Simple & Elegant Palo Alto Wedding | Maria & mark
I had the honor a few months back to photograph this gorgeous wedding for Maria & Mark!
These two are some of the nicest people I have ever met. When I first met them together, it was so easy to tell they were completely in love with each other. The way she would look at her fiance said it all! If you haven’t seen their engagement session blog in Half Moon Bay, read it here!
Maria & Mark dated for 12 years before they decided to tie the knot - they met back in college in 89’. They both graduated from Stanford University, and he met her in the library one day - the rest was history. They connected right off the bat, and now they are officially married 12 years later! It was such an honor to witness such beautiful love, with some of the kindest people I have ever met.
We kicked off the wedding day with getting ready photos at the San Jose Springhill Suites! Maria had one of the bridesmaids and her close friend from college there to help with the getting ready process. This suite had a giant window providing so much natural light; it was perfect. Maria’s niece put on her bracelet and shoes.
After getting ready, we made our way over to the Basilica of St. Joseph in downtown San Jose for the ceremony. I have been to this church a few times before, but the architecture takes my breath away every time. This church has a gorgeous domed ceiling, adorned with gold accents and paintings. The basilica doesn’t allow the use of flash during the ceremony, but it is such a gorgeous place to hold a ceremony nonetheless. It was a traditional Catholic ceremony, which gave me a few extra minutes to sprint upstairs to grab a few wide-angle photos of the ceremony!
For family portraits, we made our way to Gamble Garden in Palo Alto. There is a gorgeous courtyard with roses and so much greenery; it makes for a beautiful background for family or even bride and groom portraits. There’s quite a few different places to explore here, and the lighting at sunset is diffused and soft.
As we were just about to leave for Stanford, I noticed the light was lighting up Maria’s veil. We stopped quickly to grab just a few photographs at the exit of the garden, and those turned out to be some of my favorite photos from the entire day.
Then, we rushed over to Stanford University to capture the bride & groom portraits. The bride and groom both met and graduated from Stanford University, so it was so important to them that we do pictures there. We managed to get there just as the sun was starting to set. As we were walking, they were reminiscing with their close friends that joined us. The friends that tagged along were helping to clear people out of the backgrounds as much as possible.
It was a busy day at Stanford, but we managed to get some beautiful portraits there. One of the last photos they really wanted to get was a photo of them standing on the tile of the year that they met back in 89’. We crossed through the entire campus to get there, stopping for photos along the way.
The reception took place at the Garden Court Hotel in downtown Palo Alto. It was a simple and elegant reception, with handmade decor and beautiful pink floral centerpieces. There was a cute candy bar, and all around the banquet hall were canvases with images from our engagement session.
Outside the banquet hall at the Garden Court Hotel is a gorgeous courtyard that you can use for your wedding. They had a mariachi band play while they danced outside under the twinkling lights! It has really beautiful light out there to do family portraits, or a few extra bride and groom portraits here.
This wedding was one of my first that I had photographed since I moved my business to the Bay Area. Maria & Mark were the most kind-hearted and genuine people, and I am honored that I was able to capture their wedding day. Cheers to the Mosquedas!
