By Monique
Marie and Andrew were married at Mission Santa Clara de Asis in November. This was my last wedding of the season, and what a great way to end it! While it was a non-stop super tight timeline, racing the strict mission timeline and the setting sun, it was so wonderful to be back at a place that I share a personal history with in a few ways. Both my dad and my sister went to Santa Clara University. As an amateur photographer, my dad actually paid part of his tuition photographing some of his classmates’ weddings. And it is his passion for photography, and the work horse Nikon F film camera with a broken light meter that he gave to me in junior high that ignited my passion for photography at a very young age. I even photographed a few of my first weddings at the mission about 25 years ago, back in my mid 20’s when I was just starting out as a newspaper photographer. I got the idea from my dad that weddings were a good way to earn a little extra money, and working for a Bay Area weekly with a starting salary of less than twenty thousand dollars a year, I needed all the extra income I could get! Going back to one of the first wedding venues I ever worked at was so much fun, and I was able to see the mission and the surrounding gardens in a whole new way after all these years of growth as a photographer.
I had photographed Andrew’s sister Amanda’s wedding several years ago in Tahoe. (Here is the link to that wedding at The Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe.) So it was really nice to see her and her husband Tom, their two adorable girls and Andrew and Amanda’s parents, who are so sweet, fun and down to earth. I can tell that close family ties are a foundation for all of them, and it was an honor to be a part of both of these weddings.
The day started out with Marie and Andrew getting ready in a nearby hotel, followed by their first look, family and wedding party portraits in the mission gardens before the ceremony inside the historic church. Marie had two dresses that she wore on her wedding day. She wore her own dress for the first look and reception, and, for the ceremony, she wore the dress that both her mother, who passed away, and her grandmother had worn on their wedding days. So it was important to Marie to get a few photographs of her with her grandmother, holding her wedding photo, and of her father seeing her in her mother’s dress before the ceremony. First look photos with a father and daughter have become more popular over the past few years, but this one was one of those extra special moments.
The reception was held at another historic venue, the San Jose Women’s Club. Congrats to Marie and Andrew!
