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.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Dublin Ranch Wedding of Nicole & Garrett  

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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.

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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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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Christine & Greg at Mission Ranch in Carmel, CA  

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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.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Freakin Awesome Video  

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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.

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Friday, July 18, 2008

Something A Little Different (for us)  

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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

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Sunday, June 29, 2008

Monica & Frank June 28th San Ramon, CA  

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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

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Karen & Ty At Taber Ranch  

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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

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

June 8th at The Wood Ranch  

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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

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