The Wedding of Dana & Tuve

Normally I like to put up a slideshow with the pics I love most in a wedding but this time I'm going to just post photos because there are so many fun and interesting details about this couple I wanted to make a few comments. Even the story of how Dana & Tuve met is cool. Both just so happened to be in Egypt, of all places, studying the Arabic language. They began dating there, fell in love and the rest is history! They integrated so many awesome traditions in their wedding it was truly a very special day.

The dress that Dana wore for her wedding belonged to her mom. Even the cathedral length veil belonged to her mother. The preservation of the dress had been so good all they had to do when they pulled it out of the packaging it had been in for 20+ years is have it ironed. Can you believe that?? The way her hair was set and the dress together made her look like she jumped straight from 1965 into 2009.  I loved it!

Tuve & Dana wore their wedding bands long before they got married. They both wore them on their right hands and during their nuptials they switched them to their left hands. I thought that was very sentimental.

While Dana wore her mom's gown, Tuve made sure to integrate some traditions of his own by wearing his father's cufflinks.

Even the flowers have a story!  Dana & Tuve used the SAME florist that Dana's mother used when she got married.  Incredible!  I love the flowers!

Below is a picture of Dana's mother on her wedding day.  Although we didn't have one rose to work with, they asked that I try to recreate the pose.  Same pose, same dress....20+ years later!

Their ceremony and reception were at the Twenthieth Century Club in Oakland.  They have this ginormous window on the 2nd floor and John and I had a great time playing around with silhouettes.

I loved that Tuve & Dana didn't mind seeing each other before the ceremony.  It gave us tons of pressure-free time to have fun with their photography.

And we took a walk over to the carousel...of course. :)

We tried to go to the Mellon Pillars to get some shots....

But as you can see the wind wasn't exactly cooperating with Dana's cathedral length veil....but it did make for this funny photo...you can even see my foot and part of my flash on the right side as I was hopping to her trying to help before the wind ripped it off her head!

Every bride's dream....Dana had a second dress to change into for their reception.  And it was truly lovely.  It was made from raw silk and very simple and elegant.  She had the bridesmaids dresses (2 bridesmaids, both with totally different dresses to suit their taste) made of raw silk and had the same raw silk from the bridesmaid's dresses made into 2 ties, one for each groomsmen.  The colors were a cool green and blue. So one groomsmen wore a green tie, the other blue. Loved it!  And Dana had the same silk cut into a tie for the waist on her dress, adding a splash of color.

Showing the dress....

I loved their cocktail hour.  The great thing about the Twentieth Century Club is that they have multiple floors you can take advantage of.  So Tuve & Dana had their ceremony on one floor, the cocktail hour on another, and during the cocktail hour the ceremony room was being converted into a their reception room.  I also really liked that they turned their cocktail hour into the dinner hour as well.  There was no sit down dinner. Just awesome appetizers and such.  There was a mediterranean table with hummus and toubeleh.  A mini-burger and mini-pizza station, fruit and cheese table, sushi and eggroll table and tons of other delicious treats to try.  It was perfect to keep everyone mobile and mingling.

And then it was time for dancing and fun!  This was where the ceremony was held...and before you knew it, it was turned into a nightclub

This shot was taken with a fish-eye lens.  They can be fun and they suck up light so you can catch those colored lights that give the photo effect.

I just thought this was a fun picture.  While either John or me was taking this shot, someone else must have taken a shot on their camera with their flash and this was the effect.

Dana was a terrific dancer.  When the DJ started to play mediterranean music, Dana just jumped right in.  It was fantastic!