Wow! This blog post is a long time coming!! One thing I will not win in 2013 or 2014 is an award for most prolific blogger.... !! That is to say, blogging about Georgianna & Martin's wedding weekend in San Francisco has been on my ToDo list for a very long time!
I met Georgianna & Martin thru Ali Phillips of Engaging Events by Ali. Ali is an exceptionally deft and creative event planner and coordinator based in Chicago. She thought we'd be a good fit, and we were! I absolutely loved working with Georgianna & Martin! They lived in San Francisco, and when thinking about their wedding, were torn between a Fall wedding in Napa or in the City. They opted to get married at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and have a day of Wine and Sun and Fun on the Friday before in Sonoma at several top wineries.
This is going to be a long blog post!
We met Friday morning at their apartment overlooking The City. Everyone gathered there for coffee and donuts, bagels and beer, Champagne and Champagne, and then everyone piled into a row of limousines parked out front...
Our first stop was Kunde winery... Now, this was a beautiful October afternoon, an amazing day in San Francisco and a beautiful day in the wine country....
One thing you'll notice, is that this was a very emotional wedding... there was so much love in the air it was palpable.... or maybe that was the wine, but still, it was lovely being able to watch everyone interact and have so much fun together... two very close families and dear friends.
Our stay at Kunde was all too brief, but there was much ground to cover and much wine to taste, so we headed out to our next stop... B.R. Cohn Winery. There, everyone was treated to a short tour and lesson on olive oil, as B.R. Cohn makes both wonderful wine and olive oil, and then it was down to the vineyards for lunch! Lunch, wine, and toasts under an old oak tree at the foot of rolling California hills covered with colorful vineyards... in the middle of fall... in Sonoma... what could be better??
After lunch, it was off to Gloria Ferrer winery to wrap up a perfect day... :)
Saturday morning I woke up early to get some sunrise pictures over San Francisco from my room high up in The Fairmont. I was excited! After such a great day on Friday in the wine country, I was looking forward to another great day in San Francisco...
Georgianna was getting ready at their apartment, and Martin and his guys were getting ready at The Fairmont, so my assistant and I split up and I went to photograph Georgianna while my assistant stayed with Martin. We would all meet up at The Fairmont later in the afternoon...
Georgianna & Martin decided to see each other prior to their ceremony, thus allowing us a lot of time to play in The City and take pictures... unfortunately, that very weekend was the weekend that the Bay Area Bart (that's redundant) went on strike, completely snarling the city in traffic. The ladies met the gentlemen back at The Fairmont, and Georgianna & Martin saw each other for the first time that day, dressed and ready to get married! They exchanged personal notes with each other, and after they had a moment together, we headed out for portraits around the city... Their stunning flowers were created by Orna at Ornamento.
From there we hopped back into the limo bus and made our way to the ceremony site, the grand Holy Trinity Church. What an amazing church! It was a Greek Orthodox ceremony, and the church lady gave me the run down on what I could and could not do, where I could and could not go (very normal), and often they're pretty strict and have many rules, but at Holy Trinity they gave me almost free range to roam and get the best vantage points I could... Of course I'm discrete and sensitive, unobtrusive and polite, but I had a lot of elbow room! It was a photographer's best case scenario!
After the ceremony, we all headed back to The Fairmont for a wild Greek and Irish reception. The two cultures melded perfectly and the celebrating was off the hook! Unfortunately we didn't get to stop to take more pictures on the way back to the hotel due to the traffic congestion, but we made it in time for the cocktail hour and in time to get some detail shots of the wonderful decor that Ali had created...
There were two bands, an Irish band and a Greek band, and they played separately at first, trading on and off... there was also separate dancing at first... Irish and Greek style dancing, and then before too long, both bands were playing together, joining each other, and it was AWESOME! People smashed plates on the dance floor (not The Fairmont china, plates bought for smashing) and thew money into the air, and seriously good times were had by all!!
Ali Phillips, thank you so much for being so wonderful and amazing to work with! Everything went perfectly smoothly the whole weekend (except for your AirBNB apartment ;) )
Georgianna & Martin, you two are amazing and I have enjoyed every interaction we've had together... Thank you so much for the beautiful weekend, your wonderful families and friends, and for being so hospitable and all around awesome!