1000 Words Photography

Baby Pictures

2011-02-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Been a while since our last post. I'm not gonna lie, the economy has been really rough on us. We have focused mainly on wedding photography over the years. When everything fell apart with the economy people started really cutting back on their wedding planning. People are having to make due with less or not at all. While we consistently get comments like "those are the best wedding pictures I've ever seen", "you guys are so professional", "I'm so happy we chose 1000 Words Photography"........our business has been hurt. We can't really complain because we know that there are so many Americans really suffering, and in the end we have been blessed with amazing family and friends. We've had several couples who have been laid off and have experienced the same troubles that so many others have.

So we have begun to branch out into other areas like corporate event photography, baby photography, real estate photography and other areas away from weddings. This post is to highlight a session with infants.

A couple of years ago we photographed this couple's wedding at the Taber Ranch in Capay Valley near Cache Creek. Well.....a couple years later they had twins! Super exciting and the babies are adorable. They were only two weeks old when we got the opportunity to photograph them. It was pretty fun. Lee was a big help with the posing and working with props. It is a whole other world compared to wedding photography. Kind of fun.....we hope you like the images we are sharing her.

Peace,

T&L

Blackhawk Country Club Wedding

2010-08-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

Hey YO............here is a reallly cool wedding. The ceremony was at St. Isadores in Danville, CA. Super nice ceremony.............full Catholic mass.............as a wedding photographer a full Catholic mass makes thing a little easier because we grew up Catholic..............and know the drills pretty flewintly..................we know where to be and when to be there...........by repitition.

But the reception was wehre the part was..........Blackhawk Country Club is an amazing place to work at...........and people came from all over to be there. We are on the West Coast.....and it seemed like most people came from New Yersey and beyond.

Caitlin and Stefan were surely loved by a lot of people............they had something like 200 guests.........CRAZY.....but soooo cool.
Jeff Torres from Amos Productions was the master of ceremonies..........and he totally rocked the house. We get nothing for it............but.....in our humble opinion Amos Productions is the best DJ company in the San Francisco Bay Area. They play the best music....(if you've been to enough weddings you know that the same go-to's are brutal). No chicken dance or anything like that.....just professional &VERY COOL
We think we got some CRAZY COOL shots..........but that is up for you to decide........let us know what you think.....REALLY.

Peace & Love

T&L

Round Hill Country Club

2010-06-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Here are a few shots from Melissa & David's wedding we did this past Saturday at Round Hill Country Club in Alamo, CA. The weather has been cooler than usual in Northern California, but the forcast for yesterday was for sunny and hot....95 degrees. As a wedding photographer you always kinda worry that it could be too hot and that out brides and grooms will be too uncomfortable and that it could detract from the photography. Not the case yesterday, it was perfect....yes a little warm...but there was a nice breeze blowing and it was actually very comfortable.

The couple is kind of special to us because we had photographed Melissa's sister's wedding five years ago at the Claremont County Club in Oakland.... add to that we also did their friends Cyndi & Jeff at Poppy Ridge Golf Club in Livermore a few years ago too. It's always nice seeing past clients.....both couples have buns in the oven too....how exciting.

We met Melissa & the bridesmaids at a friends home in Round Hill. It is a magnificent home just up the street from the country club. Everybody was ready when we got there, which is huge for a wedding photographer. Many times if the wedding gets off the timeline its during the getting ready process. After we photographed Melissa & the bridesmaids we met David at his his great uncles home which is right on the third hole. We were able to take the guys out onto the course for some shots. David used to fish in the lake on the third hole as a kid and he wanted to have some pictures with the lake in it.

The ceremony went off without a hitch and was very touching. It was very clear these two really, really love each other. Brian from 21st Century Sounds was the master of ceremonies and did a great job getting the party started and keeping things moving. He's always such a pleasure to work with.

We hope you like the shots we posted here.

Peace,

T&L

Thomas Fogarty Winery: Wedding Photography

2010-06-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

These images are from a wedding we did back in September. The couple is Lindsay & Fabrice and they are a super nice couple. We did their engagement session in Half Moon Bay a couple months previous to their wedding. Their wedding and reception was held at Thomas Fogarty Winery in Woodside. This wedding venue is kinda tucked away in the hills off Skyline Blvd and overlooks the Penninsula....you can even see San Francisco off in the distance.

Both Lindsay and Fabrice got ready at the winery, for a wedding photographer that is a relief because the more locations that are involved the more the chances of some unexpected event happening goes way up. Getting ready at the same place as the venue brings the stress level way down for everyone and things tend to go much smoother overall. When all the events are in one place its easy for us to bounce back and forth between the bridesmaids and the groomsmen. It's also very easy to get caught up in the anticipation....the countdown if you will.

This September day was especially cold, we were fortunate enough to be able to wear our jackets as the ceremony at Thomas Fogarty Winery is outside. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was kickin'. Lindsay & Fabrice left the wedding with the guests lined up holding sparklers. This is something we are seeing more and more of and for a wedding photographer is a great opportunity to capture a really cool shot.

We hope you like the wedding photographs we captured and a special thanks to Lindsay & Fabrice for choosing 1000 Words Photography to be part of your big day.

Peace,

T&L

Clayton California Wedding

2010-05-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

This wedding happened very close to home for us in Clayton at a private estate. The home was moved from downtown Concord to Clayton and the owner grew up in the home. It was filled with lots of really cool antiques and furnishings from all over the world. It is a very cool venue for a wedding.

Cinthy & Greg were married at this estate and they had the best theme.........Alice in Wonderland. All over the estate were Mad Hatters, Crazy Cats and so much more. It was totally refreshing to have such a cool theme.

Cinthy has nannied for several children and there were lots and lots of kids at this wedding. It was so much fun playing with them. Most of the bridesmaids came in from France to be at Cinthys side. They were the most helpful and sweet bunch of bridesmaids ever. They all had different dresses were gorgeous. Cinthy's parents came in from France as well and while there were language barriers there was clearly a lot of love. Cinthy gave all of the bridesmaids cards that she had written......every single lady was brought to tears by what she had to say......so touching.

