Robert Valdes Wedding Photographer San Francisco Bay Area

I love shooting weddings in Oakland, CA. In fact, I just discovered a great little place to take your brides and groom’s if you happen to be taking wedding photographs while in this amazing little town they call Oakland.

The place is called simply, “THE ARCADE“. It sits on the south-eastern most shore of Lake Merritt. Parking can get difficult as only street parking is available. You get lots of bikes, runners and general public there too, so you have to watch your backgrounds.

I was very lucky to find THE ARCADE AT LAKE MERRITT. When I discovered that the happy couple were desirous on taking some pictures on the way to the wedding reception [The Terrace Room at Lake Merritt], I started searching and didn’t really come up with anything. Then I decided to do an IMAGE SEARCH rather than a text search, and stumbled across another wordpress blog that had a picture of this place.

Shooting is limited facing west, with the west as the background. Shooting towards the east puts cars, buildings and people in the background. Not bad if you are going for more of an urban feel with your wedding photographs. But for typical, fairytale wedding pictures, you want the bride and groom facing east, with the west as your background.

Please enjoy these wonderful wedding pictures I took of the lovely couple right after their wedding ceremony.

These last two shots are very straightforward, simple yet elegant wedding photos. I ALWAYS make sure to cover all the basis and not go TOO edgy or creative when I am preserving the day for the newly married couple. Of course, I took much more than you see here. These shots are just some of my favorites because the emotion on the couples face is REAL and GENUINE. You see, a big part of my job is to make the couple COMFORTABLE ENOUGH with me so that I can get natural, organic poses such as this. It’s very important for any wedding photographer to bond with their clients. The bride and groom must feel comfortable and relaxed enough to get shots like these. Behind the scenes things are hectic, time runs short and so on. But I never let my clients feel any of this stress. It’s my job to shield them from it.

By the way, here’s the link to the original blog that I found out about The Arcade.

If you want to see where it is on the map, click here.

oh and finally, here is the link to the wedding photo I took at the Terrace Room at Lake Merritt Hotel, Oakland, CA

I was lucky to have met Christine and Sean who are a wonderful couple who married in 2009. They were kind enough to leave me some well deserved kudos. On the following wedding websites, I received the most glowing 5 star review from the happy couple. Please click through to the links below to go directly to that wedding website.

WEDDING WIRE.COM = http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/robert-valdes-photography/375302e1689765e4.html

PROJECT WEDING.COM = http://www.projectwedding.com/vendor/show/axiom-photography

YOURBRIDALPLANNER.COM = http://www.yourbridalplanner.com/vendor_details.php?id=13&category=Photography&region=S.F.%20Bay%20Area%20-%20Northern

I shot a wedding at Murietta’s Well Winery last year and it was amazing. This Wente property really impressed me. Upon arrival I found that many photo ops! They are even using one of my amazing wedding photos on their official website.

If you recall, this was the wedding of Christine and Sean. I took so many great wedding pictures that day and the bride and groom really enjoyed them. In fact, they even left me some rave reviews on various wedding websites. Click here for more information about the reviews they left for my wedding photographer here.

well whataya know! that’s our buddy MARK WELCH from MARK WELCH ENTERTAINMENT in the picture coaching the groom. I’ve known Mark for years now and I highly recommend him to any bride who needs a great wedding disc jockey.

This fake bridal expo is one of the latest wedding scams to hit the scene in quite some time. But this wedding scam not only targets would be brides, it also targeted the hard working wedding vendors who paid their money hard earned in the wedding business.

Here’s an interesting article we found on AOL NEWS about this wedding scam. Turns out, brides as well as wedding vendors were taken advantage of by some unscrupulous swindlers!

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/fake-bridal-expo-in-boston-scams-brides-to-be/19380474

Here’s an excerpt of the story on AOL NEWS about the fake bridal faire.

BOSTON (March 3) — You can, apparently, be jilted long before you walk down the aisle.

