Sarah & Chris – COVID Wedding San Francisco

Sarah & Chris were married in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and a historic uprising for racial equality.

Sarah & Chris were married on a gorgeous, sunny day at their apartment in the Mission District with bright blue skies overhead and wisps of fog off in the distance.

Sarah & Chris were married on a moody day, dense with fog and magic in a redwood grove in Golden Gate Park.

All of these sentences are true. It’s the concept of “Yes/And:”

Yes, Sarah & Chris, had their plans for a larger wedding upended by the COVID pandemic… and they planned a gorgeous, multi-climate micro COVID wedding anyway.

It takes a special sort of person, and a special sort of mind to live out the “Yes/And.” Sarah & Chris are both that kind of special person with that special kind of mind. For some, being forced to cancel or reimagine wedding plans due to COVID-19 is primarily felt as a loss. But Sarah & Chris found about a million ways to make their COVID wedding day one of the most meaningful, gorgeous, unforgettable days the two shall ever live.

The City of San Francisco offered them a virtual wedding ceremony with a virtual officiant on June 19th… so, they said “Yes/And.” Yes to the virtual wedding ceremony (which they were able to share with their families through a Zoom screenshare) and yes to the fact that the day on offer was Juneteenth, a day of protest and celebration for equality and liberation of black people. They would find ways to honor Juneteenth as part of their wedding celebration.

The day started in Sarah & Chris’ apartment, where they live surrounded by objects imbued with their love and their story: including carefully tended house plants, a web of photographs from their shared adventures, elaborate paper masks, homemade sourdough bread, and a glossy magazine that Sarah made as part of their mutual marriage proposal. After the official ceremony with the City of San Francisco, sealed with a ring exchange and a kiss, they shared personal vows in front of their family on Zoom. They placed leis over each other’s heads and toasted with champagne.

We made a few portraits in their apartment and on the roof deck, then headed downstairs, where a bike trailer packed with wedding reception fixings lay in wait. On the bike ride to Golden Gate Park, they wore placards that read (small print) “Just Married” and (large print) “Black Lives Matter.” We biked the Wiggle with sweet passersby cheering and honking in support and celebration.

When we arrived in Golden Gate Park we made some portraits at the Music Concourse, the Rose Garden, and the Redwood Grove, where we met up with a few of the couple’s closest friends. There, they hosted a socially-distant wedding reception with well-spaced group portraits, more celebratory signs, and a socially distant dance party.

If you’ve made it this far reading this post, you too can say Yes/And: Yes, we can enjoy witnessing Sarah & Chris’ expression of love — And we can honor them by joining the struggle for racial justice and equality. Breonna Taylor’s killers walk free. You can find resources for action here, here and here.

4th Floor North Gallery San Francisco City Hall Wedding

This is a first for me, but Sasha & Andrew’s wedding was so ridiculously epic that I am breaking it up into 4, yes 4, posts.

We begin at the 4th Floor North Gallery of San Francisco’s City Hall

We continue with a Mardi Gras style 2nd line parade from City Hall accompanied by San Francisco’s New Orleans style brass band MJ’s Brass-Boppers

We continue further with a Hornblower trolley tour of Alamo Square, Crissy Field, and The Palace of Fine Arts.

And we conclude with an incredible feast from Fog Cutter Catering and a raucous dance party with Golden Bell Music at Big Daddy’s Antiques.

Part 1 of 4

4th Floor North Gallery San Francisco City Hall Wedding – Sasha & Andrew

Sasha found me on the internet when she was looking for a wedding photographer. I remember our first conversation clearly. She was driving home from work, and for some reason we had a long exchange about her first week in San Francisco, the nadir/highlight of which was when another driver caught that road rage and threw a strawberry smoothie at her car. Don’t ask why she knew it was strawberry. I couldn’t keep from cackling and I knew instantly that I wanted to work with Sasha and her fiancé, Andrew. Sasha may be a biochemist working in drug development for the time-being, but there is definitely an alternate world where she is killing it on the standup scene.

