St. Cecilia’s, San Francisco Wedding // Faye & Darrick
On October 10, 2020, Faye and Darrick officially tied the knot in their San Francisco wedding held at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church. Prior to shooting their San Francisco wedding, I have worked with Faye and Darrick for their engagement shoot. Not only did those pictures come out amazing, but I also discovered that I was working with an amazing couple. I was very excited and fortunate to be their wedding photographer! Since this was a “covid wedding”, it was very intimate, limited to only family and close friends. Overall, the experience and wedding was beautiful! Here is a small recap of their day~
When I arrived at the church, it was a calm atmosphere. The family was setting up while the pianist was warming up. Darrick, both nervous and excited, was thinking about the big day ahead of him and his soon-to-be wife, Faye! Prior to the wedding day, the couple had decided that they wanted to do a first look at the church right before the ceremony. These are always so fun to shoot and experience, I was very excited to see how they would react to seeing each other for the first time that day! Once Faye had arrived, I took her solos before the first look. Like Darrick, she was also nervous but happy that the day was finally happening! As Faye slowly walked up towards Darrick, their close friends were off to the side watching and waiting for that special moment to happen. During this time, Mark, the videographer, and I were getting shots of the couple from different angles. The excitement was building up. Once Faye tapped Darrick to turn around, it was like the New Years Ball had dropped. They smiled with joy, laughed, and were amazed at how beautiful they both looked.
The ceremony was both beautiful and intimate. St. Cecilia’s, being a big church, only had the first few rows filled due to covid restrictions, and all the of the guest, including myself and Mark, wore a mask- I felt very safe and comfortable shooting Faye and Darrick’s big day! After the ceremony and alter photos, myself, Mark, Darrick, Faye, and her bridesmaids headed over to Legion of Honor to do their wedding photos!
Legion is always good location to get the light and airy look. Its high, marble-colored columns adds that high-end touch to the photos! Faye and Darrick looked great here, this was the perfect location. The overcast also helped a lot with the lighting! Though the courtyard was closed, we were able to really utilize the surrounding columns and entrance walkway. With the nerves out of the way, I could tell how comfortable they were knowing that they have just tied the knot. Because of this, they looked so good in front of the camera! I would like to also add that, normally, when the exhibits are open, Legion likes to add big (ugly) banners to the columns, but since they were closed due to the pandemic, we were fortunate to have banner-free columns!!! I could not be happier with how these shots turned out! After finishing Faye and Darrick’s wedding photos, we then headed over to Berkeley Double Tree for their reception.
The reception room at Double Tree was perfect. It had enough space to accommodate a small wedding, and even had a dance floor! Before the program had started, I was able to get some detail shots of the table settings, flowers, and also had time to set up my off-camera flash. Being that this was an intimate wedding, the reception was beautiful and straight to the point. The program had everything a big wedding would have, but instead it was a close collective of friends and family. Everyone knew each other and shared good vibes throughout the night. I too felt very comfortable with the wedding guest! They were all so nice and were not even afraid to ask me to take their pictures! I feel that sometimes, at bigger weddings, guest are always shy when it comes to asking any photographer to take their picture. This was definitely not the case here! By the end of the night, I felt as if I was part of that close collective of friends and family! As I was packing my stuff, I felt very fortunate and blessed to have shot this specific wedding with this specific couple and their family during this time. Everything worked out perfectly, and I hope it shows through Faye and Darrick’s beautiful gallery. Congrats, Faye and Darrick! I wish you the best!