Elegant Occasions Catering took care of setting up the wedding and providing the dining for the evening. They are always so great to work with and we really appreciate other wedding vendors recommending 1000 Words Photography to Cinthy & Greg to photograph their wedding.

We hope you like the images we posted here on our blog. It was an absolute pleasure to work with such a great couple and are honored to have been chosen as their wedding photographer.

Peace

T&L

Crow Canyon Country Club Wedding

2009-12-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

This wedding is of Jennifer & Nick, whose engagement session we did back in August. The day started with us going to Jennifer's parents house for getting ready. When we got there, there were very few people at the house and Jennifer was getting her makeup done. It was very calm and there was no pressure. Lee and I scoped out areas that we wanted to take some shots and talked with Jen's parents while we waited for things to ramp up. Little by little bridesmaids started showing up and everyone started to get excited. Anne from Flowers By Anne showed up with the bouquet and it was beautiful......gorgeous actually. Anne is our favorite florist. She does such an excellent job and from what brides tell me is very affordable in comparison to others.

Once the makeup was done it was time to get ready and the pace of things really picked up. There was a lot of running back and forth across the house to get everything Jen neeeded to get ready....but nothing too crazy. Once in her dress we had some time with just Jen and her parents. She is one of the nicest, coolest and strikingly beautiful people we have every had the pleasure to work with. Once we were done at the house we headded to the church to hook up with Nick and his crew. The guys were all there and ready. Nick was in his dress blue's and was sharp as a tack. I didn't pick up on it when we did the engagement session, but Nick is funny as hell. He was so loose and joking around with the groomsmen. Almost all of them serve in one branch of the military, and it was great that they came from all over to be there for Nick.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. We did the formals directly after the ceremony.....that was a little chaotic....but nothing too crazy.

One of the nice things about being a Northern California wedding photographer is the weather. This wedding took place in mid-November and the weather was beautiful. We got to Crow Canyon before the wedding party did and waited for them to arrive. We waited and waited.....I think the limo driver might have taken the scenic route........anyway they got there about a half an hour after we did, so we were not going to have a lot of time before the reception was to start. When they arrived we got right to work, we had a plan had to execute quickly. Johnny from Amos Productions was the videographer and he stayed right with us (stayed out of the way and was helpful). Crow Canyon has a nice lake in the middle of the fairways and we knew if we placed Jen & Nick in just the right place we would have a perfect mirror reflection of them in the water. Lee set them up and Johnny and I ran to the other side of the lake for the shot. There were golfers coming up the fairway so we had to get the shot and get the hell out of there. When we got to our spot the mirror reflection was there and Johnny said to me, "That is Awesome". Got the shot and we all ran up the hill to a safer spot. We went through the rest of the sequences and played around a little with the wedding party and then delivered everyone to the reception.

Chris from Denon & Doyle was the master of ceremonies and did a great job of creating a high energy evening. Jen's dad is one of the nicest, funniest, gentle, brilliant and insightful men I've ever met. He gave bar none the best father toasts we've ever heard. After he was done Lee said, "I want him to be my dad". It was the most thoughtful toasts of all time. After all the toasts and traditional dances the party was on..........and these people came to party. This was our last event of the year and it was awesome. 1000 Words Photography is honored to have been such a nice couple and family to capture their biggest day. We really hope you enjoy the images we've posted.

We've got a lot of events to blog, and will be getting caught up shortly.

Peace,

T&L

San Francisco Wedding

2009-11-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

This was a great wedding to work. Jenna & Issac were such a great couple, and so much fun to be around. Jenna got ready at the Mark Hopkins hotel and took a cable car from there to Shakespeare Gardens in Golden Gate Park..........uhhhh and it was frikin freezing....I mean really, really cold. Jenna & the bridesmaids rode the cable car and had to be outside for something like an hour before the ceremony.....they were literally shivering because of the cold. But they totally dealt with it for the sake of the pictures. Shakespeare Gardens is right outside the California Academy of Sciences and is a great place for a ceremony. This was a special wedding to me personally because years ago I used to work with Jenna's mom and I knew a lot of the guests. The reception was at The Exploratorium just outside the Palace of Fine Arts. This is a totally out of the box place for a reception. If you have never been there it is a large building down by the Marina in San Francisco where there are all kinds of scientific displays. It is very interactive and a great place to appreciate science. Most Bay Area school children wind up going there for a field trip at some point in their school careers. Aside from the great displays and complete uniqueness the Exploratorium is a beautiful place for a reception. We've talked about the Palace of Fine Arts on our blog before, but we came across a really great opportunity....just minutes before headding for home. The Palace was fully lit up inside the dome and outside and we had a full moon that happened to be just to the right of the Palace from our vantage point. I love the picture of Jenna & Issac outside the Palace.....let us know if you like this shot too. We hope you enjoy the images we've shared.

Peace,

T&L

San Francisco Engagement Session

2009-09-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

Here's another engagement session at the Palace of Fine Arts/Crissy Field. Valeria & Jared are getting married in November so we went to the city and had a great time with them. This time of year you are rolling the dice wheather or not the Golden Gate Bridge will actually be visable....uhhh last Sunday.....not so much. San Francisco is only about 30 minutes from where we live, but it seems further. We always love being in San Francisco, it seems no matter what the weather is doing it has so much to offer, and has such great energy.

Okay, not a lot to say on this post.....but we hope you like the pictures.

