Jenn and Robert are such a sweet couple.  They both love Wine Country in Fall so they knew they wanted a Fall wedding.  They chose the beautiful Garden Pavilion in Sonoma, CA since it has such a perfect balance of an intimate setting but surrounded by the most majestic vineyards around!  They both have a love for science so they wanted to incorporate that in some way with out deviating from their Fall color pallet and wine country theme.  So they created their own Periodic Table….yes that’s right I said periodic table!!  Is it bringing flashbacks through your mind of middle school????  These two are so incredibly creative!!!  They made up their own elements and tied them into table numbers and to the bar and appetizer menus.  So each guest had their own element square and table assignment on the periodic table.  They used that as their underlying “theme” through out the reception.  It was the most creative and well executed theme I saw all year.

 

Jennifer and Robert really wanted to minimize the amount of time in between the ceremony and reception and they also really really wanted to take family photos with their extended family, not just immediate.  So they chose to do a first look so they could do all of their romantics and bridal party photos before the ceremony.  Then we were able to get all of their family photos done in under 30 minutes after the ceremony and they were then able to join in the cocktail hour festivities.  I’m not always a fan of the first look (I know I’m probably the only wedding photographer who isn’t) but  when Jennifer and Robert came to me wanting to do this, I was all for it!  I think they were so happy that they did too!  They got to enjoy their cocktail hour and we had so much more time upfront to take a lot more photos of the two of them.  Not to mention they were so willing to dash out of the party for 10 minutes at sunset and take another handful of photos in the vineyard in that golden light!!  So they have tons and tons of amazing photos of the two of them!!

Jenn’s Father played guitar and sang them a song, it was such a sweet moment!  I especially loved capturing the way Jenn looked at her Father!  But my heart sang when I caught her Mother, closing her eyes as she truly enjoyed listening to her Husband as he sang.  Have you ever sat in a room and listened to your favorite artist and just close your eyes while you listened?  It’s almost like you experience more of the song, I just loved watching her Mom do this with her Husband!  Such a touching moment!

Jennifer and Robert are catholic, so tradition tells us that you need to have a traditional catholic ceremony in your local church right?  Not for Jenn and Robert!  They chose to have an outdoor catholic ceremony with communion and everything!  I thoroughly enjoyed this!  If you know catholic weddings at all you know that photographers are not aloud flash, not aloud to take photos of prayer, can’t go past the first 3 rows of guests, etc etc etc…. there are rules for the rules when it comes to photographers and catholic church weddings.  Some of these rules still applied, which I respect 100% I always do, but because this was outdoors I had the ability to respect the rules but back up go out and around the perimeter.  I was able to hide in the bushes behind the alter and capture shots of the couple head on, with out causing a disturbance.  So any of the shots you see where I can see the guests or the couple’s faces, I was placing my lens in a gap in the bushes lol!  to say I was dirty after this ceremony is an understatement!!!  But it was worth it!!!  The first catholic wedding I was able to get full shots of the couple’s faces and still managed to respect the rules and remain somewhat inconspicuous!!!

If you skipped my intro… pay special attention to the Periodic Table!! This was their underlying “theme” to the reception decor!  They both love science and they are incredibly creative so they took the periodic tables and made up their own elements, used each element as their seating chart!!!  They executed this beautifully!!!!!

If you follow my blog, you know my favorite time of the day is the last hour before the sun packs up for the day and retreats behind the horizon.  I often try and pull the couple out for 5-10 minutes of “bonus time” !!!  Luckily for us this amazing time of the day fit perfectly in to the reception timeline.  So Jenn and Robert were up for running out to the vineyard for a quick 5 minutes!  and this is what they are rewarded with……

A special thank you to my amazing second photographer Barbara Yasuhara!  What an amazing day we had together!!!

 

And another special thank you to the amazing vendors who provided the Wallace’s with such a beautiful day!

Cake- michele’s corner
Dj – Runaway DJ (the best!!! love them!)
Venue- Garden Pavilion
Caterer – Out to lunch
Flowers- Bella Vida Event Productions
Rentals – Encore Events