On Sunday of this Memorial Day weekend Teresa and Gary were married at Hotel Valencia on Santana Row!

We’ve been looking forward to their wedding for some time now, but it was when we saw some of their awesome wedding details (including green shoes) that I realized the day is going to be even more fun. Much to our delight, Teresa and Gary chose to see each other before the ceremony: this is something we always recommend for making the day go soo much smoother. We spent some time inside the hotel, taking photos in the courtyard, the Vbar, lobby, and in the hallways. I think we could have stayed there for a few more hours as the hotel is just gorgeous and soo modern and the bride and groom were the perfect models!

Shooting outside on Santa Row was a bit more of a challenge as it was pretty crowded on this long holiday weekend. We still managed to find some quiet alleys, beautiful walls, and remote benches for the photos.

Here are just some of our favorites from this awesome day:

Raquel Vasquez of Sweetie Face Make-up did an awesome job on Teresa’s hair and make-up:

The party was really shaking thanks to amazing skills by DJ Jeremy Productions!

Congratulations, Teresa and Gary!! We loved being with you on this beautiful day.

Natasha

–
Mike and Natasha are San Francisco wedding photographers. You can learn more about them here: www.chocostudio.com

Update: Teresa and Gary’s wedding has now been featured on Style Unveiled Real Weddings! Read all about it here.

We saved the best blog entry for last from our Mexico destination wedding: Rimma and Mark were all up for a Trash the Dress session after the wedding! We love having the opportunity to get really creative and we couldn’t have been more happy to hear it.

Some people take the name of these sessions a bit too literally and think that the purpose of a “Trash the Dress” (TTD) shoot is to actually ruin a perfectly good, innocent gown. We’ve even seen shots where a bride was splashing paint on her dress! Well, the original idea behind these shoots was about being free to see how creative you can get without worrying about getting the dress dirty. After all, dry cleaning after the shoot should take care of it and still let you store the dress spotless.

With Rimma and Mark we spent half a day roaming through Mexican ruins, a jungle, and cenotes while stopping here and there for photos on our way to the beach. Here are some favorites:

We found a beautiful underground cenote where we had a lot of fun shooting and swimming:

If any of our past or current brides are considering such a photo session, we’ll be excited to shoot it for you. It can simply be about roaming the city or countryside while taking some amazing shots with you fully dressed in your wedding clothes. Let us know if this sounds appealing.

We shot a gorgeous wedding at Santana Row’s Valencia Hotel this Sunday and we can’t wait to share these photos with you next. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Natasha

Juliya and Adam’s big day at Casa de la Vista on Treasure Island was a beautiful celebration of love and culture. Juliya was simply stunning, Adam looked equally handsome, and we had a blast being with them on their wedding day.

On the way to Treasure Island we stopped at one of our favorite spots in the city for a portrait session: the Hills Brother’s building! With an overcast sky, the light was just perfect and we couldn’t get a bad shot of these two.

The outdoor ceremony at Casa de la Vista was followed by a lively reception indoors which included toasts, live music, and even a team of dancers. Check out some of our faves!

We found this perfect spot for Juliya at the Campton Place Hotel’s lobby:

We love seeing people in love!

Adam’s umbrella had some serious style!

The dance performers were amazing!

We walked outside just before the night’s end to capture these shots in front of the Bay Bridge:

Woo hooo!!! We were thrilled to be a part of this beautiful day. Congratulations to Juliya and Adam!!! We wish you many, many long years of happiness.

Mike