Tamara + Stefan

Venue: Atwood Ranch, Glen Ellen
Caterer: Sage Catering
Gown: Atelier des Modistes
Florist: Anne Appleman

Small delicate birds nests, satin ribbons and a Victorian lace wedding gown created a beautiful contrast to the rustic Barn atmosphere at sustainable Atwood Ranch.

“I love the shapes that nature makes and it fits really beautifully with Victorian and rustic. I also love the image of a nest, so carefully and artfully put together by a tiny bird, for a home and family,” says Tamara about the wedding decor. “Some of the ones we used were from Atwood, some from New Jersey from my Mom, and some I found. Then, Julie put it together with some of the decor she has— (plates, furniture, display items, etc.) It was fabulous!”

Thank You, Julie Atwood, for making sure we were able to capture all the little details Tamara selected so carefully for her special celebration!

Engagement Session in the Hills of Petaluma

Yesterday I went for a hike visiting the same oak tree where I captured this wonderful engagement photo. I noticed that the leaves have grown already and I wouldn’t have been able to get this amazing silhouette of the gnarled oak tree. On the day of the engagement session, the tree was still all bare, revealing it’s beautiful structure – nature as a master sculptor!
Jenna & Chris came all the way from Sacramento for this outdoor engagement session. Considering the season – it was an unusual warm and sunny day – just perfect to roam around the Petaluma Hills… with some Holstein cows in the background.
The oak trees created perfect play structures for some fun photos. Jenna & Chris didn’t hesitate to climb & jump.

After all that fun walking & running it was time for a little break. Chris & Jenna found a soft spot to lay in the lush green. While this time I got to climb the tree to get this bird view photo.
Sunset always provides a magical setting ….

This was a real beautiful and fun day for all of us! I can’t wait to see them again on their wedding day in Mendocino.

Renee & Joel’s Wedding

Montclair Woman’s Cultural Arts Club, Oakland, California.

The words that come to mind are earthy, innovative, alternative, tattoo loving, combined with style and urban sophistication, so classic to the San Francisco – Bay Area. Most weddings are amazingly styled, but only few reach such a feel of true personality and uncompromising commitment to their deeper values that made this wedding stick out of the mainstream.

Renee & Joel demonstrated that even a wedding celebratioin with flair can be considerate of mother nature – serving only vegetarian food – can have a groom & groom’s men wear black tennis shoes, and the guests decorated with a plethora of expressive tattoos rather than jewelry.

A crowd of Tattoos:
It was a real nice change and fun to focus on tattoos in a way to capture the character of the wedding. Some tattoos had obvious special meaning, some were amazing work of art and the whole body turned into a decorated sculpture.

Later Renee told me that her “tattoo is my grandmother and great-grandmother’s names–Mimi and Vera. They both had very hard lives and I wanted a way to remember them. I got the tattoo 8 years ago on my 22nd birthday.”

Earthy-godly Food:
The wedding couple didn’t compromise and served only vegetarian food – no exception! Best of all – people LOVED it! Not only was the food vegetarian- it was all “organic”, and the coffee “fair-trade”. Talking about a feast worthy for a King and his Queen – yet wholesome and dedicated to social justice. Usually, these kinds of topics are brushed under the table – no one seems to want to mention it. I wonder why? But luckily, there are increasing options. Renee & Joel’s choice of caterer “Back to Earth Organics” demonstrated that!
The Presentation of the food was equally impressive, earthy-spiritual, displayed with reverence:

Organic Seasonal Menu:
Passed Appetizers: Summer rolls ~ with sweet and sour chili sauce; Stuffed portobellinis ~ with white beans and sage; Cashew basil pesto ~ on seasoned crostini
Dinner: Farmer’s market salad ~ with seasonal vegetables and ginger lime dressing; Thai vegetable curry with lemongrass & sweet basil; Kung pao tofu ~ with toasted cashews; Cilantro jasmine rice
Cake: Lemon cake with white chocolate ganache, filled with fresh blackberries & hazelnuts
Drinks: Lavender Lemonade, Fair-trade coffee, Herbal tisane

The Personal Touch
Renee: “The button idea we got from Martha Stewart’s Wedding magazine. And yes Joel made all of them. We bought a button maker and Joel made individual buttons for people. Most had some meaning or significance except the ones he made for people he didn’t know.”

Lush Flowers:
Transforming and – yes – lush was the wonderful contribution of the florist “Lush Floral”!

