A fabulous assignment...

I had the very distinct pleasure of photographing a beautiful Persian wedding ceremony this past weekend! I have never attended anything other than a christian or civil wedding ceremony and I was so excited to have this opportunity! The bride was absolutely lovely, the groom was sweet and the entire extended family was warm and welcoming! Can you tell I had a blast?

This first picture is of the sofreh aghd - it is a low table covered with all sorts of lovely things - all of which represent something important for the couple's future life together.

These men were on the sofreh aghd and are a personal favorite of the mother of the groom!

This is the couple's name in a middle eastern calligraphy

I love this picture! I worked pretty hard to get their reflection in the mirror to be in focus! The mirror and matching candlesticks on either side were hand carried from Iran by one of the family members -it is old and beautiful and hand carved in silver!

The wedding cake was beautiful! It had the paisley from the sand art on the sofreh aghd and their names in the same calligraphy as the red painting above.

Aren't they sweet?

A few of the guests dancing! It was quite a party! Lots of fabulous middle eastern music and beautiful dancing!

I couldn't get enough of the two grandmothers - I just thought they were darling!

The immediate family on the grooms side - I think some of them might have even left before we took this picture!!

Thank you so much for sharing your special day with me!

rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat........

So, after all the fun, wine, chaos, wine,family, wine, celebrations, wine of the last several days, it was back down to the five us us, packed into our "fuel efficient" red hummer H3 and headed to the big city!! To say that San Fran gave us an accurate sampling of it's infamous weather - just because it's in California and it's on the coast, doesn't mean it has to be warm and sunny!! Ever!!!

Of course we had to drive the girls over the Golden Gate bridge - not that you could see it that day!! Glad we weren't trying to fly anywhere that day - the fog was serious!! Safety awareness zone - darn tootin'!

Speed limit 45? In this fog? We might have been going 25 at our peak!

I swear there is a great big bridge in there somewhere - it's red, it shouldn't be that hard to see!

A slightly better glimpse!

Spoke too soon!

Of course you have to check out the trolley cars when you are in San Francisco!

Lombard street - a must see also! The windiest street in the US (or so they claim!), it is beautiful with all the flowers and the cute little row houses!

And a fabulous view!

we decided it was be really fun to sled down - too bad they never get snow!!!

they do work hard to keep all the landscaping looking nice - it's hard to get stuff to bloom year round!

I thought the prettiest flowers were the ones on the front of this house - the picture really doesn't do it justice, but they were a really bright mulberry color!

I final glance at where we had come from!

Of course Lombard Street isn't exactly a secret, so you can wait in line quite a while if you don't know the short cuts to get to the top! More tomorrow..

party on.....

The vows were said, the couple's wed, let's party!!! This picture is me and my dear friend E - ok, technically she was my mom's friend first - from before the time she dated my dad even! Even so, E and I have become good friends all on our own, but since we live so far apart, it was fabulous to get to spend some time together! We had grand plans of spending an afternoon together, but things were just too crazy, so that didn't happen, sadly. Anyway, this is proof that we were actually near each other for more than 10 seconds!! Someday we'll get that afternoon we planned!

My new nephews P and T practicing some sort of secret handshake - I guess it's not a secret now - ooops!!

the happy couple sharing a private laugh! isn't that view gorgeous?

my darling family! ain't they cute?

look at those eyes! what a doll!

THE cake

Baby sister bride's slice - what a nice touch! my piece didn't have any writing but it was super yummy!!

my new BIL toasting his new family - 4 boys - wow! baby sister is totally outnumbered!!

BIL dragged Little S out on the dance floor - she's so shy, but I could tell that she was very pleased - she even stayed and danced with a few other people afterwards - a first for certain!!

Big S has a minute bit more dance experience than her sisters but she was a little shy getting out there the first time too - it didn't take her long to warm up tho!!

NEVER to be outdone by her sisters, Little G was cutting a rug with BIL before long too! How cute are they?

Baby sister bride and darling nephew J have some serious dance moves - I suspect that they had practiced a bit beforehand!!

It is always dangerous for the band to take a break and leave the microphones unattended - as you can see! bridesmaid K, E, L and G were not shy and certainly that out does talent any day ;) actually, they weren't all that bad! L sang us a tune in the van later that night on the way back to the hotel - she can definitely carry a tune! thanks for the serenade!!

next stop, San Francisco.........

more from the wedding day....

This is my all time favorite picture from the wedding! I'm dying to know what Baby sister thinks of it, but I love it!! It's going in my portfolio!!

they joined the ranks of modern brides and grooms and met privately before the wedding and then had some of their pictures taken together before the ceremony - look at him just drinking her in - so sweet, so sappy!!

Tiffany took us to this cool caboose - her pictures are amazing, this is just to prove that I was there!!

and here's the famous Ms. Tiffany Fosnight busy at work!!

me and bridesmaid K - she wears it so much better than I do, but I still think we looked pretty good!

Tomorrow, the reception!!!!

wedding day continues...

Getting ready is always half the fun if you ask me... especially if you are with people you enjoy and there's champagne and food!!! Baby sister ask me and the girls, bridesmaid K and mom to hang out together most of the morning and get ready together!! Hair is done, make up, obviously not done yet!!

I've got my dress on and nephew comes in to help him mom! Baby sister decided on REAL buttons all the way down the back of her dress and although mom and I started, we were glad for the help and he was so darn cute, but they were pretty hard to do, so he gave up rather quickly - I don't blame him, I would have too if I'd thought I wouldn't get in a heap o trouble for letting her go down the aisle with the back of her dress half open ;)

strong enough for a man, but is it strong enough for wedding day jitters? sweaty palms are one thing, sweaty pits are quite another!

bridesmaid K and I got to wear these super cute shoes! Aren't they darling? They hurt like a mother after about the first 30 minutes and my dogs were seriously barking by the time the ceremony started, but they looked good and that's all that really matters, right ladies??

Baby sister checking herself out in the mirror - I think she likes what she sees!! Look at all those dang buttons!!!

Big S was the junior bridesmaid - isn't she just beautiful? Her bouquet was a smaller version of mine and bridesmaid K's!

Little G and Little S in their flower girls' dresses! the baskets they are carrying are covered in moss and full of rose petals that they tossed on the aisle and they walked down - ok, the job requirements are obvious but restating them never hurts for those rare few who don't know what a flower girl does!!

Baby sister bride and darling nephew!

Mom and Baby sister bride

Now that's what I'm talking about!! I loved Baby sister's bouquet too!!

close up of the flower girl baskets

Dad seeing Baby sister bride for the first time ready to go down the aisle - he's so sentimental!!

And here is where I stop! I do not have any pictures of the actual ceremony since I was standing up there with Baby sister bride and her Hubby to be, but they had a fabulous photographer named Tiffany Fosnight of Adeline and Grace Photography. You can check out the pictures that she took at her website here http://adelineandgrace.com/slideshows/morris/ !!