About Us

1000 Words Photography is husband and wife team Tom & Leona (Lee) Burke based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. We are primarily wedding photographers, but do offer all kinds of other photography as well. We've been working together since 1996 and have photographed hundreds of couples weddings. We don't think you can define our style as anything specific, we use a combination of styles to create what we hope is a uniqe perspective. To see a greater representation of our photography be sure to check out the galleries on our website.
Our personalities are loose and playful, we love photographing weddings and really want our clients to have a great time on one of the biggest days of their lives. We work very hard to come up with images that will make you say "I was there and I don't remember it being like that". Wedding photography is different than most other services at a wedding because for the images to look awesome, there needs to be a good working relationship between us and the couple. We're there all day with you so there needs to be a level of comfort and trust. Over the months leading up to a wedding we typically have developed a close relationship with our couples. We still stay in touch with most of our couples and are through the different stages of life (the wedding, children, homes, job changes..). When we book a client many times we are gaining lifelong friends and that is a pretty cool thing.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Brides Against Breast Cancer:Part 2  

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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.

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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Brides Against Breast Cancer  

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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

by 1000 Words Photography

Friday, August 8, 2008

San Rafael wedding of Syrrus & Garrett  

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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























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Monday, August 4, 2008

Melissa & Chris at The Nines Brentwood, CA  

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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

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