Stationary:
The invitations had beautiful earthy feel and yet simple design by local letterpress star Hello Lucky! purchased at Piedmont Stationers in Oakland. Just the feel of this old fashioned craft of impressing metal onto the soft sumptuous fine art paper – makes you fall in owe of what modern, digital printing will never compare to.

Passing On The Veil – A Wedding Tradition

Weddings are about family relations: Building new ones and re-confirming old ones.

When photographing a wedding in Mendocino, I learned of a very special tradition of passing on the veil from generation to generation. It had an even more special meaning to this particular bride, Arisa, and her family.

Veil’s Historical background:
The veil was originally the wedding gown of her dad’s great-great grandmother around the late 1800′s. Later, the gown was made into a veil which was worn by her father’s grandmother, mother, sister and niece….and finally by Arisa on September 9, 2005, at the beautiful beach at Windrift Cottage, Mendocino.

What makes this family tradition on passing on the veil so poignant to Arisa is that she is adopted. … but with this remarkable symbolic gesture, adoption is just some legal wording on paper, in Arisa’s & her family’s hearts, their family bonds are as close & strong as of any natural family.

Like a Greek Goddess!
Blessed with the dark blue ocean in the back ground, and the gorgous, ornate heirloom veil.. complementing the simple wedding gown, Arisa danced around the beach like a Greek Goddess! It was lots a fun & a creative photo moment.

These wedding photographs are truly unique and a piece of personal history. Incidents like this are what makes wedding photography such a wonderful and rich art as it equally reflects human history!

Wedding Dress:
Bridal Designer Amy Michelson

Integrating East-West Cultures – YOUR WAY!

Western – Vietnamese Wedding

Advise from Bride to Bride:

Well, first of all, CONGRATS!!! Enjoy this experience because it’s absolutely amazing. You certainly chose a perfect place to get married in San Francisco. And, if you’re still interviewing photographers–you might as well stop. I have to tell you Rosemarie and Gerard are the most incredible photographers EVER!! From experience, the beautiful thing is that you never felt that you were on camera–it was just so natural. And the most candid pictures–they completely captured the essence of the entire wedding events, from Hans Fahden to Los Angeles reception (I don’t know if you got to peruse the entire wedding on Pictage). Some of those images are so special to us that I was amazed they captured it. Especially at the Vietnamese altar—WOW. We do have much to talk about how to integrate the East-West ceremonies. Another thing to consider, is that I have asked my friends about the weekend in Sonoma–they kept on raving about Rose & Gerard–how fun they were, how artistic, and mostly, unobtrusive. That is so so so important I can’t emphasize enough how you’ll need that on your special day.

How did I get away with not having 400 guests at a Chinese restaurant??
Frankly, by paying for it ourselves–Ha! Ha! Honestly though, my family wasn’t thrilled with the fact that they weren’t allowed to invite their friends, it was strictly immediate family and our closest friends, no aunts, uncles, cousins–100 people max. Yeah, we had our battles but we also had the LA reception where they could invite friends, etc. (but of course I did give them a max. headcount, which they HAD to stick to. Even LA was somewhat a destination for their OC friends & extended family, which also limited the number of confirmed replies). We had it at a friend’s house, outdoors, catered bbq for 250, band, dj and just celebrated. It was very very very different for my entire family as they’re so accustomed to the Chinese banquet–ultimately, everyone had an incredible time. IT WAS A BLAST!! It’s amazing how much they enjoyed this experience–it’s just that they weren’t used to the idea. My nieces and nephews even said when it’s their turn; they want it just like ours which was sooo cute and way to premature for them to say that! Boy I’m old.

So the lesson, stick to your number and don’t budge–once you open one group of friends or family members, you certainly will have to open many more doors. And if you start budging, you’re gonna start budging the budget. If you can get away with not having a local reception, I certainly encourage it. Destination weddings as I’m sure you know, are by far not a way to save money, in fact, much more but so worth it.

Most important though, do it your way. Accept and embrace that you’re not going to make everyone happy–but who cares? It’s quality vs. quantity. The day’s about you and your future husband. You’ll get a ton of people telling you how the day went by so fast, that they couldn’t remember anything. B.S. It’s all about your attitude and desires–for us, we wanted an intimate weekend celebration(s) amongst those closest to us, and to remember for a lifetime. Which looking back, Cindy we remember everything about our wedding weekend. Like I said, the experience was AMAZING.

Carol
Tied the knot at Hans Fahden Winery, Calistoga

Wedding at Tra Vigne – St. Helena-Part Deux

Since the couple had already the ceremony at a different site, my coverage started with some bridal photos in the surrounding settings of Tra Vigne.

