And now on to the smooching….

Happy Valentine’s Day!

With love from,
Dave & Jo

To kick it off, I wanted to start with the family we’ve known the longest- that of Karen and Willy.

Karen and Willy, our first generation, got married in the Spring of 2005 at the Berkeley Faculty Club. They had their Chinese Banquet at The Legendary Palace in Oakland. A couple of years ago Karen and Willy moved back to Boston MA, where Karen grew up and her family remains. Now that we are back in the Boston area as well, we feel so fortunate that we get to see Karen and Willy more often.

Karen was frequently on The Knot and shared our name with lots of other knotties (thank you, Karen). And she also shared our name and work with her good friend, Gillian (second generation), whom she and Willy met through Volleyball. Karen and Gillian have even more in common than volleyball. They also both loved their wedding planning and both have continued to help other brides with their weddings.

Having seen us in action at Karen’s wedding and then seeing the images, Gillian chose us as well. Gillian and Wes were married in the summer of 2006 at the Maison du Lac in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. Because Gillian is an alum, we took some of their portraits at Stanford University.

It has been great keeping in touch with Gillian and Wes. They are such an amazing couple. And we owe them so much thanks for their suggestions of a fabulous BnB to stay at while visiting Australia a couple of years ago.

Gillian then brought her album to work. And we are so glad she did. Because Emily had a chance to see the pix from Gillian and Wes’s wedding. She was planning her July 2007 wedding in Sonoma. When we met them, we hit it off immediately. Dave loved talking science with Mark; and when we delivered their album, we got to see their beautiful aquariums. Dave was thrilled!

Emily and Mark are the third generation. They were married at the Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma and celebrated at The Lodge at Sonoma.

Emily and her sister Allie then recommended us to Allie’s friend Cara (fourth generation) who married Nate at the Sonoma Mission Inn and the Sonoma Golf Club this fall. We were worried about rain, but the day turned out absolutely perfectly. This wedding was extra fun because Allie was a bridesmaid and Emily and her parents also attended the wedding.

Check out more from Cara and Nates wedding: Engagement Session, Sneak Peak, The Scoop, and Slideshow.

Emily and Mark also shared our info with Mark’s sister Lauren (fourth generation). We met Lauren at their wedding and really enjoy her warmth and smiles. We can’t wait to photographer her wedding to Steve at an estate in Carmel Valley next summer. A few years ago, we photographed Sarah and Brett‘s wedding at the Bernardus Lodge and fell in love with the area. Plus, we are really looking forward to seeing the whole White family again!

We have had such a blast with this crew and we can’t wait to see how it grows. Thank you so much to Karen & Willy for kicking it off, and to Gillian & Wes, Emily & Mark (and Allie), Cara & Nate, and Lauren & Steve for keeping this mini-family going thus far!

Based on all the comments here on our blog, I know how excited and anxious Angela and Michael’s friends and family are to see all their wedding photos. I’ve had a really tough time narrowing them for this entry but here they are.

I have so many favorites from the day…but I really like the movement and feeling of this one. Angela and her dad are really good dancers and they put on quite the show and I think this image captures that.

Angela with some serious bling!

I took this of Angela and her parents as the gates opened into the courtyard at The Lodge at Sonoma. Don’t her parents look so proud?

This was definitely the sweetest moment I ever captured during the signing of the marriage certificate. Angela and Michael savoring their first moments as husband and wife.

Angela et al worked for months putting together creative touches and her own signature look for the wedding. Michael told me that he couldn’t count how many times they went to the craft store. I will be posting more details from their wedding on a future post. Maybe we can get Angela to let us in on her decorating secrets.

Here’s a really cute shot taken by Sarah. Angela had gotten parasols for all the guest and I thought that it would be fun to get a few portraits with them.

After the reception, we went to Chateau St. Jean for some photos. This is one of their favorite vineyards and they even had Chateau St. Jean wine at the reception.

The ever patient bridal party.

And an absolutely perfect ending to the day – stroll in the vineyard.

You can see more of their images by visiting their sneak preview blog entry.

Check out their slideshow for a link to the entire gallery. (You can even download the slideshow- how cool is that?)

The gardens at the Lodge at Sonoma were in full bloom and was the perfect backdrop for an outdoor wedding.

Angela and the best man vying for a kiss!

Chateau St. Jean is one of Angela and Michael’s favorites wineries so we went there for some post reception photos in this French inspired Chateau.

Jo stayed home on this one:) But I had a wonderful second shooter with me. Thanks Sarah, you did a great job!

This is just a sneak peak. More to come soon.