Brittany and Brian celebrated their wedding the other week with some great touches that really made the day personal. I shot the wedding with Julie of Julie Cheshire Photography.
We started the day at the Fairmont in San Francisco where Brittany was putting on the finishing touches to her ensemble. Brian had given her some beautiful diamond earrings earlier in the week that matched her engagement ring. The wedding bands were engraved with the wedding date and his had the inscription, “Forever my sweet thing”. How cute is that?
The ceremony was incredibly personal with only 30 people in attendance in one of the larger suites at the Fairmont. They had a harpist who played beautifully throughout the service. One of my favorite parts was passing of the rings around to every person in the room for personal blessings to the couple.
In the gap between the ceremony and the larger reception, we all (Brittany, Brian, 30 guests, and Julie and myself) piled onto to a trolley car to take us around San Francisco for various photo ops. We had a blast on the trolley car and the only casualty was a Blackberry that went overboard – the battery was never recovered.
We first stopped at Fort Point for some appropriately foggy shots of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge.
We then travelled to Alamo Square for some pictures in front of the famed Painted Ladies and then on to the Embarcadero to give some attention to the Bay Bridge and Ferry building. I think we were all thankful to be out in the sun there as it was VERY chilly on the trolley car during the rest of the trip.
The reception was held at the beautiful Olympic Club. Before they became utterly exhausted with pictures, we were able to capture some shots of Brittany and Brian by the swimming pool that was surrounded by fantastic and ornate stained glass windows and ceiling.
Again, with the sweet little touches: Brittany had made guest cards that directed the guests to tables dedicated to special couples in their lives. They had gotten wedding pictures from each of these couples and used them on the place cards and as part of the centerpieces. It was such a unique and personal idea. They had also put out little bells at each setting for the guests to ring and signify a kiss.
After dinner, the couple danced to Frank Sinatra’s “The Summer Wind” and handed the party over to the awesome band, The Cheeseballs. I hadn’t heard such a fantastic band in a while. The eight member ensemble got the place rocking with some disco, hip hop, and a few classics mixed in.
We finished off the night with the (cup)cake cutting. The adorable cupcakes were specially monogrammed with a “b & b” with sweet little dots.
It was an excellent wedding. I’m so glad I was able to share it with Brittany and Brian. Thanks, guys!
All summer long
we sang a song
And then we strolled that golden sand
Two sweethearts and the summer wind
Frank Sinatra, “The Summer Wind”
