By Chris Ellsworth

Luckily, I didn’t have to wear a purple dress like Julia Roberts. It wouldn’t have matched my goatee very well. Anyways, Mike and Amber got married last month and Masha did the photography (with me assisting).

I thought to myself I have met my “dream couple” when I first met Matt and Maggie and they have told me about their plan to get married on Mount Diablo Ranch in Walnut Creek, CA. That magical place has always been a perfect spot for a perfect sunset time wedding in my mind.

In the day of the wedding I have met Maggie at the Embassy Suites Walnut Creek hotel in Walnut Creek, California just as she was finishing getting her makeup done and getting ready to get into her dress.

Maggie was radiating with joy and so calm – there was a quiet feeling that everything is going just as planned! What a blessing to get on your wedding day!

While Maggie was getting ready Matt and his groomsmen were having a good time of their own at the Diablo Ranch:

Every little corner of this venue had a simple rustic charm of a working cattle ranch:

It was time for the ceremony, the beautiful bride walked down the aisle accompanied by her father and serenaded by a vibrant mariachi band. As heartfelt vows were articulated Matt and Maggie were pronounced man and wife:

The warm August sun was going down I was lucky enough to capture a few private moments of the newlyweds right after the ceremony:

Our cowboys and cowgirls were ready to party into the night:

And our Matt and Maggie were ready to start a new beautiful chapter in their lives together…

For more adventures of Matt and Maggie on their wedding day check out this wedding slideshow.
The whole wedding gallery is available here.

I never considered myself a very “girly” girl. I don’t own a lot of dresses, I wear make up only because otherwise people ask me if I just got back from the gym, I despise clothes shopping lately because things look way different once I try them on at home. But I still love beautiful things – buying pretty postcards, looking at design blogs, and taking pictures of beautiful flowers.

My friend Denise makes wedding flower arrangements and I photographed her work this weekend for her portfolio. Denise put a lot of time and care into these pieces and worked with the bride to incorporate the wedding colors in.

Flower girl boquet Table arragements Head table arragement White one Pink one Cake flowers

These are live arrangements so they will last far beyond the big day – oh how I wish I was a guest at this wedding and got one of the arrangements as a wedding favor to take home.

Some weddings are reserved. Some are traditional. Others are fun.

Then there are the ones that can only be described as a party.

Gail and Julia said beautiful vows, kissed, then started dancing out the recessional and the celebration never stopped.

The ceremony and reception were at Garre Vineyards in Livermore, a stunning location. Because of the cool summer weather the grapes had just turned a vibrant purple.

It was the ideal location for this fun couple. As evidence as the day progressed so did their shoes: starting with formals and ending in matching converse sneakers inscribed with “I heart Gail (Julia)”.

It was a scorcher of a day: 105 in the shade and no shade to be seen.

Rudy stood sweating out each moment waiting for Danielle his bride to make her entrance.

Radiant, she walked slowly down the aisle with a smile to Rudy.

The ceremony was brief and beautiful.

Group pictures were taken then the party retreated to the cool shade of the reception hall and the celebration began.

Most Americans are convinced that summer ends on September 21st; well even though I have lived in this country for a number of years I disagree with this ridiculous statement. My summer has always ended on September 1st – the first day of school in Ukraine.

Every year going to school on that first day brought bitter-sweet feelings to my heart; on one hand – this day ended my freedom: no more sleeping in, doing anything you want, swimming in warm seas and eating lots of ice cream. On the other hand I missed seeing my school friends every day, learning a few interesting things and helping plan various school activities. Most writing classes (weather is was Ukrainian, Russian, English or German ) had you write a “What I did past summer” paper. It seems like an international phenomenon, since I have heard that kids in US also have to write those every year. I didn’t like writing as a child; even as an adult it was a struggle for me in college. I had to squeeze out every sentence out of myself and dreaded the “What I did past summer” ordeal every year. It didn’t make much sense to me then – why would a teacher cared what I did that summer; they weren’t there! It seemed like an easy way out for the teachers – just make kids write those papers and you don’t have to come up with any other homework for a few first days. Maybe it felt like extending their vacation for a bit…

I can definitely see now how important that exercise was, how nice it is to look in the retrospect on things you have accomplished, wonderful moments you have experienced and how much you have grown (literally and in any other way). Maybe that’s why people keep journals; perhaps one day I will start one and gladly spend a few minutes a day recording everything that has happened… maybe one day…

I’ve had a really great eventful summer, met so many wonderful people, made a few good friends. This is why I am making myself record the highlights of last few months, before it’s too late, before it gets replaced with some junk in my memory. This is my photography site, so I will record things of that nature.

The emotions were high during Keela and Lester’s wedding, the makeup girl had to clean Keela’s face a few times… It was very touching to see how happy she is to be getting married that warm summer day.

After the ceremony and a ton of family pictures we all got to enjoy a beautiful meal with these awesome cupcakes. It was a well deserved treat for everyone.

Then there was Courtney and Travis’ wedding in Briones National Park – it was so refreshing, relaxed and casual. It reflected the bride and groom’s personality so perfectly.

And instead of the cake the couple wanted everyone to gather next to a fire and make s’mores – what a fun idea!

In July I got to travel to the mountains near Santa Cruz for Ken and Wendy’s wedding, the ceremony was in the middle of a redwood forest and we had to take a steam train to get there.

Needless to say Ken and Wendy are very fun and adventurous people.

It has been my dream to photograph a wedding in a Japanese tea garden ever since I visited that country. There is something so surreal and tranquil about them. So this summer I was able to take pictures for beautiful Yosita and Nanny’s wedding. We had a great time taking pictures of them in every beautiful corner of the garden.

I love the brides that love taking pictures – it makes my job so much easier. Versie probably was a super model in the previous life, she rocked her wedding dress and posed for me like a pro. Rashad was a little camera shy at first, but Versies’ contagious confidence caught up with him pretty fast!

My last wedding of the summer was Chris and Amanda’s wedding at the Oakland LDS temple. They reminded me so much of Chris and I when we got married. Young and cheerful, I hope they will keep this spirit alive for years to come.

It was a fun and eventful summer, now I can start looking forward to the new adventures this fall.

All brides look brilliant and flawless on their wedding day, but I think that Je’Anna wakes up looking as fabulous as she is.

Despite all the emotions of that day, she looked stunning and elegant walking down the isle with her dad…

to be married to Cameron, the life of her life…

Growing up in Ukraine I used to watch a lot of Indian movies, which is somewhat odd if you think about it. I have always loved the colorful outfits and as you might have guessed – dancing. In November I have photographed an Indian wedding which brought me back to my childhood.


Ruby and Josh, the bride and the groom, wore amazing red and white wedding outfits.


For the first time in my life I saw such an intricate henna tattoo work – I can only imagine how long it took…

Now I want a purse like that too .

The guests and the couple danced the night away, and I was so glad to be a part of this fairy tale wedding.

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A week before Thanksgiving I went to Utah for my sister-in-law’s wedding. It was a lot of fun visiting my Alma mater, hanging out with family, eating the best tasting breakfast burritos in the whole world and taking lots of pictures. Here is the bride:


And the groom:

And the blue emergency phone that was so kind and served as a good prop.

I didn’t know people could have so much fun being outside in a blistering cold wind. You couldn’t even tell from the pictures that I was bundled up in my warmest coat and still freezing.


I bet their love kept them warm throughout the process.