Peace,

T&L

Morcam Rose Gardens, Oakland CA:Engagement Session

2009-08-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

The Morcam Rose Gardens in Oakland is a hidden jewel of and is a great place to take a couple for an engagement session. As the name indicates there are lots and lots of rose bushes of all varieties. There are these large starcases (several hundred feet long) that funnel down to the gardens. They are really dramatic and fun to work with. There is a fountain that is tiered and has like seven different pools to flow into. The upper area has more roses more steps is another great area to shoot. The thing about the Morcom Rose Gardens is that for the tremendous beauty that it is blessed with, there is almost never a lot of people there. I think we saw like 5 or 6 people the whole time we were there....and most of them were running up and down the huge staircases. We first came across this location about 5 years ago when we actually photographed a wedding there. It turned out to be a fantastic wedding venue and I could be wrong, but I think it only costs $300 or $400 to rent the site from the City of Oakland.

This couple Jennifer and Nick were awesome to work with. They live in San Diego and are getting married at Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville later this year. Jennifer is stunningly beautiful and Nick is a really good looking guy....all I had to do was push the button on the camera......pretty much :) . We hope you like the teasers from this session.

Peace,

T&L

Fort Point San Francisco Engagement Session

2009-08-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here is an engagement session from a new location to us. I know it sounds stupid as much as we shoot at the Palace of Fine Arts and Crissy Field and Fort Point is just down the road a bit and has a lot to work with. Jenna & Isaac recommended this location and we are really glad. The bridge is ginormous from this location, there is good beach access, the ability to get away from the rest of the tourists, Presidio buildings, and a really cool old military structure too. Jenna & Isaac were great to work with and have some real good genuine chemistry together. We didn't have to give too much instruction to them and they were playing around and making each other laugh...which is great for us as photographers. We really hope you like the pictures we posted here. You can see the rest at our website http://www.10000words.com/ .

Santa Cruz Wedding

2009-08-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

This is a wedding for a couple whose engagement session we did just a few weeks ago, Sarah & Jason. Their wedding venue was the Sequoia Retreat Center in Santa Cruz. The wedding took place on the same weekend as the Gilroy Garlic Festival , so just like last year we got stuck in bumper to bumper gridlock for over an hour starting in Los Gatos. Fortunately we always giv e ourselves plenty of time just in case, so we wound up being only 15 minutes late...but a lot of people were late. This is a jewel of a place tucked away in the hills. The facility has several different cabins, which many of the wedding party stayed at the night before and the night of the wedding. This makes for a much more relaxed event as people don't have to worry about traveling to get home after the wedding.

The ceremony was held at a really nice grassy area at the end of facility. It is really beautiful as the grassy area is surrounded by giant redwoods. Just off the grassy area are trails that gave us some great opportunities. I really like the shot on this post of Sarah in the the wooded area...what do you think? It was great seeing Sarah's brother Brian and wife Elysia whose wedding we photographed in 2007.

The reception was held on a deck at the other end of the facility. It was a nice mild evening and very comfortable. All in all it was a beautiful wedding and we consider us lucky to have been chosed to capture the images.

Peace,

T&L

San Francisco Engagement Session

2009-08-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

San Francisco is always the top choice for a couple's engagement session. There are so many beautiful places to go from The Palace of Fine Arts, Fort Point, Crissy Field, Golden Gate Park, The Legion of Honor, Baker Beach and so many more. We do a lot of engagement session in San Francisco for couples who come in to town with the sole purpose of having the city as their backdrop. Couples who are a lot of times getting married out of state will hire us just to photograph them in San Francisco. It can be a little chaotic sometimes, because there is always something going on in the city (a triathalon, a marathon, a parade, a demonstration). There have been times where we have planned with our couple to meet and there be absolutely no access to any of the places described above. In those times we've had to check off to another date. So it is always best to see if there is anything going on before putting it on the calendar.

This couple Lauren & Rob are getting married in Salt Lake City and wanted a San Francisco backdrop. We recommended The Palace of Fine Arts to them for a couple reasons. First it has stunning architecture built with the idea of a Roman ruin. It was built in 1915 for Panama-Pacific International Exposition and is awesome to see. The columns and arches give a wedding photographer a lot to work with. It also provides shelter from the wind.....nothing ruins an engagement session more that a bride to be's hair getting jacked by the wind. The second reason for suggesting The Palace of Fine Arts is that right across the street is Crissy Field, which has a great beach and a fabulous view of the Golden Gate Bridge (this day it was mostly fogged in). Lots of couples love to have the bridge in the background and the view doesn't get much better. Typically when we photograph at these locations we'll take the couple for a little stroll and run them through a bunch of sequences and it generally takes about an hour. If you check through our engagement gallery on our website you'll see lots of instances of The Palace of Fine Arts. For this post we'll share a few of our favorites from a couple weeks ago....we hope you enjoy them.

Peace,

T&L

Clayton Engagement Session

2009-07-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots from an engagement session we did last week. Really cool couple that were referred to us from past clients (thank you Rick & Kristine). Meghan & Bradley are getting married in September at her folks home on the Concord/Clayton border. The session gave me a chance to check out the home and get some ideas. We went from the parents home down the backroads of Clayton to the Wood Ranch, which is one of our favorite wedding venues. We got to see Lori & Steve who are such nice people. They let Meghan & Bradley bring their horses over to their property for the session. It was fun having the horses there, but you never know how they are going to react....for the most part they were easy to work with. I couldn't get over how beautiful Meghan's horse is...truely a magnificent creature. We went around the property and shot for about an hour and came up with some pretty cool shots (we hope you think so too!).

Lake Tahoe Wedding

2009-07-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

First, I want to thank one of my past brides for helping us out with the format for our blog. Bridge....you're awesome. We'll probably be making some other changes to the blog, making it more visually pleasing and functional.

Now to the wedding....every now and then we get to turn a wedding into a mini vacation. This was one of those cases. We headded up Friday late afternoon so that we wouldn't have to worry about being late to the wedding on Saturday. We stayed at Mont Bleau casino on the strip and were pleasantly surprised how nice the rooms were....and way less per night than Harah's or Harveys. In the evening we took to the casino floor and Lee sat herself down at the roulette wheel, she had never really played before, but she got HOT hitting her numbers over and over again....sooo much fun.

