I’m thrilled to have this wedding featured on Brides - it was a professionally & personally meaningful one for me!

I knew I was going to love being Sam & Thinh’s photographer from our first meeting. Not only because they were kind, cultured, a little soft-spoken & clearly so in love… but also because Sam’s mom joined them at this meeting & she had every bit the enthusiasm & joy they did for chatting about the celebration. She was so sweet… & so happy to be part of the process with her son & his partner. It’s honestly not super common that I write about the parent of a bride or groom in one of my blog posts… but her presence showed me that this wedding was not only the celebration of a relationship but really it was a joining of families. These grooms were melding their lives together and they did so in the most thoughtful ways.

Sam & Thinh met & lived in London but had pasts in the Bay Area & Vietnam. Their lives & relationship truly spanned the globe. The impeccable planning of Downey Street Events & all the creative details that went into this wedding honored that in a beautiful way.

The ceremony & reception were at The Flood Mansion, an elegant space high on a San Francisco hill overlooking the bay and Golden Gate Bridge. All day as I photographed, I found myself moving back & forth between the expansiveness of the venue & some gorgeous, meaningful little detail Sam & Thinh had chosen…

The florals by This Humble Abode were understated & artistic - little bursts of orchids & greenery set amongst the masculine, deep color pallet of the decor.

During the ceremony, the couple poured together two colors of sand & goldleaf flakes placed in vases by their guests to honor the Vietnamese custom of gifting gold to wish good fortune on a marriage.

Their cake was a piece of art in its own right, incorporating the look of granite & the Asian technique of kintsugi. It was a nod to the foundation they had built together over years of both wonderful & challenging times. I’d guess that many guests didn’t even know the art was actually cake until it came time for the cutting. :)

Every piece of this celebration was chosen with intention & heart. I could see the way that intention shaped the day, spoke to their guests, even influenced the photographs I made.

A little glimpse into my process as a photographer is that each wedding I’m part of has at least a moment or two that hits me in some personal way. It’s a part of the job that I deeply love. The spot in this day was the walk down the aisle on the way to be married… Sam & Thinh were accompanied by their mothers.

At the time of this wedding I was, myself about 4 months away from becoming a mother. I felt fantastic - excited & lively, sometimes a little morning sick, & incredibly curious about what this new chapter would mean for me. When I saw these moms walking their sons to this huge rite of passage, I thought back to Sam’s mom in our initial meeting and the sheer joy she felt for her son finding his person.

I think of her & these beautiful grooms often… each time my own son reaches some new milestone & I feel a bolt of joy on his behalf. They pass through my mind & I get a little glimpse into the joys I hope to be lucky enough to experience sometime down the line.