One thing that made the planning of this wedding a tiny bit different was that Sasha was hiding a major surprise from Andrew. Okay, jump ahead. It’s a sunny Friday in August, the day of Sasha and Andrew’s wedding. We meet at San Francisco City Hall. Andrew enters from Carlton B Goode Plaza, Sasha from Van Ness. I leave my 2nd photographer with Andrew up on the 4th flour waiting with his back against a column. I hop in the elevator to go meet Sasha to bring her up. The elevator opens, and there she is in this fabulous pink satin dress with a shock of gold sequins from the hip down. And, yes, the dress did have pockets. I had never seem anything like it, and it sparked immediate and lasting joy. Of course Andrew was delighted by Sasha’s dress as well. Just take a look at his face in the first look photos. But, that wasn’t the major surprise.

Skip ahead again. The wedding ceremony was held on the 4th floor of San Francisco City Hall in the North Gallery. An old friend officiated. Sasha and Andrew exchanged vows that made each of them in turn laugh uproariously. At one point Sasha said something along the lines of, “Andrew and I talked about having the wedding in New Orleans, a city we both adore, but here we are in San Francisco. Regardless, Andrew absolutely deserves the biggest brass band in the world” I don’t know what to say about the way the ceremony ended other than, “Some people just know how to smooch in a government building.”

Ceremony Venue : San Francisco City Hall 4th Floor North Gallery
Reception Venue : Big Daddy’s Antiques
Photographer : Hazel Photo
Florist : Max Gill Design
Wedding planner : Jenni Grubba
Makeup : Kelly Jo Makeup & Hair
Makeup : Kelly Jo Makeup & Hair
Wedding attire : Grooms Suit: Custom, Bride’s gown: Sachin & Babi
Cake : Butter &
Catering : Fogcutter
2nd line Band : MJs Brass Boppers
DJ/Band : Golden Bells Music
Wedding Transport : Hornblower Cable Cars
Photobooth : Pika Pika

Part 1 of 4 SF City Hall/2nd Line Parade/Trolley Tour/Big Daddy’s Antiques

OVY Camp Wedding Photographer San Gregorio

OVY Camp Wedding – San Gregorio, California

OVY Camp Wedding – Katelyn & Michael

Early November served up a gorgeous, sunny day for Katelyn & Michael’s OVY Camp wedding in San Gregorio, California. As you wind down the dusty road approaching OVY, you can’t help but get that magical feeling of returning to summer camp. We began with a few getting ready photos at a cabin looking out over the dining hall and ball fields. Katelyn switched out her vintage t-shirt for a two-piece wedding top and skirt with motorcycle boots on bottom. Wedding guests had pitched a tent on the deck which gave the space a communal, sleep-over kind of feeling. Cousins and aunts shared mirrors to put finishing touches on their hair. Michael helped his nephews prepare for their roles in the processional and the ceremony.

The ceremony was held in a hidden redwood grove on a whimsical treehouse-cum-altar, built into the trunks of a cluster of redwoods. As the ceremony began, the sun was high in the sky, but the redwoods filtered the light, and made their special type of magic as they are wont to do. Katelyn & Michael were serenaded by a family band with an acapella rendition of a pop song. Michael and Katelyn read personal vows to each other, and as Katelyn was tearing up, somebody passed a tissue on to the altar to Michael, and rather than pass it along to Katelyn, he dried his own tears, and they both broke into laughter.

Directly after the ceremony, a family friend made a panoramic photograph of all the assembled wedding guests. At the cocktail hour Katelyn and Michael passed out challenge coins with symbols of each of their qualities on opposite sides of a coin. The challenge coins were particularly apt as Michael had served in the Marines, and a few of his fellows were in attendance at the wedding

When the sun got a bit lower in the sky and the light got good and juicy, we returned to the redwood grove for couples portraits. And that, I must say, was some of the most delicious light I have ever encountered. For a moment I worried the drama of the light might overpower Katelyn & Michael, but they held their own without a doubt.

Nieces and nephews blew bubbles, chased each other through the ball field, played soccer and basketball. At dawn dinner was distributed from Lamas, a Peruvian food truck; ceviche, lomo saltado, platanos, all scrumptious. Guests gathered around tables in OVY‘s mess hall

Katelyn comes from a family of old-time musicians with West Virginia roots. A friend called a contra dance while Katelyn & Michael danced with their guests. Then the family band convened: Michael on spoons, Katelyn on Banjo, and her dad on stand up bass. Katelyn’s brother called a square dance. Eventually old- time tunes gave way to pop hits, with an emphasis on 80s and 90s throwbacks. Michael’s father danced with his grown daughters.