Saturday was the wedding in Tahoe City about an hour away. Such a beautiful drive and great weather. The wedding was at a riduculously beautiful estate right on the lake. The caretaker of the property estimated that the estate may be worth $50 million...wow. We hadn't met the couple Natascha & Victorio until that day. We had photographed one of Natascha's coworkers weddings and chose us just based on the pictures we had taken for her coworker. So we meet Natascha first, and what a really nice, fun and cool person she was. We hit it off right away and started doing the getting ready shots. After a while Victorio and the groomsmen showed up......again....super cool person and a lot of fun to talk to.

The ceremony & reception had a Native American theme from decorations to the music. That was a lot of fun and was kind of refreshing for us. It was a really beautiful ceremony rich with Native American tradition. After we finished photographing the formals we got to work with Natascha & Victorio and had a lot of fun. The reception was super nice and there was a lot of laughter being shared. It was an absolute pleasure to have gotten to photograph their wedding and are grateful for the opportunity. We hope you like the teaser pictures posted in this post.

Peace,

T&L

Wente Winery Wedding, Livermore, CA

2009-07-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Wente Winery is a beautiful venue for a San Francisco Bay Area Wedding. It is tucked away a little off Arroyo Rd in Livermore. Typically couples will have both their wedding and reception both at Wente. Getting ready is usually done upstairs in the bridal room, which for the most part is not anything too fancy. But there is a really cool window that makes for some very cool shots. There is a silhouette shot that we like to take with the bride in the window (see below). The window is also really cool because the bridesmaids a lot of times gather by the window to see the groomsmen arriving, which makes for a really nice candid shot.

The grounds are immaculate and make for usually some relatively easy shooting. There are several sets of winery doors that are fun to work with and the building is large enough that it tends to block the ceremony site from being in direct sun, keeping people from squinting and making exposures a lot easier for us as wedding photographers. Near the parking area are the vineyards, which are always fun to work in. We like to set the wedding rings on a vine for a nice detail shot (we like doing that instead of taking pictures of the couple's hands with the rings.....never quite been into that shot.

The reception room when all decorated is beautiful. For larger crowds it can provide a challenge getting around to get our shots, but the ceilings are not too tall so we are able to avoid direct flash on the subjects and bounce our strobes. The dancing and events are typically in the room adjacent to the dining room. We have done weddings where tables were set up outside and a tent is set up with hardwood floor for the dance floor. Wente is definitely one of our favorite venues to shoot. The staff is really organized, there are plenty of different backgrounds and advantageous lighting areas. We hope you like the pictures posted from our most recent wedding at Wente Winery.

Peace,

T&L

Santa Barbara Engagement Session

2009-07-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had the chance to drive down to Santa Barbara to photograph Sara & Jason's engagement session. We had never been more south on Hwy 101 than Pasa Robles, what a beautiful drive. It is nothing like going down on 5 to the LA area. It is so lush and beautiful, and Santa Barbara itself it so nice. That is one of the nice things about being a wedding photographer, we get to go to some really cool places. The weekend before we were photographing a wedding in Lake Tahoe, this weekend brought us to Southern California. Sara & Jason were really nice and bought us lunch before starting the session. We were at a super nice location that had a nice wooded area and then a short hike away was the beach.....best of both worlds. Drove back home a little while after the session making for a long day....but a real fun experience. 1000 Words Photography had a great time shooting this engagement session. We hope you like the teasers.

Peace,

T&L

Garre Winery Livermore CA Wedding

2009-07-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

We recently had the great opportunity to photograph a wedding at Garre Winery in Livermore. Bethany and Dustin took some time off from school to tie the knot. We met Bethany in the bridal suite and started the getting ready process. Bethany was absolutely beautiful and so calm and relaxed. We had plenty of time to work with and the pace of the day was very relaxed.

The ceremony was held outside in front of the beautiful oak tree. The tree provides a beautiful backdrop to photograph. One really touching thing about this wedding was that their first kiss was really their first kiss.....that had to be hard, but it meant a lot to them.....so sweet.

The reception was in the pavillion and we saw something that we've never seen before.....as soon as Bethany and Dustin were introduced they went immediately into the cake cutting....we thought that was awesome to get an event out of the way right off the bat. In a rare treat the music was provided by a live band East Bay Mud. This band was very right on playing songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's and kept the energy level of the reception very high. The dance floor was full the whole night...and you don't always see that.

Bethany & Dustin are a wonderful and sweet couple 1000 Words Photography wishes them a lifetime of happiness.

Palm Event Center

2009-04-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

This was a really cool couple to work with. Nick is a police officer and Stephanie is a firefighter. We did their engagement session at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay earlier this year, and that was a lot of fun. Nick brought his motorcycle and we think we captured some pretty cool images. So we had some mojo working between us and felt very comfortable around each other....so the wedding was going to be even better.

We met Stephanie at the Rose Hotel in Pleasanton for getting ready shots. It was really relaxed and calm. Ice from Lumitone was there doing video. He's always great to work with, it's kind of cool to collaborate to come up with different creative ideas that we can both benefit from.

Stephanie and Nick were going to see each other before the wedding and get most of their pictures out of the way beforehand. That is good, but there is a very pure, wonderful moment when the groom sees his bride for the first time on the wedding day. We encouraged Nick to wait at the base of the stairs at the Palm Event Center as Stephanie arrived in the limo. His back was turned away from the limo and Steph came up from behind him. (There is a shot of this that I love on this post). When he finally did see her he was in awe....'cause she's AWESOME....it was a totally genuine and great moment.