Boston police said the would-be attendees bought tickets for $10 to $15 each, while another 100 to 200 wedding-industry vendors were conned out of $350 to $4,000 for floor space at The Boston 411 Home & Bridal Show 2010, which was to be held this weekend. Officials at the Hynes Convention Center were only alerted when vendors began calling to inquire when they could set up their booths.

The perpetrators, who advertised for months via an eventbrite.com Web site, Facebook, and Twitter, lured betrothed shoppers with promises of goody bags and raffle prizes, and said portions of the event’s proceeds would go to Haiti earthquake victims.

Though more elaborate than most, the scam was by no means an uncommon occurrence for an industry where starry eyes are accompanied by open wallets, and most vendors require significant financial deposits months before the big day.

The majority involve financially ailing vendors who abruptly declare bankruptcy and hold on to deposits without delivering the goods. In the past 18 months, dress shops have shuttered everywhere from New Jersey, where brides angrily picketed outside the empty shop, to Oklahoma City. In 2005, a Baltimore-based online bridal retailer folded, leaving 1,100 women without a dress — or their money. And back in the Boston area, dozens of couples found themselves without a place to wed when the Georgetown Country Club unexpectedly closed

last September without refunding deposits in the $9,000 range.read there rest here http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/fake-bridal-expo-in-boston-scams-brides-to-be/19380474

 

Just worked with a GREAT wedding disc jockey a few weeks ago. Chris Webb from California Disc Jockey’s is a great choice if you are planning your wedding in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. Please check out his website for complete details.

I now have TWO galleries of wedding photos taken at the Embassy Suites in Burlingame. Please follow the links below to view the complete Flash Wedding Galleries.

EMBASSY SUITES WEDDING GALLERY ONE

EMBASSY SUITES WEDDING GALLERY TWO

As I was telling you, I got along great with Tina and Landon. I behaved myself on the wedding day, provided expemplary service before and after the event, and best of all, delivered amazing wedding pictures to the happy wedded couple.

I got rewarded with a stellar 5 star review on a few of my very favorite wedding planning websites. Please click the links below to view them.

Wedding Photographer Review WEDDINGWIRE.COM

Wedding Photography review PROJECTWEDDING.COM

Review of wedding photographer Robert Valdes on YOURBRIDALPLANNER.COM

CLICK HERE TO SEE TINA AND LANDON’S WEDDING PICTURES on this wedding photography blog.

We found Robert to be very professional and knowledgeable. His ability to master the light was crucial for our wedding location. He gave us amazing pictures which will forever be our keepsake of that special day! We have already recommended him to friends as his price, pictures and policies (CD of your pictures without that “property of” crap) made him a crucial part of our day.

Here are some more of those amazing wedding photos I took at the Half Moon Bay Golf Links in Half Moon Bay, CA on September 6, 2008. I was hoping I would be back at the Half Moon Bay Golf Links sooner. I’m on their preferred vendor list and they also give out the following link to the original post I made of the pictures I took at this wonderful wedding.

Landon and Tina are both great people and Landon, especially is an extremely nice guy. Since he was my point person from the beginning, we were able to keep in touch afterwards. He has been kind leave some positive comments for me on various wedding websites. 

Click here to read a few of the reviews.

This was one of those weddings where all of the stars were aligned. The couple were absolutely perfect, their wedding at the Stanford Park Hotel was amazing and of course me and my team did a great job as usual. Here are the links to Jessica and Matthew’s profile on the top wedding web sites where you can read the client testimonial for my amazing wedding photography and wedding videography.

Project Wedding Web site

WeddingWire.com

YourBridalPlanner.com

Click here to see Jessica and Matthew wedding photos on my blog.

12/30/2009

This is a wedding video taken at St. Vincent’s Church. The lovely couple had their wedding ceremony inside the church and the reception takes place out on the center courtyard patio.

I just shot some engagement pictures on this same property. Click here to see them!