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.
Saturday, April 11, 2009

Palm Event Center  

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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

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Friday, November 21, 2008

Palm Event Center:Weddings  

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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













































































































































































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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Napa Wedding at Mont La Salle  

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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.










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