The wedding was held outside on the lawn with the vineyards as the backdrop. It went off without a hitch. The reception was a lot of fun with a little twist. We've seen creative first dance's before, where the music starts to a nice song and then breaks off to something like Baby Got Back, but Nick and Stephanie took it to a new level. They incorporated about 10 different songs with choreography for each one. Nick has some serious moves and is freakin hillarious. When they were done the whole crowd erupted into a thunderous roar and standing ovation....it was killer. We love it when couples take the time to incorporate themselves into their wedding....and they surely did.

Nick and Stephanie thank you for letting 1000 Words Photography photograph your wedding. Their wedding pictures will be available on our website in about 3 weeks...check'em out.

Peace,

T&L

Crow Canyon Country Club:Wedding

2009-03-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

This was a fun wedding with Gina & Josh at Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville. It is definitely one of the nicer wedding venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gina and her bridesmaids got ready for the big wedding at the Marriott in San Ramon. Alex & Ice from Lumitone were there for video coverage and were preparing for their specialty "same day edit", where they edit about 10 minutes of coverage & put it to music and show it at the reception. It's really very cool and I think it goes from getting ready up to the first dance. Guests really like it because they get to see some behind the scenes footage that they had not experienced.

We actually met Josh for the first time on the wedding day because he had been deployed in Iraq. The poor guy only knew a handful of guests because he is orignally from Texas....but he did great.

The ceremony and reception were both at Crow Canyon, and you can't tell from the pictures....it was fffffffffreezin'. Us poor wedding photographers were crazy cold. The ceremony was relatively quick, but we felt bad for Gina, because she still had about 30 minutes or so of pictures before she could get inside and warm up.

Sharon from Crow Canyon is an outstanding wedding coordinator and is a pleasure to work with. She quietly works behind the scenes to make sure that everything goes smoothly, and it always has every time 1000 Words Phototography has worked there.

St Mary's College: wedding

2009-02-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

This was a fun wedding for us because it was the daugther of our dental hygenist. Krista & Erick were more like friends than clients. Our day started at Krista's mom's house at the base of Mt Diablo. From the front door there is a stunning view of the mountain......we're so jealous. All the bridesmaids were there getting ready....and there was no pandamonium...really calm....and everybody was on time. It was fun watching the flower girls wait for the limo to arrive...they couldn't wait to for it to get there and get to ride in it.

From there it was off to St Mary's in Moraga where we met with Erick and the groomsmen. Everybody was loose and ready...we had a great time working with the guys. Erick had to wait in a room next to the altar by himself where he went over the vows. It was then when I think it really struck him that he was getting married.....a surreal moment for him.

The reception was at a new location for us at a place called the Bellevue Club near Lake Merrit in Oakland. This place is really cool...not much to look at from the outside, but the inside has so much character and is a wonderful place to have an event.

It was a great day for everyone involved and 1000 Words Photography is grateful to have been a part of Krista & Erick's big day. Thanks for choosing us!

Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay: Engagement Session

2009-02-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

This is a session from a really cool couple getting married in April. He's a motorcycle police officer and she is a firefighter. We met at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay and hung out for a while. Nick the groom to be brought his Harley, which I always like in shots. Hopefully you like the shots we posted.

Best,

1000 Words Photography

Yosemite Engagement Session

2009-02-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

Last week 1000 Words Photography had the tremendous opportunity to travel to Yosemite for an engagement session. The session was scheduled for Friday so we drove up on Thursday to find that the park was pretty much empty. There was snow covering the valley floor, and the weather was amazing.

We met Karina & Chris at the Awahnee and started our session. We had mapped out a bunch of locations beforehand so that it would go smoothly. Karina & Chris we game for anything we through out there and we soooo much fun to hang around with. We spent about 2 1/2 hours with them, which is about twice as long as a usual session.....but hey...they drove 4 hours to get there and were leaving right after the session so we wanted to make it totally worth their while.

The funnest part was when Chris let Karina slam him in the head repeatedly with snowballs.

After the session was over and they headded home....we kept our cameras out and took pictures of ourselves (we have so few).

We want to thank Karina & Chris for choosing us to share in their day....it was one of the best experiences for us.

Peace,

T&L

Discovery Bay Country Club: Wedding

2009-01-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

We kicked off our 2009 with a really nice wedding at Discovery Bay Country Club on Saturday. It was Whitney & Justen's big day and everything went off without a hitch. It was one of the rare weddings where everything was ahead of schedule....that doesn't happen. All the bridesmaids and groomsmen were there early, which made the whole day easy.

The ceremony took place inside the ballroom just in case there was some weather to contend with. It rained the day before, but was beautiful on Saturday....little cold...but given the alternative we all felt lucky. The line of the day was given by the minister during the ceremony when he told Justen that he was joining the club of "marrying way over your head".

Jeff from Amos Productions was the emcee and did a great job as always....kind of a recurring theme with our blog posts......Amos Productions Rocks! We love getting to work with them. They are the most professional and play really good music.

This group had a very interesting characteristic...that is during the Anniversary Dance (where the call out everyone married 1 year, 5 years......until there is only one couple left)...Jeff kept calling out numbers and there wasn't a dent made in the dance floor until he got to 30 years. There were a lot of people who had stayed married for a long time.

We hope you like the pictures.

Peace,

T&L

Poppy Ridge Golf Course: Weddings

2008-12-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

In this post we are highlighting another one of our favorite venues Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore. Over the past few years we have had the opportunity to work there several times. The ceremony area is a little small on the terrace, but the reception hall is beautiful and the grounds are great.

One really, really nice thing about working a wedding at Poppy Ridge is that the staff really wants the bride and groom to totally enjoy their day. They go above and beyond to make sure your day is memorable. Ulike a lot of golf courses Poppy Ridge gives the bride and groom full access to the course. They drive us as photographers and the bride and groom pretty much anywhere we want to go on the course. We've got some favorite spots that we like to take couples and Becky and her staff are totally accomadating.

Poppy Ridge gets very high marks from us. Please enjoy some of the work we have done there.

