What attributes are shared by the best San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographers? There are lots of answers to this question depending upon your own preferences, but there are a few positive things that all of them possess. Here is a list (in no particular order) of what I think most great SF Bay Area wedding photographers need to be able to do. All of these things should be possible while still delivering affordable and we do them all for our newlyweds. Our Northern California wedding photography studio has been around for over 20 years.
The photo gallery below provides some example of what we consider to be top notch SF Bay Area wedding photography. This particular Northern California wedding occurred in Walnut Creek at Boundary Oaks Golf Course. We also handled the bridal prep and the groom prep at the same location. The marriage ceremony took place out on the First Tee of the golf course at Boundary Oaks. They have one of the best outdoor ceremony sites that is overlooking the golf course and the oak trees.
The one thing I really like about Boundary Oaks is they have a very large “getting ready” room for the bride and her attendants. This bridal prep room also has lots of light available so we can shoot without flash in the room with no problem. To me, this is one of the best bridal preparation rooms in the San Francisco Bay Area. I always recommend it to engaged Northern California couples when they ask me for a good venue to have their wedding.
The other nice thing is that the bride and her bridesmaids were not too far away from where the Groomsman were getting ready so it makes it easier to take pictures of them both. We can easily move between the 2 rooms with our camera equipment.
Once the bridal prep was done we moved onto the ceremony and it was a beautiful day. The only thing about Boundary Oaks as a wedding venue is that it gets pretty hot and there's not much shade in the summer. However, this is no different than the majority of San Francisco Bay Area venues if you get married during the hotter months. Most of the guests wait under the trees until the ceremony starts then they come out. This particular ceremony was relatively short but you can see from the images above that we captured it quite well. This is one of our favorite venues in the San Francisco bay area and we understand that the pricing is very reasonable.
Like all San Francisco Bay Area weddings that occur in the summer you can usually be sure it's not going to rain. This day was no different and we were able to capture some great ceremony photographs. Once we finished with the ceremony it was time for the family photography. Due to the excessive heat that day we took the family members into the shade, which is also something that the best Bay Area wedding photographers should always do for the wedding party. Why make the guests suffer in the heat?
Usually the family photos take about 25 minutes or so depending on how many groupings they have. Once that was completed all the guests went indoors to have drinks and we took the bride and groom out into the golf course. They have some beautiful old trees that provide some of the best wedding photography opportunities, but you have to get to them by taking a golf cart. They usually have a person escort you to make sure you don't get in the way of the golfers.
Unfortunately, Boundary Oak's famous big old oak tree recently came down in a storm, but they still let you out there and there are other large trees and grass to use for exceptional wedding picture backgrounds in the vicinity. More importantly, there is still sufficient shade to keep our bride from overheating and also allows for better wedding photography. We understand that all Bay Area wedding photography occurring in the summer can have heat to deal with, but Walnut Creek is a bit hotter than average. So we do our best to try to keep everybody comfortable while capturing the best wedding pictures possible. To read more about how we handle weddings, check out our reviews for City Hall wedding photography. We have won quite a few awards including being named one of the Top 10 San Francisco wedding photographers a few years back. In addition, we average 5 star reviews on Google and also Yelp. To see more our SF Bay Area wedding photography Yelp reviews, click the link.
Once we've completed all of the outdoor formal wedding photography we all went into the reception to get ready for the big celebration. The bride had a surprise in store for everybody when she came out in a cute dancing dress and performed a rehearsed dance. The groom and her did a choreographed
dance routine which everybody loved. we made sure to capture plenty of candid images of their amazing precision dancing. If you look above you will see some of the photos we captured of the dance. I thought she was going to keep the Dancing dress
on, but she quickly changed back into a wedding dress for the rest of the night's festivities.
For this and most of our Northern California weddings we will then just follow the couple around from table to table while they visit their relatives and friends. The idea here is to capture hugs
and greetings in a candid manner. If the bride and groom want to pose with some of their friends, then we capture those moments as well.
When we photograph a full wedding like this, we make sure to cover all of the action from start to finish. We will never leave your reception early even if we go over the allotted time. We feel like the top Bay Area wedding photographers should never leave your reception early no matter what. Of course, It is certainly important to make sure that you have a realistic
timeline and share it with your wedding photographer and guests for any San Francisco Bay Area Wedding. We really enjoyed Boundary Oaks as a wedding venue and have been here for top-notch wedding photography many times.
Check out some of other services including
Quinceanera photography. Another one of our favorite affordable venues is San Francisco City Hall. We are one of the leading SF City Hall wedding photographers and we are shooting marriages there a couple times per week