Sunol Country Club – Sunol, Calif. This is just one of three wedding ceremonies that I had the extreme pleasure of celebrating with Ahn and Krishan last weekend.
The above image is also straight out of camera. No joke. I removed a few dust spots with the dust removal tool in Lightroom, but other then that, this is how I saw it… and how I shot it. It was a GORGEOUS day that Sunday.

This particular wedding spanned three days and three different ceremonies – Thai, Indian, and American. Every one of them was unique in it’s own way. But I’ll be honest and say that the cultural ceremonies, Thai and Indian, were the most colorful and ceremonial. They really make it bland an American wedding can be by comparison.
That’s not to say that they simply had a white-wedding for the “white” ceremony, haha. Just take a look at the picture above… it was still bright, colorful and happy.

First, I’m going to have to start with this amazingly hot photo of Arsie and me… I’ve known her since 7th grade, and by our senior year in high school she was one of my best friends. I was there to work, so I didn’t get as much time to catch up on life as I would have liked… but it’s ok, we stalk one another on facebook and twitter to keep up with each others world travels and crazy lives…

The first ceremony was at the Thai temple. This was a completely new experience for me. I’ve shot various cultural weddings, but not Thai… and certainly nothing with monks (who were all very sweet). I don’t recall exactly which water ceremony this is unfortunately… so I won’t try and label it out of concern I’ll say it’s the wrong thing.

I always keep and eye on the fathers during weddings. This was right as Mr. Soni started to tear up during the Indian sangeet ceremony Saturday evening. Watching him embrace Krishan for this series of shots was really heartwarming – you could see how proud he is of his son. Also, all the flowers they used for their ceremonies were flown around the world the day before just for these events, and their robes hand selected by Krishan’s aunts in the markets of New Delhi.

Another favorite shot of mine is this image of Ahn’s hands. She had traditional henna tattoos applied to her hands Saturday night at the sangeet. She opted to only do her palms since she wanted the outside of her hands clear in the wedding photos on Sunday. They did a really beautiful job though, I’m so glad I was able to capture it.

“Let’s go take shots somewhere nicer than the hall” is what was said after this image was shot. I actually disagree. The moment, the pose, and a beautiful bride having just put on her wedding dress make this photo everything that it is. Ahn’s dress was ordered and hand made in Thailand. All the beading was done by hand – incredible.

On the way out… Ahn started walking faster to see how well she could move in her dress. Turned out to be a great opportunity for another shot.

I loved this moment where Ahn was watching out the window as her guests seated themselves outside. Like I’ve said many times, I’m not a fan of posed images. This moment is real, and something that she’ll be able to look back on and possibly remember what she was thinking rather than it being a shot I asked her to stand there for.

It was a bright and sunny day that Sunday afternoon in Sunol. The country club provided a beautiful backdrop, as a photographer I couldn’t have had more perfect shooting conditions.

Say it with me everyone… “Aweeeeeeee!!!”

After the ceremony, photos, etc Krishan and Ahn changed into their traditional Thai attire for the Thai water blessing. This was where their marriage was now official in Thai culture – a process they started the day before at the temple. And they definitely received a whole lot of blessings too – I had time to go get a number of other shots from the reception during this time, haha.

Their cake was beautiful – and equally delicious when it was finally cut later that evening.

Still in their ceremonial Thai clothing, Krishan and Ahn thank everyone for being part of such an important day. Much of their family flew all the way around the world from Thailand, India, and even South Africa – oh and all those East Coast friends, their flight was drop in the bucket by comparison.

Ahn’s younger sister, Arsie, made a photo slide show for them to watch. Krishan busted up laughing and Ahn hid her face when an elementary school photo of Ahn popped onto the screen.

The Daddy-Daughter dance… always one of my favorite parts of any wedding.

I never know what’s going to happen during the cake cutting… will someone smash it in the others face? Or will they not? In this case Krishan ended up shoving the cake up Ahn’s nose, she sweetly fed him cake normally… bummer, she missed her chance.

Like I said, the cake was delicious. You can already see them putting out slices in the background for everyone.

It’s always fun watching other newlyweds at a wedding. So cute.

Brides ALWAYS break it down on the dance floor… and if they have a little sister there with them… you damn well better get a shot of it.

Better yet, get a few photos…

After three days, three ceremonies, and 2,460 shots on my camera… The weekend comes to an end. Here’s Krishan, me, and Ahn. I do have to say we all still look pretty good considering how busy the day was. Thank you guys, you were families were amazing.

And one last shot of me and Arsie before I headed out for the night, and ultimately back to Socal the next morning.

Wow, so, if you read all that… I hope you enjoyed the shots. I’ve been incredibly swamped recently and have actually done about six other shoots in the last week. I did two back to back shoots the day before driving up to the Bay Area for this wedding, too.
But, alas, those shoots are for that client I mentioned and the project I can’t talk much about prior to publication. But, I’m sure I’ll have something later this week to share with you all. I also have my trip to Korea coming up quickly. Wow.

Good night all!