Peace,

T&L

Palm Event Center:Weddings

2008-11-21T15:48:00.001-08:00

One of the venues that we get to work at more than others is the Palm Event Center in Pleasanton. Last year we photographed 40 weddings and 10 of them were at the Palm....kinda crazy ratio.
It is next to Mitchell Katz Winery and is a great place to work. While it the area around it is a little small there are a ton of opportunities from the driveway to the vineyards and the buildings. A lot of our "homerun" pictures come from the Palm Event Center.
Aside from the really cool grounds, the staff is crazy good. Clay and Monique make your wedding unforgettable....and you don't have to worry about a single detail. The meals are catered by Beets Catering........and if we can say they are the best....PERIOD.....we always look forward to working at the Palm Event Center not only because it is a great place....but the food is fantastic.
1000 Words Photography highly, highly, highly recommends this venue for your wedding.
Below are some shots we've taken over the past year or so from the Palm. We hope you enjoy them.

Peace,

T&L

San Francisco Wedding at Hotel Vitale

2008-11-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

This wedding was unique in that it was held on the roof of the Hotel Vitale on the Embarcadero in San Francisco....during Fleet Week. The ceremony was at 4pm after the Blue Angels were done...but before that we were all treated to a great air show. The jets were flying all around us and all of our necks were turning back and forth because you never knew where they were coming from.

Aside from the air show, the setting was beautiful. On the roof of the hotel were views of the Bay Bridge, the Ferry Building, the Embarcadero, the Transamerica Building and more.....absolutely spectacular.

We hope you enjoy a few of the photographs from the day.

Peace,

T&L

Taber Ranch Wedding of Katie & AJ

2008-11-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

We got the chance to go back to the Taber Ranch near Cache Creek last month. It's a little drive for us, but we love going up there because it is a crazy cool place with lots of photographic opportunities for us. On top of being a cool and different place to work, Kim and Diane are absolutely great to work with. They make sure your wedding experience is awesome.

The ceremony is on top of a big hill overlooking the beautiful Cape Valley. The ranch has two red Cadillac Seville's that they use to transport guests up the hill.....and they are also used to bring the bride up, which makes for a pretty dramatic entrance.

Katie & AJ are a great couple.....AJ is a freakin' laugh riot....so hilarious. We were a little squeezed on time for pictures...but they were game for anything and made some time for us after dinner for some more pictures. In the end we had a great time working for such a nice couple and working at one of our favorite places.

We hope you enjoy the few pictures we posted.

Peace,

T&L

Castlewood Country Club: Kathryn & Jason

2008-11-20T09:44:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we ended our wedding season with a WONDERFUL wedding. Kathryn and Jason were married in Pleasanton at St Elizabeth Seton church and had their reception at Castlewood Country Club.

This wedding was refreshing because they put a lot of themselves into it. It started with a photo booth that greeted the guests as they arrived. There was a life size cardboard cutout of Kathryn and Jason and all kinds of props....crazy wigs, marti gras beads, sunglasses, hula skirts, glow in the dark necklaces and a bunch of other things. All the guests were encouraged to pose with the happy couple and we took shots of almost all the 275 guests. It was a very well recieved addition and really set the tone........LET'S CELEBRATE.

Then we saw something a little different. You've probably seen the Youtube video of the couple that started their first dance to some sweet song and then all the sudden going into Baby Got Back with the bride and groom choreographing their dance. We've had other couples do that and it is very cool. But this time the whole wedding party took part. Their dance had lot's of layers to it, Kathryn & Jason, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, the whole party and more. Aaron from Amos Productions our favorite DJ company played the mix. It was awesome to see and we have to give props to the wedding party....they were up until 2am on Friday figuring out all their moves.

Slowly but surely all the wigs, sunglasses and other props from the photo booth made their way to the dance floor and everybody had something on. It was a lot of fun to be a part of.

Kathryn and Jason are two of the sweetest people you could meet and we wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Peace,

T&L

Napa Wedding at Mont La Salle

2008-10-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Candice and Nick had a magnificent wedding at Mont La Salle in Napa. Mont La Salle is a Christian Brothers Retreat house in Napa right next to Hess Winery. I believe that the Christian Brothers own the vineyards that grow the grapes for Hess, so the property is huge.

Our day started by getting shots of Candice getting ready. She was so happy this day was here that she was almost giddy. That only got better when a groomsmen delivered a gift from Nick....diamond earings.

The ceremony took place inside the church afterwhich we had all the guests go out to the front steps for a huge group photo. Those are always great to do because as we say, there will never be another moment in time when all those same people will be together.

Candice and Nick were game for just about any kind of pictures we wanted to do so we got a lot...it was a fun day to be a wedding photographer. We should have images posted online by the end of next week. If you want to see all of them go to our website 1000 Words Photography.

The reception was held outside in the courtyard and was beautiful. Candice's dad had come up the day before and ran lights throughout the courtyard, so by dusk it was especially beautiful. Lee got the cool shot on this post of Nick and Candice dancing. This reception had a lot going on from a Jewish Hora dance, to the bridesmaids doing a choreographed dance to "In The Navy" to acknowledge Nick's service....to Nick singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and the crowd singing along. All in all it was a great day.

Palm Event Center, Stacy & Darrell's Wedding

2008-10-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

This is one of our favorite weddings for a couple reasons. First, it was at the Palm Event Center, which is one of our favorite venues to work at. Second, Darrell was the best man of a wedding we did a couple years ago. So Stacy and Darrell came to us knowing our work and we felt more like friends of theirs than a vendor.

We started at Stacy's parents house, where things were basically calm....nobody stressing out. Stacy was absolutely beautiful, she had to know it....but she didn't act it. After everyone was ready we headded over to the Rose Hotel to get some shots of Stacy and the bridesmaids.

