Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had a chance to check out my galleries and blog entries.  Please feel free to leave comments and critiques… I am very open when it comes to feedback (good and bad).

After Caitlin and Sudheer’s wedding in Northern California, Gavin and I decided that we are gonna take a small vacation and enjoy Northern California.  We were suppose to hit up Yosemite National Park, but was not able to find any hotel vacanies. It’s alright though; it’ll give us an excuse to go in November when it’s less crowded.  Before we head out to San Francisco from San Ramon, Gavin and I stopped to have our Sunday brunch at a nice little restuarant called “The Peasant and the Pear.”  Their Pear Martinis are to die for!!!  The food was good and the service was excellent.  I got the Peasant Scramble which is angus ground beef sauteed with caramelized onions, baby spinach, mozzarella & two eggs, served with seasoned breakfast potatoes.  Gavin got the Monte Cristo Sandwich… and he thought it was alright (a little to dry for his taste).  Because it was our first with the restuarant, the server hooked us up with some strawberry crepes.  Yummy!!!

Oh yeah… Gavin and I loooooooooooove to eat!!! We love trying out new restuarants and dishes.  Don’t be surprised if you see blog entries with just food!  A couple years ago, when we were in Seattle, Washington, we ate clam chowder a six different restaurant… in A DAY!  We’re both such chowder heads!

Here are some pics of our drive into San Francisco.  I just thought the structure on these bridges are pretty cool looking so I took a few snapshoots as we drove through.

We stayed two nights at the Petite Auberge. It’s a cute little French Hotel in the heart of San Francisco.

I love it there; it’s so cute and comfortable. We got a petite suite and so we had the whole lower level of the hotel to ourselves. Looks like a doll house doesn’t it?

This is where we had our complimentary breakfast with all the other guests.  I love the comfort level while staying in this hotel!

This is where we lounged for our complimentary cocktail hours.

After a few glasses of wine, Gavin and I walked around SF as we decide what we want for dinner.  Gavin wanted a picture where the building looks like it’s slanted, and as for me… I had to strike-a-pose for the camera.

After climbing hills after hills, we finally decided we were gonna eat at the R & G Lounge.  It’s overpriced Chinese food!  To start, we ordered Salmon avacado eggrolls and shark fin soup.  For our main dishes we ordered Live Crab with salt and pepper (signature dish) and R & G Special Beef (secret recipe).  The lightly battered Crab with Salt and Pepper was awesome!!!  The Beef was awful.  It was super duper sweet.  I guess their secret sauce was SUGAR!!!

Here’s my silly Gavin posing like a dead crab. hehehe…

After dinner, we took a stroll through Union Square, which was only a few blocks for our hotel (Petite Auberge… also known as the White Swan).

I love this picture of Gavin pretending to lean on the column!  He’s actually a good distance away, but it looks so real!

Today is our second day in SF!  We wanted to be like the locals and take mass transit everywhere, so here we are… bored out of our minds waiting for the bus to come

Our goal today is to visit King Tut’s exhibit located inside of the De Young Museum at the Golden Gate Park.  It’s been 30 years since this exhibit was in California.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the exhibit was closed.  Out of all days, it had to be closed on the one day we decided to go!  While we were there, we visited the Science Center instead.

The Science Center was fascinating!  They had many exhibits ranging from the deep ocean to the hot African Savannas to the humid Rain Forest!

Here are some pictures that Gavin took while we were exploring the aquarium.  I love this picture… so color… so crowded… yet so peaceful.

Check out the dragon sea horse thingy… and the albino crocadile.  Pretty cool huh?

These are my attempts to look like the skull next to me.

Random pictures of us… hehehe

We took the bus to San Francisco’s Chinatown.  From there, we walked through Chinatown to get to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Along the way, I saw this bench and had to sit down for a picture~!  This is my favorite picture from the day! I love it!!!  From left to right:  Speak no evil, (Boob grabbing), See no evil, and Hear no Evil!!!

At Fisherman’s Wharf, we ate at the Crab House (in Pier 39).  To start, we had a bowl of clam chowder and crab cakes!  The clam chowder was not at all to our standards.  The crab cake was alright… we’ve had better ones.  Our main dish was their famous Dungeness Killer Crab roasted in their secret garlic sauce.  It was delicious!!! You can never go wrong with butter and garlic!

Today is third and last day in SF for us.  Our first stop… Mama’s!  This was our second time eating at Mama’s.  There is always a line out the door at this place.  I’d have to say that it’s the best breakfast I’ve ever had… so worth the wait!  Their eggs benedict and omelettes are my favorites!!!

After breakfast, we drove to Golden Gate Park again… I had to see King Tut’s exhibit!  Too bad they don’t allow photography inside.  It would have been amazing to capture the findings that were there! I learned so much about King Tutankhamun and the previous Pharaohs of Egypt.

