Both Angie and Mike came to San Francisco from other parts of the country and now they can’t imagine living anywhere else. San Francisco can do that to you. They live between Dolores Park and the Castro and absolutely love the Mission, so of course, we stayed close to home during this truly San Francisco shoot. They brought us to some of their favorite haunts. We even took a few in and around their house, their first home together.

Our first stop, the top of the hill at Dolores Park. It never ceases to amaze me the varied views one can get of this city with so many hills.

As we wandered through the park, we came across a grove of palm trees. The light was soft and inviting so we stayed for a bit.

You can start to get a sense of how absolutely sweet Angie and Mike are together. I love their smiles in the next two.

Mike found Java Supreme first, but introduced Angie to the cafe soon after. It had been a while since they had been back. They know the owner by name and were excited to share the news of their engagement with him. We sat down and chatted for a few minutes while they each had a drink. I popped outside to capture this image.

What would a shoot in the mission be without the murals? Angie and Mike brought us to the Mission Pool for this bright and colorful one.

A little street life …

on the way to this mural of San Francisco through time…

Special note, the shoes=very, very cool!

We went back to their place to try to capture a few with their kittens, one of whom cooperated for a couple of seconds, and then saw these great books. Insta-photo props!

What a great morning we had! Huge thank you’s to Angie and Mike for taking us on a great tour of your ‘hood and for showing Dave the Man Cave of his dreams. I am still hearing about how awesome the Transformer Collection is- who knew?! Can’t wait to see you guys again in a couple of months. Your bonfire & burritos on Ocean Beach "rehearsal dinner" and your wedding at the Fort Mason Officer’s Club are going to be amazingly fun.

Want to see more? Check out their slideshow.

Fabulous news! We had four full-page photos published in Gala Weddings Magazine. We received the proof and the magazine, and it looks great!

The magazine focuses on the New England region and the brides and grooms who get married in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut. Most of our images are from Becky and Danny’s wedding last summer. They were married at the Chanler at Cliff Walk in Newport.

Here’s Danny looking over his vows before he walks down the aisle…

And here’s Becky with her Dad walking towards the ceremony on the lawn.

The used this one from their portrait session as the lead image for their RI section.

And this one is from Ariana and Jesse’s wedding, used for their lead photo in the VT section.

Then they sprinkled a few more smaller images throughout. The bouquets and table arrangements in this spread are both ours from Becky and Danny’s Newport wedding.

And the mooncake is ours in this inspiration spread of citrus colors; it’s from Krista and Andy’s wedding.

If you want to see more from Becky and Danny’s RI wedding, check out their sneak peak, the scoop, their CT bbq, the details, and the slideshow.

If you want to see more from Ariana and Jesse’s Tilden Park wedding, check out their sneak peak, scoop, and slideshow.

If you want to see more from Krista and Andy’s Hakone Gardens and Decathlon Club wedding, check out their scoop part 1, scoop part 2, details, and slideshow.

Here’s my favorite humorous moment from the bedecken. Sara’s checking out Mike to make sure he’s the right guy. Turns out he is.

What I didn’t count on, was the tears they would bring to my eyes.

During their ketubah signing ceremony, the Rabbi allowed for them to share some thoughts with each other. They were so tender and honest with each other.

And the way Mike looks at Sara simply melts my heart.

Here Mike is ensuring that Sara is indeed Sara. When I look at this image, I somehow make the same expression that Sara does. I can’t help it. Quivery happiness all over.

Alas, I have gotten ahead of myself. So allow me to take a step back.

I have known Mike for several years; we met while performing in a comedy improv group- Blue Blanket Improv- in California. Mike has since moved on and even started his own- Chicken Scratch Improv. And Dave knew Mike from their swing dancing days. We met Sara (and puppy Oscar) last fall and were instantly enamored. Mike and Sara are absolutely perfect together, and perfect parents for Oscar. When they chose us to photograph their wedding at Kennolyn near Santa Cruz, we started counting down the days.

We started off – me with Sara as she and her bridesmaids were getting ready and Dave with the handsome groom…

and his Entourage,

which included his adorable nephew. Precious missing teeth!

The guys have it a lot easier. Here, the women getting ready…Sara almost in her dress.

And a nod to Sara’s fabulous shoulders and back. She is a triathelete and spends tons of time in the pool. The pay-off is clear.

Just before the boys joined the girls for the ketubah signing, Sara and her beautiful little flower girl compared dresses.

Mike arrives. And Sara welcomes him in.

The Rabbi in the background. Flower girl, apparently, not so interested in that.

Then we head over for the ceremony under the huppah.

And Sara walks down the aisle with her mom…

I can’t wait to share more and there will definitely be lots, lots more. Of course, more from the reception, but I will also be sharing about the flowers. They were amazing! Bouquets and bouttonieres galore by Laughin’ Gal Floral. Definitely check back soon!

