JR and Kara found me the old-fashioned way: through a friend
of a friend. It was over the holidays and one of my videos had just gone viral making a wonderfully exciting but busy time. Between responding to hundreds of emails overnight and an interview request
from CNN, I connected with the couple and we clicked right away. JR’s a photographer
himself and wanted someone who could capture the aesthetics of film and the
contrast of black and white in a photojournalistic style. We met for a coffee and I left just as excited
about shooting them as they were having me as their photographer.
One thing JR left out in our initial email was that his fiancée, Kara, was a bit of a local celebrity. She’s the in-game host for the Oakland A’s. If you’re a fan, you would recognize her popping up on the big screen in between innings. What’s cool about this was that they wanted to do their engagement shoot at the Oakland A’s stadium.
Flash forward a few months and we are on a freshly groomed and completely empty field while the A’s were playing an away game. JR and Kara were so natural together that it made every shot so easy. The backdrop didn’t hurt either.
On the morning of their wedding day, I met Kara at Piedmont Community Hall where she was getting ready in their Japanese teahouse. You could hardly find a more stunning bride and I couldn’t wait for JR to see her during their First Look. Surely enough, when she walked up and tapped him on the shoulders, he couldn’t hold back the emotions. It was beautiful.
For their ceremony, they walked up to a row of giant Redwoods and shared their vows amongst their closest friends and family. I captured a lot of the shots through a bouquet of origami flowers nestled between small lights that created a very whimsical feel to the occasion.
Since we had already done our portraits ahead of the ceremony, they were free to mingle with their guests during their cocktail hour and into the dinner reception. The food and décor matched perfectly with the spring theme and I remember capturing laughter all evening long.
Just before I left, Kara’s maid of honor came up and told me that I was going to be her photographer when she gets married in Mexico. I offered my congratulations on her engagement, but she stopped me and said that she wasn’t engaged yet. We shared a bit of a laugh and a smile. Spoiler alert: I shot her wedding in Mexico about 18 months later.
