The Clark Wedding Reception

A short while after officially tying the knot, Brandon and Cassidy threw a party and reception for friends and family – and they brought me up from Los Angeles to shoot it all!
The Clarks are two old friends from high school… two friends that I haven’t seen in 10 years, however, like many people, we all know what each other are up to through Facebook and other mutual friends.
I was contacted by Cassidy a few months back and asked what it would take to get me to the Bay Area to shoot her wedding reception. Her and Brandon had married earlier this year and they were now going to have the reception separately for friends and family. It turns out that Cassidy checks out my photography from time to time and was hoping that I could shoot for the both of them! How awesome is that.

And I travel to the Bay Area frequently as many of you readers may know, so a trip up was no problem at all.

The party was a blast. It was crazy to think it’s been so long since I’d seen some of the people there. Brandon and Cassidy are the first people I’ve shot for that I went to high school with, so there were a number of familiar faces there that day.
Brandon and Cassidy have truly gorgeous wedding photos. Seriously, whoever they had shoot for them during their private San Francisco ceremony did an awesome job – and I’m very particular when it comes to other people’s wedding images. So when it came down to shooting their reception, Cassidy said she wanted plenty of shots of everyone just having a good time.
Piece of cake, right?
Their reception was outdoors in Saratoga (the South Bay) and had a Hawaii/beach theme to it. It was bright, sunny, and mid 80s when we started. Haha! And anyone who’s ever picked up a camera knows that means there is going to be some strong light and harsh shadows. But, despite the tricky lighting, I made the best of what was a really gorgeous afternoon. Check out the images below! Sorry for the delay for those of you who were waiting so long.

Enjoy!

Images below the break.

Pretty sweet setup at this private residence in the South Bay.

I need a sign like this at my house..

Brandon, Cassidy, and the De Cillis’.

“Get a photo of me and these girls! I used to babysit them and they’re huge now!” -Cassidy

Cassidy and Eric

Lauren and Chris.
I haven’t seen these two in over 10 years!!

Grandma was the best. I think she jumped into nearly everyone’s photos that day.

Brandon and his father chattin and laughing.

Cassidy with some of her work friends goofin’ around.

The ladies, playin with the photobooth.

Cassidy’s brother-in-law and Father used these conch shells for one of the announcements. What was funnier was them laughing afterwards when they tried to do it again!

Speech and story time from big sister Rebecca!

I love slideshows. Not just because they’re entertaining to watch but you get some amazing moments with the family. Brandon’s mom is in tears from the childhood photos of Brandon, meanwhile Cassidy and Brandon are laughing at the same images on the screen! Mrs. Clark came up to me after to tease me about “you just hadddd to take that shot, didn’t you!?”. Yep! : )

Brandon and Cassidy finally have their first dance!

Cassidy’s dress that she was wearing that day had been modified from her original wedding dress it a shorter dress for the reception instead of the full gown she had for her vows/ceremony. Which, is totally awesome. And very clever.

One of my favorites.

The Daddy-Daughter dance, always my favorite to watch and shoot.

Little moments like this are the best. A father dancing with his little girl.

Eric and Matt. I haven’t seen these two since high school either.
Here they’re demonstrating that when you’re drink pink beverages that you must have your pinky out AND touch pinkies with your neighbor at the table at the same time! hahaha.
Good form gentleman!!

Cupcakes!

Zilla demonstrating the proper way to select your cupcake

The Clarks had a small personal cake to cut also.
I think Cassidy was a little scared about doing it wrong, haha!

Cassidy laughing at the flipbooks everyone was making. Instead of a traditional photobooth they had a flipbook photobooth where you took a series of images that was then assembled into a small flipbook.

Chris, Me and Lauren at the end of the night.

I love this shot. The Clarks, De Cillis’, and Hobson’s “needed a family photo to send Grandma who couldn’t make it”.
Cassidy and Rebecca immediately ham it up and pose!

Cassidy, me and Brandon after a busy afternoon and evening.

Again, sorry to all of you who were waiting on this update! I’ve been running around the last couple weeks and kept putting this off. All the images are already in Cassidy and Brandon’s hands, however I know a couple of you guys were waiting for me to post, so I still wanted to share here!

I’m very likely going to make another big push with my portrait series in the next month for a showcase in August in Santa Monica. So, keep an eye out for new images for that coming soon!

1 Comment

  1. lauren July 15, 2011 at 9:37 am

    best wedding reception ever!! and the pictures came out FANTASTIC! cannot wait to see the rest :) you are awesome, john.

    btw – i look like i am about to pass out in the pic of the three of us. i blame the sophia ;)

    thank you Branidy for letting us be a part of your day <3

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