Wine Country wedding season is about to kick in and I can’t wait to photograph my first wedding of the season in Sonoma in a couple of weeks. Before things get too busy it was nice to have a free weekend to head out with my hubby and check out Wineroad in the Russian River wine country and go barrel tasting! If you missed this weekend, don’t worry… it’s happening next weekend too!!

We went with our dear friends Bonne & Peter Posert, who are in the wine business, so it doesn’t get much better than that! First stop was Lynmar – I am not a chardonnay girl, but man, this was so delicious, crisp and yummy! Then we went to Joseph Swan,which had delicious pinot noirs and zinfandels… mmmmm!

 Then we picked up Dave, and we were off to the “Love Shack” at Porter Creek… Here the second generation wine maker, Alex Davis, shared delicious barrel samples, and a finished Chardonnay that was completely amazing! Peter & Bonne and Dave have been going here for many years, and the small tasting room, aviary, and friendly staff kept us here for quite a while!

Next (and what turned out to be the LAST… LOL) stop was Moshin, and it turned out to be my favorite stop! I knew I loved it right away when we pulled up, and I saw this

weird pacifier hanging from the barb wire fence… photo-op snatched! The fine folks at Moshin had a great band, Bucky Walters, and anyone having a wine country wedding outdoors should consider hiring these really fun bluegrass musicians from Arcata. Man, they just rocked it! I have never heard a bluegrass version of Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, and it was a musical highlight. Serious fun for a rehearsal dinner among hay bales or a country themed outdoor wedding… The wine was phenomenal, the people were very welcoming, and we just stayed… we had our yummy picnic, a behind the scenes tour of the gravity tanks that gently move the wine from grapes at the top of the hill to the bottling machines at the bottom and mmmmm pinot fantasticalness… OMG! Get yourself some of this wine!!!  Here’s some images for you!! Thanks again to Peter & Bonne for the great company, and for driving… my glass is full, and the wine is great!!

I am feeling the spring time, and am so pleased to offer a special portrait mini-session in and around my San Carlos children’s photography studio on Wednesday and Friday, February 10 and 12th,  just in time for Valentine’s Day!!! Only $95, which is a savings of almost $200 from our regular session fee! Reserve your 30 minute studio or outdoor session today by calling 415.515.6370, or sending an email to inquiry@millcottagephoto.com. Sessions are available between 10AM and 4:30PM on those two days only!!! We also will be having a special Woodland Series portrait event on Monday, February 15, and are accepting only three clients for that day for an on location session in the Los Altos Hills. The times available are  11:30, 12:00 noon and 12:30, and sessions will be 20 minutes, 1-2 children only.

All new clients will receive a special $25 gift card with purchase of a session, and current clients will receive a complimentary 5×7 print of their favorite image from the session as well as a $25 gift card! Images will be shown in your own personal, password protected web gallery, and will be available for purchase on-line for 3 days after they have been posted, so alert the grandparents, friends and family to be ready! Reposting your gallery after those 3 days will incur a $100 fee, which will automatically be applied to your order!

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments on the portraits of Alana from her party and from my children’s portrait studio in San Carlos! I am so glad especially that family and friends who weren’t able to attend the celebration are able to see how happy everyone was for Alana’s miracle! I know everyone is clamoring for more! So here’s a little video for you of all the images from the party! Enjoy!

I still have plenty of film in the fridge from the early days in my business when I shot wedding photography on film! I did love my beautiful Mamiya RB 67, and the several wonderful lenses I have for it, as well as liking the anticipation of waiting for a roll of film to be developed… and let’s not even begin about my musings from college in the black & white darkroom… it was just an indescribable feeling to see the image appear magically on the paper when you slipped it into the developer… ahhhh. Of course, I love photographing weddings digitally now, and all the advances made, and wouldn’t switch back (it’s embarassing to glance at the back of a film camera expecting to see an image screen there…) but, since I found this beauty, my vintage Holga camera, while I was cleaning out my gear closet, I am going to start bringing it along to some weddings, and giving it a little chance to get a few clicks in…

I’ll also be doing a special personal project with it, and I’ll be sure to share it here when it’s finished! Holga, dear friend, welcome back! (black gaffer tape and all!!)

