Combine a beautiful garden, fantastic house, perfect Santa Barbara weather…and you have a very enjoyable wedding. David’s grandpa performed the ceremony and it was quite touching. I was so happy with how the final photos turned out, really left me remembering my own backyard wedding and just how family-centric it was.

Clos LaChance Winery was an easy venue to enjoy. The party easily moved between the outdoor patios and gardens and the indoor tasting room. Guests danced and drank. There were costumes and jokes. More dancing. More wine. Such a fun time!

We started with a little first look session, followed by signing the ketubah, and then the ceremony under the chuppah. Jenny encircled Avi several times representing the virtues of marriage. Avi presented a ring on Jenny’s index finger. The seven marriage blessings were beautifully sung and read by their friends and family. All was so beautiful…but there was a first for me. The first time someone fainted during a ceremony! One of the chuppah holders feel over during the ceremony, giving all of us quite a scare. He ended up being just fine, probably just an empty stomach and dehydration.

Thanks so much Jenny and Avi for letting me be there at the start of your marriage.

Since this was a July wedding in upstate New York, I will admit I was a little nervous about the weather. I’d heard stories from all my east coast friends about stifling humidity and heat. I heard about random summer thunderstorms. But, I also heard Ithaca was GORGES. Luckily, all of those things came true…but all at the right times. Ithaca was gorgeous the whole time. The thunderstorm came the day before the wedding. And the heat and humidity came the day after the wedding. Which left us with perfect weather for the wedding day!

Mai and Craig had pre-scouted some areas for us to take photos, although it seemed that every corner in Ithaca could have been a great backdrop. We saw green fields, tall trees, super urban buildings, and rolling hills. The photos on the green fields with that superb blue skies were some of my favorites from the year.

An interesting note about the reception venue…it was held at the hotel on campus at Cornell University. That’s right, there’s a hotel ON campus. It is luxurious and used as a teaching experience for students in the hotel and hospitality studies. So, the whole wedding involved service persons who are actually students in the program. They did a wonderful job on everything from the catering, bartending, decor, and meal service.

Celia is a kindergarten teacher and Jack is a principal. I have nothing but respect for both of them, especially since now I am immersed in the California State Education system. I know they have to juggle demanding parents, state standardized testing systems, shrinking budgets, and increasing class sizes. Any one of those challenges would be daunting…but they get them all at once. So I also understand just why their reception was OFF THE HOOK fun. An absolute release of energy. (and a special shout out to Celia’s brother and sister for being so cool!)

I have to give compliments to the wonderful other vendors who worked this wedding…it was a blast! And the Kramer DJ deserves a special award for finding Celia’s wedding ring which had flown off her finger during the dancing!
DJ and lighting: Kramer Entertainment
Catering: Cass Catering
Flowers: Flowers by Kim

Anyways, I was super excited to work with Kenzi and Jeff. The backdrop of Santa Margarita Ranch offers a lot of diversity for pictures. Barn weddings are always a blast to photograph, the lighting can be so dramatic. We made the most of all the day had to offer. Lots of dancing, lots of emotions. Probably my favorite moment was hearing the Star Wars theme during the processional of the ceremony! LOVED that! And, of course, who wouldn’t love an officiant who took a photo of the bride and groom while he was marrying them and updated his Facebook status with it? Kenzi is my Facebook friend now and I can say that we honestly have a lot in common. I am going to enjoy watching them enjoy their lives’ adventure together.

Flowers were by Sprigs Floral Design
DJ was Bob with Phase 1 Mobile DJ