For one of the parties, Abby Brennan of Peaches by Plums provided these amazing flowers.

I could not believe how beautiful they were and the aroma that filled the space was so sweet and inviting. I met Abby while visiting the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, where she works in the catering department. But floral and event design is her dream and passion. It certainly shows.

In order to make the event even more special, we decided to include a showing of our favorite images from the getting ready portion of the wedding day. The show was called "Anticipation." We plan on keeping it up for through the season. All of the photographes were black and white photojournalistic images; we used museum standard matting and simple black frames.

Through the rest of the gallery, we have hung our permanent collection. Some of our favorite photographs from weddings and portrait sessions. Below you see several canvas prints as well as a self-portrait metallic print.

I always love hosting a party because I really enjoy watching the people from different parts of my life intermingle.

Max missed out on all the partying, but he still gets to enjoy the space on a regular basis.

Our new space is between Watertown Square and Newton Corner, about 15 minutes from downtown Boston. Not only do we love the great space, but the location is absolutely perfect for us. We have found it relatively easy to get to Boston as well as points West, North and South. Hooray for convenience!

If you weren’t able to make it and would like to stop by, let us know. We would be happy to show you around.

Dave and I love long tables. They create a completely different environment at a wedding. Allison and Adam chose to have these tables at their Hans Fahden wedding and the interactions among the guests seemed to volley in all directions around the space. It was so much fun.

Christina included the above image on her blog, but I wanted to share a few more so you could see how the experience was for the guests and how the reception flowed with long tables.

Allison and Adam’s dinner was held in the wine cave at Hans Fahden in Calistoga. The "T" shape of the long tables fits perfectly in this space and the bride and groom sit at the intersection of the T, surrounded by their friends and family.

Here the best man gives his toast to Allison and Adam.

Friends and family enjoy the closeness and camaraderie of sitting side by side.

We have seen this space in its varied arrangements and I can definitely see the benefit of this one.

If you would like to see more from Allison and Adam’s fall wedding in the wine country, check out the sneak preview, the scoop and their slideshow.

I’ve been wanting to do a hair donation for some time now. In the past I was either too impatient to let it grow or I was in an office setting where having hair that long just didn’t look professional. The organization I wanted to donate to, Pantene Beautiful Lengths, requires a minimum of 8″ and you need to leave a little on your head after the fact too so it does take a while to grow out, even for someone like me whose hair grows pretty fast.

I’d already let my hair get pretty long over the last year or so, and after leaving my office job I didn’t have to worry about the professional issue either. Then came the patience part. It was starting to get annoyingly long but I wanted to make sure I had enough to make a good donation. My husband measured my ponytail for me recently and he said I had about 8.5-9″ available, leaving the resulting hair at just about or slightly above chin level. Time for the big chop!

Jo was kind enough to agree to go to the salon with me for moral support and to take some before and after shots. We had a great time, especially since the stylist, Laurel, was so nice. She measured my hair again and told me that I had 10″ to donate! Wow, I had no idea. It was kind of weird watching her cut off the two long ponytails she gathered, but I didnâ?(tm)t regret it for a second.

Now I’m sporting a cute (if I do say so myself ) little bob that’s longer in front and shorter in back (it’s about an inch below the very base of my head).

My hair looks so much healthier coming out of the salon. I haven’t had hair this short in a while, but surprisingly it doesn’t feel that weird. And I haven’t even needed to use a scarf yet like I thought I would–I’ve been insulating my neck with my hair on the cold days out here and thought I’d be freezing after the big chop The salon is so organized that they’re going to send my donation in for me along with another lady’s donation that was being cut later in the week.

Final note: the reason I chose to donate to PBL rather than the better-known Locks of Love is that PBL focuses on wigs for cancer patients, whereas LoL primarily creates wigs for people suffering from alopecia, which researchers believe is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks its own hair follicles. Alopecia sufferers are often completely bald, including women. While this is also a sad and, I imagine, demoralizing condition I personally wanted to focus on cancer sufferers, hence my decision to go with PBL.

Karen is a guest writer for our blog. She lives in the Boston area and is 2005 Allegro bride. If you would like to make a similar donation, please contact Pantene Beautiful Lengths. If you would like to be a guest writer for our blog, please write a comment to let us know or send an email..

When Andrea and Eric envisioned their engagement session, they knew they wanted to capture a very "New England-y" feel; they wanted their images to show off their home at its best. They wanted fall foliage, colonial architecture, boats in a harbor. They wanted a picturesque seaside town. The north shore certainly offers plenty of options; Dave and I had recently been to Marblehead and immediately saw the potential there.