At the beginning of the month I did an awesome shoot with Carrie D. Mader and Armando Sarabia in San Francisco! I have been working on these images, and am so excited to share my latest slideshow with my blog readers!!

Sound the trumpets, strike up the band, in other words, “hit it!” Sydney is here, and she’s such a pretty little newborn baby. You forget how small they are when they are newborns… and how soft they are, and how cute and tiny their feet are, and those soft little birdie sounds they make… Ahhhhhh!!! I love to photograph newborn babies! (Nicole, yours are next, just say the word when they are ready!!)

I am very proud to be Brooke and Todd’s family photographer… I love to go to their house and see images of them that I photographed over the years, their engagement, their wedding, them at friends’ weddings… Love them! Todd was one of the very first people I met when I moved to San Francisco through our mutual friend Dina, and fate would have it that he would meet and fall in love with the wonderful Brooke, who was friends with my friend Jamie, and the fabric of all of our lives was woven together from all different directions… Ok, so that’s the story of how eventually we would all be completely elated at the arrival of their beautiful daughter, and again me with my camera in tow (which is a great excuse to get in for visits with friends with newborns by the way… :^) gathered with the family to capture Miss Sydney’s new sweetness. I was tempted to sneak her out in my camera bag, and leave my 5DMark II in her place, but even though Brooke is a photographer, I don’t think she would be at all excited about the switcheroo…

Ok, Kim, quit your yapping and show us some pictures…

When my friend lived in Alameda with her daughter, we spent a LOT of time on Park Street… shopping, lunching, walking around, pushing baby strollers… I always relish getting back there now! I visited one of my favorite shops, Daisy’s at 1347 Park Street for a photo shoot of what’s new and fabulous for holiday decor, and Barbara pulled out all the stops this year!! Get in there soon because she keeps selling the gorgeous stuff, and you don’t want to miss your chance! She’ll be having some special in-store guests during the holidays, so stay tuned to her blog, Living the Fancy Life, for all the details! Seriously, I want everything in her whole store… I love her style! Enjoy!! and shop!! and Happy Holidays! I am soooooo gettin in the spirit!! Also excited to see one of these images featured on Style Me Pretty, one of my favorite wedding blogs!

For all you last minute holiday shoppers, family portraits make wonderful holiday gifts!! Mill Cottage Photography will be holding a holiday open house to celebrate the season, complete with family portrait mini sessions in the next couple of weeks! Check back here for all the details!

When I got married a few years back, I looked at many wedding locations in Sonoma! One that came really close to being the wedding venue for us was Viansa, and I always love to shoot weddings there!! Thanks again to Shannon Stellmacher Photography for having me along. Here are some of my favorite images from the day. I particularly love the ceremony location at Viansa… a beautiful Tuscan like courtyard with those big wooden doors as the back drop… amazing. The food is always great, and the wine is delicious – We were in the wine club for many years, and looked forward to our monthly shipment of yumminess!

Our trip is drawing to a close, and I had a couple of moments to work on a few images… I would love to shoot a wedding here in the Smoky Mountains – the wedding chapels in Gatlinburg are adorable for weddings as is the beautiful landscape.

Cade’s Cove was a day trip for us the first day, and I was struck by the simple beauty of these little churches, and the sadness reading the headstones in their cemetaries. So many little children and babies… definitely a rough life back then…

Finally getting another few minutes to post some wedding images from an amazing wedding I shot this summer with Shannon Stellmacher Photography. It was such a gorgeous Napa day, and the couple was incredible as well! I love the Meritage Resort - it is simply stunning… warm Tuscan colors, great cave, and beautiful accomodations. Oh, and really amazing food… Here they are!!!

Special thanks to “Uncle” Mitch for giving Josh his first flying machine today! Daddy and Josh took the plane out for a spin, and crashed a lot to Josh’s giggly delight! Daddy giggled too… :^)

Kim

More than anything on your wedding day, your gown is really the show piece that your wedding style revolves around… This dress was so unique, and really showed the bride’s non-traditional personality. I loved the texture of the fabric, and the way it was just so luminous!

