Robert Valdes Wedding Photographer San Francisco Bay Area

I got some great pics of the San Francisco Bay [amongst a great many other shots] aboard the Commodore Cruise and Event vessel.

I always have a great time when I’m shooting a wedding on a boat. As you can see I excel at getting the landscape shots of San Francisco from the bay.

I’ve shot many weddings in my career at the glorious Ruby Hill Golf Club in Pleasanton, CA. Here are some recent images from the wedding of David & Janice. I also have a gallery of these wedding images on my main wedding photography website.

What fun it is having your wedding or special event on a boat that is floating on the San Francisco Bay. But Sausalito Empress Yachts is more than just a boat rental. It provides individuals and businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area with elegant Bay cruises on yachts for any occasion.

Whether a yacht wedding cruise or rehearsal dinner, special birthday party or corporate event, corporate party, relaxing sunset cruise or holiday party boat, a private affair aboard one of our classic luxury yachts will be a truly memorable way to explore the SF Bay on luxury bay cruises.

Here are some wonderful photos I have been lucky enough to take on the Sausalito Empress Yacht. This particular couple, “Gary & Lisa” had their wedding ceremony and wedding luncheon reception at the Outdoor Art Club in Mill Valley. You may have seen my POST on this venue earlier in my blog. At any rate, this portion of their wedding was actually held as a surprise. Guests were told they were going to a SURPRISE location. Bauer’s Transportation in San Francisco shuttled the people around on this and previous days leading up to the wedding {the wedding day culminated a 5 day event}.

I took a BOATLOAD [lol] of pictures of them on the bow [or whatever you call it] before any of the guests boarded. About 200 in the sequence. Most of the images were taken as fast as my camera would take them. In kind of a continuous shooting mode. Since I’m also a wedding videographer, I often think in terms of shooting real time motion and emotion as well as REACTION from guests, etc. Often though, my second / associate photographer is usually shooting reaction.

Being on the San Francisco Bay is awewsome! It was very cold that night [I actually ended up coming down wiith full blown pnemonia following this 5 day event] so make sure you bring a jacket if you go on one of these cruises.

They actually take you right underneath the northern tower of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This last shot you see here above, I really love it. I will actually put that in my Gallery portfolio of images I use for Hanging Art and Stock Photos of the golden gate bridge. My stock photos of the golden gate bridge are very unique and I do very well with them.

This is a wedding at the Deer Ridge Vineyards in the Livermore Valley. The sun was really doing a number on my exposures so I had to be extra careful not to blow out the highlights. Fortunately, I shoot in RAW format which gives me some leeway in post to make adjustments.

Here are some wedding images from the wedding of Emily and John. The Ceremony took place at a Catholic Church in Larkspur called St Patricks.

After the ceremony we took some pictures over in the town of Tiburon close to where the reception was taking place.

The lighting was tough because of the harsh overhead sun, but as usual I overcame all obstacles and delivered some great looking shots.

The reception took place at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon, CA. Having a wedding reception at the Corinthian Yacht Club is great because it is right on the water. There is also another Yacht Club a stone’s throw away and that one is called Tiburon Yacht Club.

I had a tough time breaking the couple away from the party. But we managed to sneak off behind the club and take some loving candids.

Sean and Christine are a great couple who really got me excited about working with them. They were enthusiastic from the get-go, and the E-pics session earlier in the year turned out spectacular.

Here’s a few of my very favorite wedding images from their special day.

The ceremony was held at the Church of the Assumption in San Leandro California. It was a great church to shoot a wedding. Not too much ambient light but just enough on the altar.

The reception was at a place called Murieta’s WELL Winery in Livermore
 

They were really looking forward to my edgy style, so I took it to the limit. I came away with some of my most stunning work.

This shot below will most likely become my new “MARQUEE SHOT”

I am able to capture the mood and essence of your wedding in LOW LIGHT while still getting crystal clear images with little to no blur as I’m not dragging the shutter so much, in favor of using a higher ISO which the new digital cameras handle VERY WELL!

For the dancing, using a backlight can’t be beat. I always get great background in my images which makes them standout above the rest.

Keep in mind this is only the very best of Sean and Christine. I shot literally a thousand pictures. If you like what you see here, I would love the opportunity to show you more. So please contact me right away as my availability for 2009 is extremely limited.

Contact me if you want to see all of the journalistic wedding photography from this wedding. I can show you the cake cutting, garter and bouquet toss or any other shot.

Wente Vineyards is a very popular place to have your wedding in Northern California. It is not uncommon for me to shoot at least 3 weddings here in a season.

Angela & Rich got married here in 2008 and these are some of the wedding photos that I took.

What a great location to have a wedding! The Mountain Terrace in Woodside CA has it all! Views! Beauty! and it’s just a hop, skip and a jump up the road from the SF Peninsula and San Mateo.

Aja and Quinn had their wedding here at the  The Mountain Terrace in Woodside California. The wedding photos I am sharing with you are some of my unique NIGHT TIME SHOTS.

I absolutely love taking night shots when I photograph a wedding. My backlight flash or ‘light-stick’ as I call it, enables me to get shots that would otherwise be impossible. This is just one of the many benefits of using extra lighting when shooting a wedding. Using only camera flash generally produces adequate at best results. Ambient light is always the best, but when you mix in a little off camera lighting, you can get some AMAZING RESULTS. And interestingly enough, I still travel very lite! All my equipment fits in one bag, and my assistant carries the light stick[s] and any other strobes I may have that day.

Please take a look at my night wedding shots and let me know if you like them! I would love to hear from you.