The ceremony was beautiful with the vineyards of the Palm Event Center as a backdrop. Then it was time for the reception. Stacy & Darrell are friends with Jody Amos who owns our favorite DJ company Amos Productions. Jody served as MC while Josh played the music. Their music selection, mixes and presence really make any reception a BIG party.

In the end 1000 Words Photography had a great time and were pretty stoked by the images that we captured. Their pictures will be posted on our website late next week.

Peace,

T&L

Dublin Ranch Wedding of Nicole & Garrett

2008-10-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of photographing Nicole & Garrett's wedding last Sunday at the Dublin Ranch. It is a great venue to work at with a really good staff. Nicole was the first to arrive on wedding day and had plenty of time to get ready. Little by little the bridesmaids started arriving...and can I say that she had the rockinest bridesmaids. They took care of every detail for Nicole...they went and got us golf carts, golf clubs....anything. They were game for just about everything and we had a great time working with them.

Nicole and Garrett are truely nice, good people and it is an honor to work for people like them. They were so calm and relaxed the whole day and everything went very smooth.

One of the groomsmen is lead singer in a band called Jaymes Reunion and their first album should be out later this fall. Their music is kinda like Matchbox 20. Their song Fine is really good and may get significant radio play.

So another great day for 1000 Words Photography . Thank you Nicole & Garrett for letting us share your day with you.

Brides Against Breast Cancer:Part 2

2008-08-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

This post is just to follow up from our experience at the Brides Against Breast Cancer fundraiser we participated in last week. Simply put, I was blown away by this organization. It was founded back in 1998 by Fran Hansen as a way to grant wishes for women stricken with breast cancer. Her goal was to be able to lighten the load put upon these women. So she began by asking designers and retailers of wedding gowns to donate so they could be sold.

After the very first event Fran was invited to be on Oprah and a huge buzz began. Oprah donated $500,000 in gowns to help the organization grow and grant wishes. It kept growing from there and now they do a national tour of the gown sale. The gowns are priced ridiculously low and current brides are able to get amazing high quality gowns for a fraction of what they would normally pay. I saw several brides purchase gowns in San Ramon for $300 and less. The girls were almost giddy because they knew that they totally scored and saved a ton of money.

Most of the wishes granted average from $4000-$6000 and can vary from a family vacation, a family reunion, pretty much anything that will help them deal with their affliction. Fran's life and work have such tremendous purpose and is a wonderful example for all of us. To find out more about the organization go to http://www.makingmemories.org/ .

1000 Words Photography would like to give a lot of praise to Amber and Julia from The Trades Secrets for organizing the event.

Brides Against Breast Cancer

2008-08-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

Join us August 22nd at the San Ramon Marriott from 10am to 8pmfor a really worthwhile event. Designers, retailers and individuals have donated lots of fabulous wedding gowns valued up to $8000 and will be sold from $99 to $799.

It is a great opportunity to shed some light and raise some money for a disease that affects us all. Just this year my aunt and two friends were diagnosed with breast cancer. Treatment has come a long way over the years and hopefully a cure will be found soon

San Rafael wedding of Syrrus & Garrett

2008-08-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

This wedding is from July 19th when 1000 Words Photography went to San Rafael to photograph Syrrus & Garrett's wedding. The couple lives in Houston but grew up here in the San Francisco Bay Area and came to California for their wedding. Lee & I split up to cover the getting ready shots (they were right down the hall from each other). We don't usually spend a whole lot of time with grooms getting ready, but this day it worked. So Garrett is a college Philosophy teacher and is studying to get his PHD is Bio Ethics......what the heck is that? I think it has to do with issues of morality & law in cases like stem cell research. Anyway, Garrett is one of the most insanely intelligent people I've ever met.....one of his groomsmen commented that you NEVER want to get in a debate with him, because there is no way to win...he's that good.

We don't get to photograph too many weddings in Marin County and it was a nice to be able to work there. It is so nice over there. This was I think the only vegan reception we'd ever been to...we're not vegan...but it was a refreshing change of pace. Syrrus planned the whole wedding from out of town/online....nicely done.

We hope you like the shots we posted.

Peace,

T&L

Melissa & Chris at The Nines Brentwood, CA

2008-08-04T15:27:00.001-07:00

Saturday we got the chance to work with Melissa & Chris another couple who has been together for many years and finally got around to tying the knot. We met Melissa at her folks house for getting ready pictures. We had talked about Melissa's fear of running late, but there was none of that. It is really rare that hair and makeup don't run long, but it didn't and everything was right on schedule.

The ceremony took place at Immaculate Heart of Mary church in Brentwood. It was a full Catholic mass and was very upbeat.

The reception was held at The Nines http://trilogygolfclub.com/brentwood_weddings/index.asp in Brentwood. Melissa & Chris did what we really advise our couples to consider...and that is going straight into their first dance after being introduced. It just seems like the energy level in the room goes up when they open with the first dance......I'm not sayin'......I'm just sayin'.

Can I just sing some massive praise to the event coordinator Lisa Quinn. She and her staff are as good as the get and dinner & the reception went off without a hitch. There were a lot of little kids at the reception and Lisa wanted to make sure that all their parents enjoyed dinner, so she took all the kids outside and played with them for like an hour (and it was hot out). Lisa you're AWESOME.

Mark Welch from http://www.markwelchentertainment.com/ was the DJ and had the place howling when he intoduced Melissa's dad John, with the song "Big Bad John"....then again when the maid of honor Dana was giving her toast and talking about the Fresno State Bulldogs, Mark blasted "Who Let The Dogs Out".

Melissa & Chris are off to Mexico for their honeymoon before returning home to face another school year.

Finally.....Victoria the flower girl told us she wanted to be in a magazine.......for now how about just our blog.

Peace,

T&L

Christine & Greg at Mission Ranch in Carmel, CA

2008-07-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

Living in California in itself is awesome and one of the great things about our profession is that we get to go to fabulous locations all over Northern California. This past weekend we photographed Christine & Greg's wedding at the Mission Ranch http://www.missionranchcarmel.com/ . The ranch is owned by Clint Eastwood and is a really great place for a wedding.