Ok, ladies, deep breath and repeat after me…. ahhhh, shoes! I’ll let you in on a little known secret (hahahaha)… we wedding photographers are obsessed with shoes… well, at least all the ones I know are… I am constantly challenging myself to come up with creative ways to showcase the special little things that bring “sole” to a wedding… At this wedding I photographed with Shannon Stellmacher, I think I came up with one of the coolest shoe shots I have ever made… One of the things I love about shooting with two photographers is that we really get to trade off and take our time to capture your important details, and you get the benefits of having so cool and different interpretations of your wedding details. Shannon’s brides, like mine, have a tremendous amount of style, and I am having my own private “woohooooo” party in the corner coming up with cool detail shot ideas at the same time she creates her vision of the amazing things that make up a wedding day, and capturing the fleeting moments as the bride is getting ready for her big day… I must say, we make quite a team! Big smooch, Shan! Ok… the title of this post should be “how many ways can you arrange those awesome shoes and rings in 2 minutes?” Enjoy!!

Something I totally dig… Weekday weddings! Lydia & Josh got married on a beautiful and sunny Thursday. My friend, Jill of Jill Doherty Photography, invited me along to be her associate photographer – so fun to work with you Jill, as always! Ok, so I have been shooting weddings since 2003, how come nobody ever told me about China Cabin? Seriously… I have shot down the street in both directions, and never once laid eyes on this little gem… So glad I finally got to see it! Lydia got ready at her and Josh’s house (so flippin’ cute… LOVE the bathroom fixtures especially!) and then we went off to some handpicked locations for photos that Jill had carefully researched the week before!  These are just a few of my favorite highlights of the day… Josh’s wedding ring was custom made from the wedding bands of both his and Lydia’s fathers, both of whom had passed away. What a lovely tribute…

107 degrees is hot for a San Francisco girl, but give me diet coke, a couple of amazing families and an adorable couple, and we’re good to go! Had the great opportunity to trade weddings with my BFF and fellow photographer, Shannon of Shannon Stellmacher Photography, so thanks again for having me along to so many weddings this year… I loved that the bride got ready at her parents’ home and her room was so perfectly girly, and her parents and sisters were just adorable too. The details were so cute… garlic bulbs for place cards, gardenia bouquet, beautiful earrings, and some cute silver wedding shoes!!

Isn’t it funny that when someone is really busy, it doesn’t look like it on their blog. I have had my nose behind the camera and in front of the computer screen pretty much non-stop the past couple of months… so, a bit of catching up is in order… so, without further ado… the next few posts will come fast and furiously… :^)

Imagine the excitement I felt when my friend Shannon Stellmacher of Stellmacher Photography called me to tell me about an amazing call she had just received from a bride who was planning to elope in the Napa/Sonoma area that weekend… The first thing I said to her was, “Well, they will also need an officiant… You do remember that I am ordained, don’t you?” We squealed with glee (seriously, we were so excited to work on this together!!) and she went off to call Cyndie and finish helping her plan her whirlwind wine country wedding! Shannon recommend her favorite florist and bakery, I researched locations in Jack London State Park, and prepared a lovely ceremony for them. Cyndie & George wrote vows, lined up their wedding outfits, and just showed up! I have performed a number of ceremonies, and always enjoy officiating almost as much as photography. No sooner were the words, “…and you may now seal your union with a kiss…” out of my mouth, than I picked up my camera, and started photographing some romantic portraits of them together snuggling and emotional from their ceremony!

 

This couple’s passion for each other is super-hot, and it was so fun to play with them at several locations, and capture some really memorable images for them to share! The other funny part to the story is that I had it in my brain that I really wanted to bring a cool chair out to the location to use for their portraits… those of you who know me know I have a thing for chairs, especially unnaturally occuring living room furniture in nature… LOL! I kept my eyes peeled for an antique store on my way to the ceremony site, and when I found this really cool ivory upholstered vision of loveliness, I snapped it up, loaded it in my car, and drove around all day with it! I know, I am just quirky like that, but hey… anything for great images, right? Enjoy!!