One glance at this e-sesh and you’ll understand why couples are opting for intimate affairs at San Francisco City Hall. Marrying old world glamour with elegant arhitecture, it’s the ultimate engagement that you won’t want to miss. Complete with a couture gown and sweeter than sweet kisses, Jasmine Lee Photography shared it all with us in The Vault!
From The Bride…Me and Michael both chose San Francisco for our engagement shoot because we both met for college, UC Berkeley back in 2010 while now we both live in Jakarta, Indonesia.. As I sought after a local SF photographer, I found Jasmine through Instagram.. After several email exchange, I found Jasmine to be super duper helpful in answering my most meticulous questions such as why was this photo has different feel and color compared to this and that… From that point on, I feel confident to work with Jasmine, knowing she understands the ambiance and feel that I aim for my photos.. We then both decided to do photoshoot at City Hall, Baker Beach and Marin Headlands…
Then the real challenge was to actually prepare all the details for the photoshoot… Hair, Makeup, Props, Dress, etc… It was quite challenging to find the perfect vendors since I live thousand miles away but luckily after doing my due diligence (scrolling through instagrams, SMP website, googling, yelping, etc) I found trusted vendors and again all of these people are very cooperative..
Around the same time, I also prepare the dress which I wore for my City Hall photoshoot… I have to admit that I was lucky because my mother had bought the beautifully beaded lace some years ago and she thought that it would be perfect to make a dress for my engagement or wedding party, etc… This beautiful lace was transformed by a talented local designer in Indonesia, Imelda Hudiyono… She did such an amazing job creating this beautiful dress and I did ask to have a more dramatic feel to the dress because I felt like having a more timeless classic shoot…
Fast forward to May 2015, me and Michael flew to San Francisco… Two days prior to my engagement shoot with Jasmine, I picked up some succulents and flower crown at Farmgirl Flowers at SF Flower Market… That place was literally full of the most beautiful flowers exist! And I was very lucky that during my stroll in the flower market, I found fringed tulips! I was quite excited b/c it’s quite a rare flower back in my home country! Then I decided to do my own DIY flower “bouquet” and bought a matching fringed ribbons at Michael’s…
On the day of our engagement shoot, we started with City Hall shoot which is our priority location… Everything went quite smoothly and we were quite lucky (again) that the grand stairs was quite empty (no tourists!) at one point… So we rushed downstairs and there you go, we had the whole grand stairs for us! After spending quite some time at City Hall (we had such good photos that we kept going!), we moved to our second location which was Baker Beach. I have to admit, it was FREEZING cold by the time we reached there.. But there’s nothing that can stop us of course! We reached to the higher ground to get the tree branch that I would like to have shoot at… The photo result was amazing… Looking at how details the tree branches and how good the nature is! Moving forward, we went quickly to Marin Headlands.. by that time, Karl the Fog has already set in… We had to bear the cold weather because Marin Headlands is quite a higher ground… Jasmine did her magic and managed to get some shoots overlooking the Marin area… And Voila! The result looks like we were somewhere in Italian Coast :) I really like the dynamic on that day because in spite of the cold weather, the combination of us and our photographer, we were not discouraged with the weather… That’s what it takes make a good photo that all parties have a good time and after all what we want is to have a memorable day…
To me, the whole process was quite memorable as the photoshoot day itself because I have met so many inspiring vendors along the way.. I did my due diligence of finding good vendors and trusted them that they will do their utmost best to make this day memorable… I think this is really important, that when I and Michael look back, we indeed have a great time preparing, meeting new people and amazing photos :)
Photography: Jasmine Lee Photography | Floral Design: DIY Fringed Tulip Bouquet | Dress: Custom Dress By Imelda Hudiyono | Bride's Shoes: Manolo Blahnik | Hair: Dreamcatcher Artistry | Groom's Attire: Custom Made By Local Tailor In Indonesia | Airbrush Makeup: Dreamcatcher Artistry | Bride's Headpiece: Farmgirl Flowers | Location #1: San Francisco City Hall | Location #2: Baker Beach | Location #3: Marin Headlands