{ Dawn + Craig | Vintage Winter Wedding }
My very first meeting with Dawn over tea at Novel Cafe had me crossing all my fingers & toes that I would get to work with her & photograph her wedding. She excitedly described her vision for the day – a vintage-inspired December wedding that was wintery without being Christmas-y, with tons of details that were infused with Dawn & Craig’s backgrounds & personalities.
But during that initial meeting {which may or may not have lasted an excess of 2 hours}, Dawn also shared with me more about herself on a deeper level – about Craig, about their story, the 17 bicycles they had in their garage, their love of food & travel, their battle & triumph over cancer. I could feel her love for Craig resonate in her words, and I knew the day would be a true celebration & beautiful on every level. Dawn shared the below story on her blog, and I’m sharing a part of it here, as I feel it so sums up their inspiring relationship:
I remember the exact moment I knew that we would be together forever, the moment I realized we were already one. It was the day I was diagnosed with breast cancer. When I called Craig to tell him the diagnosis his response was a simple “Oh my God, we have cancer”. It was that “we” that has been the foundation for every moment since then.
Though Dawn painted me a beautiful picture of her wedding plans during our first meeting & I watched her ideas unfold via her blog, I was still taken aback by the sheer amazingness of their wedding day. Every aspect was filled to the brim with Dawn & Craig’s personality – there were colorful shoes, tables named after bicycles, vintage books, birch details, and all sorts of wintery genius brought to life by the insanely talented Shawna Yamamoto. And of course there was laughter, there were sweet glances, lots of spontaneous clapping (Dawn’s trademark expression of excitement ;), and above all, an overabundance of love.
Dawn & Craig – Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to share in this exciting time in your lives & capture your most beautiful day. I feel so blessed to have met such kind & amazing people, and to walk away from this with new friends. So excited for you & your many more years of experiencing life as a “we” to come :)
I was pretty much madly in love with Dawn’s birdcage veil & stole, so elegant & stylish:
Love this one of them with their cameras! :)
And the reception. I think I literally forgot to breathe when I entered the room – it was a total & complete winter wonderland, shining bark-laden centerpieces, birch branches, sparkly “snow” – every inch was absolutely magical.
The escort card table alone was a wintery masterpiece:
With the help of a few friends, Dawn folded 1000 cranes, a Japanese tradition for good luck. Cranes are said to mate for life, so this tradition represents longevity & devotion in marriage. Every crane I have ever folded in my life has come out to be an amorphous non-crane catastrophe, so I have IMMENSE respect for Dawn who folded so many, especially out of such tiny paper. She found someone in Hawaii to assemble the cranes into a birch tree and the result was stunning.
Dawn wanted something unique for the guestbooks. She found a handful of vintage upcycled books on Etsy and filled them with lovely marriage quotes (suggested by her blog readers) & their engagement photos. Guests then filled the pages with photos from the photobooth accompanied by sweet messages.
A tradition of jade necklaces from Craig’s mother & aunts:
Venue: Our Lady Queen of Angels + SeaCliff Country Club in Orange County, CA
Florals & Event Design: Shawna Yamamoto Event Design
Lighting: Amber Event Design
Videography: Garner Films
Photobooth: Capital Photo Booth Co (these guys are awesome, they do custom color photobooths!)
DJ: Battleson Entertainment
Tags: birch wedding, blue shoes wedding, los angeles vintage wedding, los angeles wedding photographer, orange county wedding photographer, seacliff country club wedding, vintage, vintage wedding photography, vintage winter wedding, winter wedding
February 22nd, 2010 at
What a darling wedding!
I am in LOVE with the brides fur wrap!
Thank you SO much for your kind words + vote, Adrienne! It means so much to me! xox
February 22nd, 2010 at
How lovely <3… their love, their story, and their wedding day! Great job capturing it all, Adrienne! I am getting very excited for Sept…
February 22nd, 2010 at
love LOVE the bouquets. i’m semi-obsessed with monkey tails. and definitely a super duper setting for the placecards wow.
February 23rd, 2010 at
Love their blue shoes!!
February 23rd, 2010 at
Adrienne, your photos are always so amazing. This wedding is absolutely beautiful … simple and classic. The “we have cancer” story totally made me cry. Great job!
February 23rd, 2010 at
These photos are AMAZING!!! You and your man do such a lovely job capturing all the details of the big day in addition to the beauty of the bride and groom. WONDERFUL!
February 23rd, 2010 at
beautiful as usual!!!! :) i love the way you captured the exquisite details!!
February 23rd, 2010 at
wow, these pictures really took my breath away. beautiful!
February 23rd, 2010 at
Now that’s what I call: “a wedding!”
You must have had such a great time photographing not only the bride and groom, but all the details!
February 23rd, 2010 at
Beautiful wedding and photos!
February 23rd, 2010 at
Must have those blue shoes!!! I love how the blue really pops against the older more earthy colors. You captured their day beautifully Adrienne!
February 23rd, 2010 at
Awwww, this made me tear up all over again. You captured everything beautifully Adrienne (and Scott). You two are so gifted and we were so incredibly blessed to have you as our photographers! And now you’re a friend.
I hope you do baby pictures…I like to plan ahead.
February 24th, 2010 at
Just gorgeous! Visiting from Dawn’s site… she is darling and beautiful and you did a wonderful job capturing it! Just lovely…
February 24th, 2010 at
These pictures are incredible. Thank you for sharing them! I’ve been following all Dawn’s preparations and seeing so many beautiful pictures of the day is wonderful. You seem to have really captured their style, fun and passion. Fabulous! xx
February 24th, 2010 at
Those bouquets are A-MA-ZING!!
Stunning captures Adrienne!
February 24th, 2010 at
Simply beautiful! All the photos were stunning.
February 24th, 2010 at
Gorgeous pictures of two great people and how they made their special day so unique and so beautiful!
February 24th, 2010 at
beautimous adrienne!
February 24th, 2010 at
These are lovely! Great eye~
February 26th, 2010 at
Beautifully captured… each and every photo is so lovely
February 26th, 2010 at
I’ve been following along with Dawn as she planned her wedding on her blog. To see these pictures direct from the photographer and to hear your take on it all was just awesome. I love all your pictures, but the reception shots just blew me away. What an amazing wedding!! And you did a great job of capturing Dawn’s enthusiasm for life. Even in her serious poses you can see her smile just dying to get out! Great work-I’m sure you helped make Dawn’s wedding day perfect.
March 3rd, 2010 at
Oh my gosh, the detail shots are spectacular! Love them all!
April 28th, 2010 at
Is it possible if I could have the name of her make up aritst and hair stylist? It looks gorgeous!!!
October 21st, 2010 at
[…] maternity photos of her & Craig. I loved working with them for their engagement photos & wedding day.. and since both were filled to the brim with creativity and personality, I should have known that […]
January 14th, 2011 at
[…] One: Etsy seller SweetKnitting Photo Two: Wedding Paper Divas Photo Three: Adrienne Gunde Photography; Photo Four Paris Wedding Photo Five: Etsy seller Silvia66 Photo Six: Elizabeth Anne Designs Photo […]
July 26th, 2011 at
I love that crane birch tree. I was wondering if you knew who made the tree. Thanks