere with a little more variety, the Botanical Gardens at Tilden Park, Berkeley. As always, it’s hard to choose just my absolute favorites to post.

Congratulations Tiffany & Curtis! Truly, so excited for you both!