Heather Elizabeth Photography : Photo Blog of California, San Francisco, Sacramento, East Bay, Northern California Bay Area Wedding, Portrait, and lifestyle photographer Heather Elizabeth

Cassie + Josh

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:21:24 +0000

The view was pretty spectacular. That’s a given.
The bride was absolute beauty. With amazing heels I am still drooling over. Along with her makeup and hair taken care of by the ladies at The Makeup Dolls.
Add in the groom, Josh, along with their family and friends, and you have a party. Let’s than add into the mix amazing DJ work by Storm Productions, who made sure everyone made their way to the bar for many shots, and than you get a pretty wild party. The best receptions are when everyone is rocking out on the dance floor, so I can jump right in there too and get some fantastic and sometimes awkward shots.

I must have done something really amazing to deserve to have this job. I get to tell stories through my photographs, and have those photos be such an important part of someone’s life forever.

Cassie and Josh, thanks for being so awesome and letting me tell your story.

Once again, Thanks to Matt for coming along and rockin photos with me. Some of these are his.

Features, publication, and award.

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:14:01 +0000

So I confess, I am a bit slow on posting any personal blogs lately. I’ve been shooting and editing like a mad woman since March it seems. Lovely to keep busy, but I have neglected to share many awesome things that have happened for my photography the last few months.

Fist up, TWO featured at the Brides Cafe. If you are one of my future brides, be sure to check out this site for amazing inspiration.

Katya and Justin, photographer in St.Louis back in March. See full feature here!

Jen and Eric’s beautiful Clos La Chance wedding in San Martin California. See full feature here!

And the next bit of news is horribly overdue. Every year Digital Photographer magazine runs a photographer contest. I happened to submit a few of my photographs last year and never heard anything back, and since the magazine is based in the UK and hard for me to get, I just never thought anything of it. “Hey, they will e-mail me or send me something if I win”.

Cut to… 3 weeks ago. I’m browsing the internet and come upon the 2009 winners for the competition. And… what do I see?

WHAT? Is it possible there is another Heather Elizabeth Sumpter out there? (Oh I wish Elizabeth was my real last name, than I would sound oh so fancy all the time!)

Upon further investigation, I found this! My beautiful, sleepy little ring bearer came in the top three best wedding images of 2009. What an honor.

Dear little ring bearer. Thank you for being so cute, so I could catch this amazing shot of you. And thank you so much for Digital Photographer Magazine for the honor of being published and named one of the top three photographs of the year. Also, hey, if anyone in the UK out there has that issue… hook a sister up.

And now for something completely not wedding related, but related to me taking photos… one of my photographed was published in Curve Magazine for a feature on the beautiful and talented Blair Hansen. If you are in the San Francisco area and want to see an amazing talent, check out Blair’s site and see where she’s playing. If you aren’t in the Bay, well, just listen to her rock your socks off. I love this girl.

I am mildly excited when I see my photographs in print.

Ok, and that’s a wrap on my shameless sharing of the awesome things that have been happening with my work lately. You know I used to want to be a comic book artist? And an actor? Thank goodness I picked up a camera. So Thankful for all the good things happening lately.

Marisa and Anthony

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:20:46 +0000

What a wedding.

From the second I received Marisa and Anthony’s beautiful handmade Save the Date’s in the mail shortly after they booked me as their wedding photographer, I knew that this would be one of those weddings I would always remember. I thought I was going to love it for all the details. For the beautiful location. For the gorgeous couple. It turned out to be so much more than that.

This wedding truly filled me with happiness to photograph it. It fills me with happiness to process the photos. I get to relive it by sharing it here now. From the flower girls that played limbo in their sweet little dresses, to the special kids table at the reception decorated by Marisa (being a kindergarten teacher, she was an expert on what would make kids have fun), to the beautiful song sung by Anthony and Marisa’s friend who performed the ceremony. So many sweet handmade details that I could fill a whole blog with. The handmade candy and cupcake cupboards. This wedding was a labor of love from all the family in celebration of Anthony and Marisa.

Thank you so much to Anthony and Marisa for trusting me with such an occasion. Events like this remind me how much I love what I do. You are so beautiful, inside and out.

As always, thanks to my brother, Matt, for rockin this out with me. And a special thanks to Eunice for assisting and being a trooper.

Venue – Oak Farm Vinyards
Catering – Kinder’s Custom Meat
Couches + Photo Booth – Party Pals
Tent + Dance Floor – Classic Party Rentals
Flowers – Angel’s Petals
Window Frames – Urban Ore
Cupcakes – Wilma Lott Catering

All other details such as custom wood signs, table clothes, candy cupboard, mason jars, pillow, programs, name cards, everything was hand-made by Marisa, Anthony and their family. Truly a creative and beautiful labor of love.

Kathleen + Chris

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 04:15:31 +0000

I nearly died laughing photographing Kathleen and Chris. These two were so spontaneous and silly during their e-session.
In the name of art we trespassed on the dunes, but just cus we saw the kids doing it first.

They were engaged on a bi-plane… and what do you know, hello bi-plane billboard!

Shardelle + Carlos

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:27:22 +0000

This wedding had so much style. Shardelle had a vision and she made it happen.

Alvin and Payal

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:45:46 +0000

How does one put on a 4th of July wedding? You want to celebrate the holiday while not losing your own glamorous personal touches to your wedding. Payal and Alvin pulled it off with such class and elegance with their decor and jewel toned theme to their colors. The beautiful Palm Event Center did such an amazing job setting up their reception with bright red, white and blue colors that complimented their other jewel tones. All the vendors really pulled off a gorgeous affair for Alvin and Payal, it was perfect for a day dedicated to two sweet, passionate individuals. As well as these two and their families are so flippin’ friendly and hilarious to be around. Such an amazing day with amazing people.

Event Planner : Monique Bogni @ Palm Event Center
DJ : Jonas Garcia of Access Music DJs
Florist : Lakshimi Floral Designs
Bakery : Sibby’s Cupcakery
Reception Music : Los Mensajeros

Lacey

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:33:52 +0000

Courtney + Joey

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 06:43:41 +0000

Courtney and Joey were married in the beautiful Napa Valley back on fourth of July weekend. I can’t tell you how much fun this group was. Thanks so much to the beautiful Brix Restaurant in Napa for being such a beautiful backdrop for such a lovely wedding

Toniann + Kyle : Married

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:26:50 +0000

Toniann and Kyle met each other originally in wine country through a college trip to the area. So it seemed only fitting for them to bring their family and friends back to this beautiful place to take their vows. This wedding was so small and sweet, with such lovely details. Toniann and Kyle are both so awesome to hang around with, so happy for all the time I’ve been able to spend with them in the last few months through their wedding planning.

Photographed first at St.Paul’s Church, than followed by a reception held at the beautiful Quivera Winery in Healdsburg, California.

Awesome exit shot that Matt got.

Phil and Melissa

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:01:31 +0000

Phil worked at Tracy Highschool where I graduated from. A few years later Melissa started working there and thought the guy with the shiny aviators was really hot. She finally married hot aviator guy.

Thanks for La Bonne Vi Cellars, and Dave Tillman for keeping people on their feet and rocking a great party.