On our way out of SF to Carmel, we stoped for some quick pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge!

Caitlin and Sudheer had so much fun at their first wedding (at Los Verdes Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes);  they decided to do it AGAIN… “Indian Style” this time! With great pleasure, Gavin and I traveled to the Marriott in San Ramon (in Northern California) to capture their big day.

Let’s take a sneak peak in Caitlin’s room and see what’s she’s doing.

And here she is again… getting ready for her man. I love photographing Indian weddings. It’s always filled with beautiful vibrant colors, ornate jewelery… and delicious food! Yup… can’t forget the food!

Here are some of my favorites during Cait’s prep.

Before we see more of Cait, let’s peak in Sud’s room and see what he’s up to. Of course… what else could he be doing?  …Chillin with a beer in his hand! The groom always has it so easy… just slip on the clothes and they’re ready to go! I’m so jealous.

Meanwhile… the bride has to put on make-up, get her hair done……….and in Caitlin’s case, struggle to put on jewelery. This is not posed… she is seriously making faces while putting the bracelets on. Silly Caity!

I’ve always found it amazing how a Sari is worn.  It’s a 9 yard long piece of elaborate cloth that is wrapped around a female. I got to see for the first time how it was done and I thought: “Wow…” Lots of folding, tucking, and pinning!

Not only is Cait a lovely Western bride, but she also makes a stunning traditional Indian bride.  By the way, I LOVE the Henna tattoos. For those who are interested: Mehendi is a small tropical shrub, whose leaves when dried and ground into a paste, give out a rusty-red pigment. This is suitable for making intricate designs on the palms and feet.

Lastly, Cait puts on her Bindi and she is ready to go!

The traditional ceremony lasted about 1 hour.  I thought it was very interesting ceremony. There were lots of chanting and rituals involved.

There is a curtain that blocks the groom from seeing his bride as she walks down the aisle and approaches him. Once she is on “stage” the curtain is lowered and they meet for the first time during the day.

Great Ceremony… I was intrigued with everything!

The Reception was filled great toasted.  Sudheer’s sister’s toast was so touching it made him cry while others brought back memories that got him constantly laughing.  During the toasts, Sudheer’s mom also found out things that mothers were suppose to never know!

And here is their first dance.

Ok… let’s get the party started:

Thank you Caitlin and Sudheer for a wonderful experience! Congratulations and may your future together be filled with lots of love, warmth and happiness!!!

Sudheer and Gavin (my Fiance) are Brazilian Ju-Jit-Su (a form of martial arts) buddies at UCLA.  Sudheer got his Ph.D at UCLA and is now a mad Geneticist.  Caitlin also went to UCLA and is now a wonderful teacher.

I had such a great time photographying their wedding on July 4th at Los Verdes Golf Course in the beautiful city of Rancho Palos Verdes.  It was such a lovely day for a wedding.

And as usual, here is my ring picture.  I love Caitlin’s ring…

Caitlin decided to go with a creamy ivory color dress and shoes instead of the traditional white.

Here are some pictures of Cait getting ready for her man… She’s gorgeous!!!

She’s so silly… everytime someone would compliment her on how beautiful she looks, Caitlin starts crying!

Cait and Sud are so funny. It was hilarious during their exchange of vows. Sudheer was concentrating on being serious… and the more serious he looked the more it cracked Caitlin up. She finally couldn’t hold it and burst into laughter.

What a beautiful couple….

Here are some quick pictures of the newlyweds right after the ceremony.

The cake cutting was the best part during the reception. Sudheer was sooooo mean.  He got her right in the eye! Poor Caitlin… she was saying “ouch!!! I can’t see… I can’t see” the entire walk to the bathroom.  I am so sure Sud is gonna pay for it later.

As Caitlin was cleaning off the massive amount of cake on her face, Sud stuck his head in the women’s room and yelled out “I’m sorry babe… I love you…” Caitlin chased him out of the room and into the men’s room where she gave him a piece of her mind about caking the bride in the face! I followed her in too (FYI – there were other guys doing their busy in the men’s room while Cait went in there!) but then decided it was best to stand at the door to take pictures.

And here she is… our beautiful bride coming out of the MEN’S room!

Caitlin eventually got Sud back right in the face as he was giving a speech about how wonderful his wife is!  It was awful……ly great!!! LOL

And here they are… Caitlin and Sudheer ! They are totally made for each other!

They will be having another wedding (an Indian wedding) in Northern California.  Gavin and I will be photographying that one as well. I can’t wait to see how beautiful this couple will look in their Indian Sari.  I’m excited…yay!!!

There will be more to come… check back soon for more of Caitlin and Sudheer in action!