It was already late afternoon and the sun was low – but with a warm glow. We found a nice area with trees planted in perfect rows. This made a nice background for more graphic, staged photos.

The bride looked like an empress from the turn of the century. One of my favorite wedding photos is one with the groom holding the bouquet behind his back and both bending towards each other for a little kiss. Than I had them walk around for more casual and intimate couple shots. At one point, there was a water fountain, the bouquet lying on the wall of it, and them dancing in the background. A nice moody and romantic scene.

By the time we returned for the cocktails, it has become pretty dark. We did a few group shots and than followed the sit-down dinner. The staff of Tra Vigne was very attentive and polite. The cake was a simple cream-colored one decorated with roses. After dinner and cake, we went outside for the bouquet toss. The bride climbed a pretty iron spiral staircase from where she threw the bouquet which her younger sister caught. – another wedding soon in the family:)!

Wedding Details:
Reception: Tra Vigne – St. Helena
Photography: by Rosemarie Lion: Artistic & Photojournalistic/Documentary Wedding Photographer serving the San Francisco Bay Area – Napa and Sonoma Valley
Cake: Patisserie Angelica.
Florist: Susan’s Fantasy Florals
Gown: Bridal Galleria: Marisa

Wedding at Tra Vigne – St. Helena

Today it’s time to edit the wedding photos of my recent wedding at Tra Vigne in St. Helena. It was the wedding of Patsy and Ramzi.

She – a statuesque blond American woman working for the administration at San Francisco University. He from Tunisia – soft, simple and straight forward, yet humorous – the way I know it from my old Europe. He very much reflects the slower, gentler Mediterranean culture.

Going through the wedding images, I am so amazed how different each weddings is. Because weddings are a little window to the world it enables me to stay artistically and intellectually interested in my wedding photography – and it makes me realize in what amazing world we live in – cultures and people are integrating more and faster.

To me, through the art of wedding photography – I am also able to document a bit of human history… the kind of weddings that happen today… with all the interweaving of different cultures, religions and races are the signs of our times and the globalization of humankind.

It makes me hopefull – as today there is lots of hatred among people … as if we haven’t learned much from the past. Marriage is a little way toward bridging bringing a little understanding and peace between different groups of people and be more tolerant.

Wedding Details:
Reception: Tra Vigne – St. Helena
Photography: by Rosemarie Lion: Artistic & Photojournalistic/Documentary Wedding Photographer serving the San Francisco Bay Area – Napa and Sonoma Valley
Cake: Patisserie Angelica.
Florist: Susan’s Fantasy Florals
Gown: Bridal Galleria: Marisa

True Wedding Photojournalism

Bonjour!

The trend in Wedding photography for the past few years has been, the reportage or photojournalism style…

It kind of opened the door to a more creative approach at wedding photography, letting us use our vision of what makes a true memorable moment in a wedding.
Our business Lionphotography established in 1994 was taking a new direction.

My photography at this time was more focused on studio work, using medium format and large format view camera, I love to play with light in a more controlled environment.

Rosemarie worked as a freelance photographer for numerous publications and local newspapers,and still is…

She graduated in photojournalism at San Francisco State University in 1994.
And had been selected among the top photojournalist students in the country to participate at “The Eddie Adams Workshop-BARNSTORM”.

“Teaming together the nation’s best photo editors and photographers with the world best student photographers and working photojournalists.”

“Adams has photographed some of the most celebrated people in the world: Ronald Reagan, Fidel Castro, whom he liked, and Pope John Paul II; Jerry Lewis, Clint Eastwood and Bette Davis; Big Bird and Mickey Mouse. All of them, and many more, have looked into Adams’ lens. He is one of the most published photographers in the U.S., with his work gracing the pages of newspapers and magazines like TIME, VOGUE, VANITY FAIR and PARADE.”

I know it sounds like I’m bragging, but I think It’s important for you to know, that True photojournalism doesn’t happen in one day, It takes times to develop the skills that brings a photo story to life.
I really think that the term ” wedding photojournalist” is being used a bit too loosely, and sometimes confounded with “wedding candid photography” making room for all the weekend photographers to jump in…hmmm… Is it good or bad for the professionals who take pride in their craftmanship?

I’d like to hear from you the customers and let me know of your experience with your wedding photographer, I’ll publish it, if you want to…without giving any names of course, I do respect peoples privacy.
Here are some testimonials from the peoples we have worked for.

A Wedding at The Auberge du Soleil- Rutherford-Napa