October 9, 2017

Emily and Nathan’s Berkeley Country Club Wedding

Emily and Nathan’s Berkeley Country Club wedding is one that I will never forget!  It all started years ago (many years ago as their friends joked) when Emily and Nathan went to the high school prom together. Yes, PROM! So sweet!  Their relationship started off as friends and I truly believe that having a foundation of friendship is what makes them such a special couple. It has become cliche to say “I married my best friend” but with Emily and Nathan, you really believe it! You can see it and feel it.

One of the aspects I really enjoyed about Emily and Nathan’s wedding is that it was a combination of old and new wedding traditions. The Chinese Tea Ceremony being the oldest and the First Look is one of the newest wedding traditions.

And for those of you that might have missed my last blog post, Emily and Nathan’s wedding was so special it made me change the path of my career. After working in the wedding industry for 12 years I decided that their wedding would be my last. In fact, it was the only wedding I accepted in 2017. I was that sure I was quitting weddings. Then all that unfolded on Emily and Nathan’s day ignited my passion for documenting weddings once again in a way I never would have imagined! Let’s take a photo trip and check out their wonderful wedding!

They had the most perfect weather and really lucked out as a heat wave had just broken. If they had gotten married even just the day before it would have been 20 degrees hotter!

The reception room at Berkeley Country Club was so pretty with it’s vaulted wooden ceilings and the stain glass windows. The florals were artistically created by one of Emily’s bridesmaids, the owner of Bloomsgiving.  The florals added such a soft romantic touch to the room.  How amazing to have such a creative friend!Wedding desert tableAt first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me but no.  The wedding cakes were LARGE Macaroons! Wedding Cake MacaroonChinese Tea CeremonyBefore the wedding ceremony, a traditional Chinese tea ceremony took place. This tradition is a way to show respect to the bride and the grooms’ families. In the Chinese culture, serving tea to someone is a way to show your gratitude for them. Starting with the grooms family, the bride and groom while on their knees served the family tea.  The bride and groom are then gifted an envelope with money for their marriage. Jewelry is also given to the bride.