Andrea and Eric were up for anything. Andrea was wearing these awesome heals. I thought for sure she would have a tough time walking all over Marblehead in them. But she was amazing. She even scaled the rocks overlooking the water with complete grace. We found a spot for them on a rock with beautiful light. They were immediately at ease. And clearly so into each other.

They also had an opportunity to take in the views, which were gorgeous. We had perfect weather, clear skies for miles.

I so love this picture. Their heads, arms and hands form a heart shape and they fit so perfectly together.

We were up at the Fort Sewall park with its cool walls and buildings. The stone covered in foliage reminds me of a college campus admissions brochure. But my favorite part about this image is the way it is divided into 3 sections, with Andrea and Eric right in the middle gazing at each other.

The water was super still that evening…

which made for some beautiful reflections.

While Andrea went to change clothes, we did a little scouting away from the water and found this really interesting spot. There were lobster traps all around and an old fishing boat.

We ventured from there a little further into town. We were looking for more beautiful trees (we were on the early side of fall at the time). Still we found some lovely color.

Have leaves, will play! And with gusto, too.

The night grew cooler as the sun set and the moon rose. Andrea and Eric cuddled together under the purple October sky.

This enagement session with Andrea and Eric was so much fun; we can’t wait to celebrate with them at the Harding Allen Estate in Barre, MA.

Many thank you’s to you both for your trust in us and for being willing to try anything.

Want to see more? Check out their slideshow.

Elsa comes to the city everyday for work, but Tim doesn’t get to spend much time in San Francisco so it was doubly fun to share this with them. We started off at Washington Square. It was a beautiful evening and the park was packed with dogs and their people. We still managed to sneak a few quiet moments.

We then headed closer to downtown and grabbed a few by the City Lights Bookstore at Jack Kerouac Alley. This is such a colorful and fun San Francisco lane- no cars but lots of people and lots of San Francisco history.

From this tourist spot, we dove into a quieter part of the city. Dave and I had been to this little Polish cafe and were totally enamored with its great ambiance. It was also a chance for Elsa and Tim to enjoy a drink and relax a bit.

We took a few more around the corner at this brilliant red wall.

This is actually right next to the red wall. We got a totally different feel just by looking in the other direction!

As the sun began to set, Dave captured this silhouette with the lights of Broadway beginning to brighten up around Elsa and Tim.

Thank you to Elsa and Tim for trekking around SF with us. We had such a great time and you two were awesome. I am so sorry we couldn’t join you guys for dinner; I hope it was amazing. Definitely keep sharing tips of your favorite eats around the Bay.

Want to see more? Check out their slideshow.

Ariana and Jesse met on a backpacking trip in Alaska so we knew they would enjoy something outdoors. And we had just the spot in mind- one of our old stomping grounds. There’s a fabulous off-leash dog area in Oakland’s Redwood Regional Park.

We started off the session with Ariana and Jesse alone. They were so at ease with each other and with us. We got lots of smiles. And I love how the light hits Ariana’s hair on this shot.

We actually were coming from San Francisco. On the other side of the bay, the weather was all gloomy and foggy. But when we crossed the bridge we were treated to perfect blue skies. Gotta love Oakland!

These two needed no guidance. They knew just what to do. I love the way they look at each other.

The backlit grasses were all aglow. Ariana commented on how beautiful it was. I have to agree.

Athena was pretty distracted by all the yummy dog smells, but she was a really good listener and settled down at her dad’s request.

And then he asked for a kiss!

We can’t wait for Ariana and Jesse’s wedding at the Brazilian Room in Tilden Regional Park. It is just a few weeks away and promises to be so much fun.

Want to see a few more? Check out their slideshow.

Their suite was decked out in cool blues and warm golds. The period details alluded to the gilded age; it felt as if we had stepped into a palace.

The room’s decor offset Becky’s summery colors of pink and lime perfectly…

as did the ocean.

Becky selected orchids and roses with a few gerbera daisies for her floral touches. I love the modern trend of long grass in her bouquet.

Becky and Danny also included some "green" themes. The grass in the background of the guest welcome table hints at the gift within the seat assignment cards. The paper is actually made with flower seeds and intended to be planted.

The food was prepared by the Spiced Pear Restaurant and Nick Vitale of The Chanler created a menu card for each table setting.

Becky and Danny celebrated with a larger group at Becky’s family home in Connecticut. This gorgeous cake was part of that celebration. She continued the theme of gilded age elegance and her colors of pink and green.

Details:
July 2, 2008
Location: The Chanler at Cliff Walk, Newport, RI
Planner: Nick Vitale of the Chanler
Caterer: The Spiced Pear Restaurant at the Chanler
Floral Design: Broadway Florist Designs of Newport
Ceremony Musicians: Don Sanni

If you would like to see more images from Becky and Danny’s wedding, check out the sneak preview, the scoop, the fourth of july bbq, and their slideshow.