Oakland Engagement Session: Mandela & Brian

I had the best Downtown Oakland engagement photo session with these awesome and gorgeous humans and I am so excited to share the highlights. We started of all places, at BART! If ever there was a place that doesn’t sound like a sexy place for an engagement session it might the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, however we found the jewel of the network, the entrance to the 19th Street station. It really is a gem, with it’s bright turquoise jewel tones. Though I have to admit I had two secret weapons, Mandela & Brian! It really doesn’t hurt when you have awesome company who have a blast together.

I was excited to sneak a quick pic in front of the beautiful Fox Theater too before we headed down, just a stone’s throw away, to Lake Merritt. We were on the side with a view of downtown and I think I might have a new favorite photo location– the fact that it’s 5 minutes from my apartment and the weather is often just right is quite fortunate indeed. I could go on and gush about Mandela & Brian but do yourself a favor and check out the photos. You’ll see just how excited I was to work with this fun, playful and romantic pair. Enjoy!

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So freaking excited for these two! They kept it sweet and simple with a private elopement in San Francisco's golden gate park and they also had an enormous amount of luck when they planned to get married on Wednesday when we had a break in the rain here in the SF Bay Area. It was such a joy to capture this moment ❤️
Just going to put this here... my first attempt at putting myself in front of the camera! Everyone else is doing it so I'm giving it a shot now too. ⁠
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This is from Christy & Dory's gorgeous wedding at Straus Home Ranch, in Marshall, CA. It is one of my favorite venues and this was a very special wedding. Even though this is a more serious moment there is tons of laughter that happens between these two. Christy has the most contagious laugh. I'm sure you'll be smiling when you take a peek. Check out the link in bio.⁠
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📍 Wedding Venue: Straus Home Ranch @straushomeranch⁠
💐 Florals + Planning: Three Summer Days Events, Ashley Babin @threesummerdaysevents⁠
🧀 Catering: The Girl and the Fig @figcaters⁠
🎵 Band: Lucky Devils @luckydevilsband⁠
💄 Hair + Makeup: Lea B Gorgeous @lea_bgorgeous⁠
Enjoy fleet week San Francisco. Hope you enjoy it as much as this mother of the bride!⁠
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The most memorable moments are the unexpected ones. We were getting lined up for family photos when we could hear the blue angels starting up (very loudly) and flying overhead. Emily & Will got so lucky they didn't fly over while they were exchanging their vows and only started up just minutes after they said "I do."⁠
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Also when taking this photo I was disappointed for a split second that I didn't have a long close up lens on me so I could get a better photo of the planes, but then I realized my wide angle lens was perfect for allowing me to get everyone's reaction to the planes just before they zoomed out of frame.