Wedding Venue : OVY Camp, San Gregorio
Photographer : Hazel Photo
Florist : Wish Social Events
Catering : Lamas Peruvian
Band : Undone in Sorrow (Katelyn)

Dog looking at wedding cake with desire. Documentary Wedding Photography Hazel Photo Bay Area

“Documentary wedding photography” 7 reasons why this is what you really want.

The Work · The Philosophy

Seven Reasons You Need a
Documentary Wedding Photographer

Not every couple does. But if any of the following sound like you, you probably do.

By Paul Gargagliano · Hazel Photo · Bay Area

Documentary wedding photograph — Hazel Photo

Cavallo Point · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

The pictures you remember longest aren’t the posed ones. They’re the ones that put you back in the room — the noise, the feeling, the specific quality of the light at 7pm. That’s what documentary wedding photography is actually after.

1Reason One

You want to feel your wedding, not just see it.

Not a record of what happened. A record of what it was like. Years after the fact, the images that stay are the ones that make you feel the room again.

Stanly Ranch, Napa Valley

Carneros Resort, Napa

Documentary wedding photography on film — Hazel Photo

San Francisco, CA

Indian wedding recessional, Bay Area — Hazel Photo

Leal Vineyards, Hollister, CA

2Reason Two

You have people worth photographing.

Your best friend doing the worm. Your mom teasing her sister. Your dad hugging you with tears in his eyes. Your niece with that look like she’s quietly plotting world takeover.

A documentary photographer is there when the moment happens.

These moments exist at every wedding. A documentary photographer is there when they happen, not somewhere else setting up a shot of the centerpieces.

Wedding photograph on film — Hazel Photo

Stinson Beach · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

3Reason Three

You’d like someone with an actual eye, not just a camera.

There’s a difference between photographing a wedding and seeing one. The meaningful gesture half-hidden behind a guest. The expression that lasts a fraction of a second. The frame within the frame that makes an ordinary moment look inevitable.

These aren’t things you can direct. They’re things you learn to recognize after years of paying very close attention.

Documentary wedding photography — Hazel Photo

Santa Cruz Mountains · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Jewish wedding, Conservatory of Flowers — Hazel Photo

Conservatory of Flowers · SF

Grand entrance, wedding reception — Hazel Photo

Carneros Resort · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

California · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Portra · Urban Adamah · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

4Reason Four

You don’t want a second first look.

Hold on — how would that even work? A first look, by definition, happens once. The fact that some photographers schedule a do-over tells you something important about their relationship to authenticity.

A first look, by definition, happens once.

Documentary wedding photographers don’t restage. They wait. The patience required to wait for the real thing — rather than manufacture a version of it — is the same patience that produces the images you’ll still be looking at in twenty years.

Wedding recessional, University Club of San Francisco — Hazel Photo

University Club · Santa Cruz Mountains · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Chinese wedding, Silicon Valley — Hazel Photo

Silicon Valley · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

5Reason Five

You want pictures that actually look like you.

Some wedding photography doesn’t see the couple — it sees a generic idea of romance and drops two people into it. You spent a year planning an event that reflects who you actually are. The photographs should be able to tell.

A documentary photographer pays attention to the specific, not the stock.

Wedding photography on film — Hazel Photo

Healdsburg · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Santa Rosa · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Wedding recessional, Beltane Ranch — Hazel Photo

Beltane Ranch, Sonoma Valley, CA · Hazel Photo

Presidio · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Sonoma Valley · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Aptos, CA · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

6Reason Six

You’d like your wedding to feel like a wedding.

Not a production. Not a photoshoot that happens to have guests. When a photographer takes over — three cameras, constant direction, blocking the aisle for angles — the event stops being the event and becomes the backdrop for someone else’s portfolio.

Let the day be exactly what it is.

Documentary wedding photography runs the other direction: be present, don’t interfere, let the day be what it is.

Wine Country · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

The Presidio · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Muir Beach, documentary wedding — Hazel Photo

Muir Beach · Marin, CA · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

Stinson Beach · Paul Gargagliano — Hazel Photo

7Reason Seven

You chose your florals for a reason.

The color of your dress. The specific peach of the ranunculus. The warm late-afternoon light you planned around. Heavy post-processing can erase all of it — desaturated to the point of gray, color-graded into someone else’s signature look, retouched into something closer to illustration than photography.

Documentary processing starts from a different premise: faithfully reproduce what was actually there. The colors you chose deserve to survive the edit.