We were so stressed getting there, we gave ourselves 3.5 hours to get there thinking we'd grab some lunch in Carmel until it was time to start. We crawled from San Jose to Gilroy because of the Garlic Festival. We were stressin' thinking that traffic was so bad we might miss the ceremony. Fortunately, we got there right on time (thank God we padded the time to get there).

Christine & Greg have been together for 9 years and there were lots of poking at Greg that it was about time he married Christine. They are a super cool couple totally meant for each other. They are spending 3 weeks in Europe starting next week and then when they return C starts nursing school....busy year. This wedding was special because there were lots of guests who made the journey from Japan to be there and they were taking pictures like there was no tomorrow.

Spencer from Sutherland Entertainment http://www.sutherlandentetainment.com/ provided the acoustic guitar during the ceremony and got the party started for the reception.

Freakin Awesome Video

2008-07-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I just came across a video that totally raises the bar for wedding slideshows. The groom works for Fox Sports and put this together. It is totally hilarious and touching....way to go outside the box. To see it click this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA29Ot7ajac

Just to be clear we had nothing to do with this video, just are giving it major props on the creativity.

Something A Little Different (for us)

2008-07-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

So last week was completely bananas for us. We actually attended our nephew's wedding as a guest in San Diego last Thursday. We flew down on Tuesday went to the Padres game that night (saw one of their infrequent wins). We goofed around at Mission Bay on Wednesday and then headed over to the rehearsal dinner. We shoot so many weddings and rarely get to experience a wedding from the guest's perspective. It was so much fun.....and we LOVE San Diego. I got to hang out with all the groomsmen throwing back shots. They took to the town after dinner and I passed on that. Most of the guys are in the Air Force and were really cool to crack up with.

The next day was the wedding, but before we headded over to that we (Lee, the kids & myself) went downtown for some sightseeing. San Diego looks a lot like San Francisco especially along the Embarcadero. We checked out the shops and took lots of pictures. But did I fail somewhere as a dad when the only thing my daughter wanted was a Hooters tshirt :)

We don't even know our nephew that well (we first met in September when we did their engagement session in SD), but neither Lee or I could help from having a couple tears during the ceremony. It was a really nice service and the reception was sooo much fun. We even stayed out of their photographers http://www.ivpstudios.com/ way. They were really cool and nice to talk to.

It killed us that we had to leave before the reception because we had to get back to the Bay because we had to shoot 3 Weddings in 3 Days. Needless to say by Sunday night we were dragging, but had a lot of fun.

Peace,

T&L

Monica & Frank June 28th San Ramon, CA

2008-06-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday took us to San Ramon to photograph Monica & Frank's wedding. They have been together for 7 years and finally took the plunge. We started with Monica at the Marriott for getting ready shots. For one of the first times ever ALL the bridesmaids were ready when we got there. Monica was loose for the most part, but had a couple holy crap it's almost time moments. Frank on the other hand was very calm and ready to go.

The ceremony was at St Raymonds Church. The family and bridal party entered to marriachi music and took their place for Monica's grand entrance. The doors opened and there she was in all her beauty. Her dad led her down the aisle while Monica had tears in her eyes.

After the ceremony we took Frank & Monica and the bridal party to some fountains in San Ramon. We got some really cool shots there (check our website in about 3 weeks to see them all).

Then it was time for the reception. Monica & Frank were greeted by 250 guests. There were lots of tears during the toasts and it was very obvious that this couple is loved by many. Los Gallos catered the reception, it was funny because the night before we went there for burritos.....muy bueno.

We had a lot of opportunity to talk to the grandfathers all of whom are great men. Andrew in particular is a kick in the pants....he's got a lot of energy. One of the things we really love about this job is getting to know not just the couple, but all the family too (I may have said that in another post, but it's still true).

Finally massive props to Monica's sister Lindsay who was the wedding coordinator. She was extremely organized and the whole day went off without a hitch. She even was able to enjoy the day as the maid of honor because of all of her hard work beforehand.......well done!

Monica & Frank head off to Cancun on Monday for 10 days. Hopefully they will have lots of great honeymoon pictures to see.

Peace,

T&L

Karen & Ty At Taber Ranch

2008-06-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

So Karen & Ty finally tied the knot this past Saturday. They were married at a crazy cool place near Cache Creek called Taber Ranch. The ceremony went off without a hitch. It was hillarious watching Ty recite the vows that Karen had written for him. After the ceremony one of the Taber Ranch staff named Jason who is a really cool guy drove us around the ranch with Ty & Karen to get some cool shots.

The reception was lively with some pretty funny toasts with Ty's brother saying "for God's sake give my daughter a cousin" which brought the house down. The events went by pretty quickly and the rest of the night was for "getting pissed" (let's say party).

We'll have their wedding posted online in a couple weeks. In the meantime we hope you like these few.

Peace,

T&L

June 8th at The Wood Ranch

2008-06-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we had the absolute pleasure of photographing JP & Kathy's wedding at the Wood Ranch in Clayton http://www.thewoodranch.com/ . The Wood Ranch is a private residence out in the country on 5 acres. The grounds are immaculate and the landscaping is beautiful. JP & Kathy had complete access to the whole property. Lee & I heard a lot of people saying "If I lived here I would never leave".....it is THAT COOL. We'd love to work there every weekend.

Kathy was as beautiful as ever and her smile and laugh very infectious. JP was smooth as always, cracking jokes all day long. There were about 150 guests and we really got the feeling that there was a lot of love present.

Steve from Mark Welch Entertainment http://www.markwelchentertainment.com/ was the DJ and did a great job as always. We seem to be running into him a lot lately.

We'll have their pictures posted on our website in a couple weeks, but for now here are a couple straight out of the camera.

Peace,

T&L