Bride and Groom offer tea to relativesChinese bride accepts giftGroom is emotional during tea ceremony Bride's mother gets emotional during Chinese Tea CeremonyChinese bride gets emotional during tea ceremonyTea offerings at weddingBride wore blue shoes for her something blueAfter the Tea ceremony, it was time for Emily to get into her gorgeous gown and rocking little blue Jimmy Choos! Such a fun way to add some blue into the attire!Brides wedding bouquet Bride wearing red Chinese tea ceremony dress looks at her white wedding gownWait until you see Emily in her wedding gown, til then let’s  just pause and reflect on how stunning she looked in her traditional Chinese dress! So beautiful!Bride is surrounded by her friends helping her get dressedSurrounded by her sisters and best of friends, Emily got ready to meet Nathan for the First Look.  Bride's little sister gently helps bride get dressed Many hands help get a bride ready Bride smiles as she gets ready in her dressBridesmaids help fix corset on back of dressBride laughs as she is laced upThe brides mother helps bride put on jewelryEmily’s Mom put on the finishing touches and she was ready and looking sensational!!Bride holds her mother's hand as bridesmaids prep her dress Brides stands with her girls all ready The Knotty Tie Next door Nathan was getting ready with his best buddies. The groom’s gift was such a creative idea- I loved it! Nathan had custom ties made and on the ties was an icon that represented something iconic from each one of his friends.  Some of the icons were tacos, circus and golf! Groom gives out gifts to his best men Groom shares a moment with his friendBride approaches groom for first look Emily and Nathan’s First Look made my heart skip a beat! It was so romantic and just perfect! They laughed, they cried and swooned over each other!Emotional first look moment Bride laughs with love These two were about 20 minutes ahead of their wedding day timeline! And why do I mention that? Because when a wedding day is going according to plan everyone can just relax and enjoy the moments instead of getting stressed out.  This image was of Emily and Nathan walking to meet their wedding party.  If they were running late this moment would have never happened! Ask any of my couples, I love helping out with creating the wedding day timeline! Its a win-win for everyone!Full wedding party pictures The children arrived on the scene and there was laughter in the air! One might ask how I got all those faces looking at the camera and smiling so genuinely? One of the children’s mother was holding a toy dinosaur above my lens and making it dance. I need to remember this for all wedding parties, even the ones without children!  It worked like a charm! Thank you to that woman!!wedding certificate is signed The signing of the marriage license. Beautiful ceremony flowers You could feel the excitement of the wedding approaching wedding ceremony in the air! The strings were playing, everyone looked so happy and a drone being flown by one of their friends was overhead capturing it all!Drone flies over wedding ceremony Groom's parents before ceremonyWedding guest excitement Ring bearers walk down the aisle The handsome ring bearers!Flower girl puts flowers outAnd then not 1 but 3 precious flower girls!!!Little Flower GirlFlower Girl during wedding Bride is escorted by her father Emily was escorted by her Father in a dramatic entrance. Groom watches as bride walks to ceremonyFather escorts bride Bride and father walk down the aisle Bride's father hands of his daughter This moment!!! This moment shared between Emily’s father and Nathan was just one of the many moments of this wedding day that made my photography heart do cartwheels inside my chest! Groom hugs the bride's dad at ceremonyBride hugs her mom before the ceremonyEmily then turned to her mother and gave her one big hug, that smile on her mother’s face said it all!
Berkeley Country Club wedding ceremonyThe wedding ceremony site overlooking the beautiful golf course and hills of Oakland. Wedding ceremony Chinese bride smiles during wedding ceremonyWedding officiant cracks jokes Daniel, the officiant was one of Emily’s co-workers.  He did a wonderful job!Bride's parents watch ceremony Berkeley Country Club wedding ceremony Bride and groom during wedding ceremony Groom's parents during wedding ceremonyWedding ceremony in black and white Groom recites vows Nathan shared some funny and also touching words with Emily. Groom laughs during vows Bride reads her vows to her groom It was then Emily’s turn and she also had everyone laughing and also feeling the lump in their throat!Black and white picture of bride and groom holding hands Groom kisses bride end of the ceremony Married- you may kiss the bride!!Bride and groom walks off after saying I doBride and groom kiss after ceremony And Emily and you may kiss your groom!!Happy bride an groom after the ceremonyGroom dances after wedding ceremony Being married made Nathan break out into his happy dance!!
Bride and groom walk on the golf course at Berkeley Country club After family portraits, Emily and Nathan stole off to the grounds of the golf course for some pictures!The groom kisses the brides hand Detail of the wedding bouquetBride an groom amongst trees I could honestly photograph these two all day long. They are so in tune with each and their interactions are so genuine!
Ohhh la la, dramatic landscape with a silhouette of the couple way off in the distance… yes please!Bride and groom walk at Berkeley Country ClubAnd there it is again, those looks of pure happiness!wedding reception welcome table When guests arrived they were not only treated with some favors but they also got to take some Polaroid pictures of themselves for the guestbook.  Such a fun idea!Emily and Nathan literally ran into their wedding reception! The only reason this picture is even half in focus is because Emily had on a new pair of shoes that slowed her down a little. First dance as husband and wife, amazing how they were lost in their own world.We did one last jump outside to catch the gorgeous sunset! Cheers!
Wedding toasts are so much fun! There’s nothing like hearing some stories from the past to get everyone laughing and smiling. Both of Nathans’s best men did such a great job of bringing on the laughs!
Emily’s little sisters came up and gave a very funny toast! I love how they started with “thanks for breaking Mom and Dad in for us!”. It’s hard to believe that those perfect Macaroon cakes had to be cut…..Wedding rings tucked into a row of macaroons

Had some fun with the ring shots!!
It was time for the parent dances.  Nathan and his Mom started off and took many hug breaks throughout the song.  As a Mom to a little boy, I was happy for the autofocus feature on my camera as my eyes were welled up with tears!Mother dances with her son during an emotional dance Emily and her Dad came out and did a choreographed dance that was so much fun!! Brides father dips the bride And it ended with a dip!On to some more classic wedding traditions! The bouquet got tossed….Groom goes under brides dress to find the garterthe garter was found….and then Nathan took aim! Funny how when a guy catches the garter he always tries to give it away immediately!Later this guy found it but according to the rings on their fingers, they are already married!Then with all the formalities taken care of, the dance floor erupted and the party began!Emily and Nathan danced the night away just like I knew they would, laughing and having so much fun!  Emily and Nathan cheers to a lifetime of love, happiness and tons of laughter!

 

The Vendor team!

 

Venue: Berkeley Country Club (formerly Mira Vista Country Club)

Cake/Macarons/Dessert: Bit of Ireland Bakery

Makeup/hair: Kellydale

Florist: Bloomsgiving

Photobooth: Lasting Memories Photobooths 

Strings: Elegant touch of strings

Coordinator: Mandy Chan

Groomsmen ties: The Knotty Tie

Bridesmaid necklace, created by Emily herself! They can be purchased on her Etsy store!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Susannah Gill Photography 
El Dorado Hills, CA
1.916.936.7363