It’s so important that you (and everyone you know) can really feel and relive your wedding day whether they attend or not!
To give you an idea of this, here is how a typical wedding day timeline flows and how your photos will look if you’re a #vondyscouple!
cristina + max
olympia valley estate
After all the planning, love, sweat and tears that’s gone into this day, it’s finally here!! We are so excited to see you and give you hugs! Let’s get this celebration started!
Cristina and Max were raised in the Bay area so it was a natural choice to get married there. They chose Olympia Valley Estate in Petaluma, for their simply breathtaking wedding!
OVE is one of our most favorite venues and it’s easy to see why! Just look at this gorgeous space.
This is one of my (Mrs. Vondy’s) favorite part of the wedding day! The anticipation, the joy and excitement, is hard to explain in words! Cristina was surrounded by an “a-team” bridesmaid group, these girls were seriously the best!! Anything Cristina needed, they were at the ready. It’s always such a treat to get to know our couple’s closest friends on a wedding day too!
After Cristina dressed, we took a few portraits of her before we headed off to see her groom!
One of the reasons we love OVE is they have a groom’s suite for the men to prep too! Such a rare treat! Max looked so dapper in his custom suit.
If your venue doesn’t have a second getting ready space, not to worry! We are happy to help stage a “mock” getting ready for any grooms who choose to arrive ready.
These TWO! Our hearts can barely take the sweetness. Get yourself a partner that looks at you the way Max looks at Cristina.
After they shared a moment together, these two actually chose to read cards and their private vows to each other as well. They wanted to keep the moment just for themselves on their day. It’s truly so special that our couples invite us to be a part of such quiet, lovely moments on their wedding day. We are truly honored. We both cried a little hearing their sweet words to each other.
Unsure if you want to have a first look?
Check out our blog post: 5 Reasons to Have a First Look … that aren’t just for more photo time!
If you have one, now we’ll transition into wedding party time! This way when cocktail hour rolls around, they can go party and enjoy! We’ll do a large grouping of you, then girls and guys separate as well as individual portraits with each of your friends!
Hands down, this is our jointly, favorite time of the day! We will sneak off with just the two of you for some portraits before your guests arrive. Don’t worry, we always block in 30 minutes of “relax” time for you to take a breath, use the restroom, have a snack, etc. before your ceremony begins!
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for! While you’re relaxing/hiding from arriving guests, we’ll photograph your ceremony details! Then we’ll get you down the aisle to say “I do!”.
We typically recommend family portraits immediately following the ceremony for two reasons. One, they are who you’ll be hugging and enjoying that “just married” feeling with anyway and two everyone is there and ready to go! We can arrange to do these earlier in the day if you prefer.
We will give you a list to fill out of all the family groupings you want so we don’t have to ask you on the day! Typically, we can get through family portraits in about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your list, so you’re family won’t have to miss cocktail hour!
This time is also know as “golden hour” and it is hands down, jointly, our favorite time of the day!
Even if you’ve shared a first look and we were able to capture some of your portraits, post ceremony there is just a different, relaxing, joyful, energy we cannot explain in words. It’s such a magical time. You won’t regret giving us a few minutes for portraits at this time. Promise.
You may want to attend cocktail hour, which we can totally arrange if you like, but we have noticed even our couples who insist they want to attend, on the day when it rolls around, they much rather have a cocktail with their new spouse, take a breath and take it all in before joining the festivities.
It’s. Time. To. Paaaaaartaaaaay! Name that movie.
Cristina and Max chose to enjoy their HOMEMADE beer (yes, Max MADE beer!) while capturing portraits around the gorgeous venue property. They even were able to join the tail end of cocktail hour afterward feeling refreshed!
If time allows and you wish to, you can attend cocktail hour after portraits! It’s totally up to you and the best part, you can decide on the day if you want to attend or if you want a little alone time. It’s your wedding, you do you!
You’ve most likely put a lot of thought into making this space perfect for your guests, so we want to be sure we sneak off and get photos of your reception space before your guests arrive!
You’re married! Let’s PARTY!
We recommend getting your formalities out of the way a bit earlier in the evening so that you can just kick back and have a good time without being constantly interrupted. Plus, the sooner you open that dance floor, the sooner your guests can show us their best moves.
VENDORS
photography – the vondys. | ceremony & reception - olympia’s valley estate | planner - a saavy event | florist - lily & mint | makeup & hair - the makeup dolls | bride's dress - laudae from and something blue | bride’s customized shoes - bryr | bridesmaids - show me your mumu | groom & groomsmen’s suits - generation tux | cake, brownies & lemon bars - lisa eager | catering & cookies - sage catering | dj - boutique djs | transportation - napa valley tours | linens - la tavola | rentals - encore event rentals | calligrapher - blushtype | photo vw bus - the booth bus | beverages - smith’s beverages |
Where do we begin!? Besides your spouse, you spend most of the time on your wedding day with your photographer(s) – and we couldn’t imagine our wedding day without The Vondys! From the very first consultation, we sensed their dedication to our vision, passion for their work and knew our wedding photography was in good hands. Throughout our engagement session and especially on our wedding day, the Vondys made us feel comfortable, free to laugh, cry and be ourselves and were just an absolute blast to be around! All of our family and friends who had the opportunity to meet them were equally impressed. In addition to being a joy to work with, the Vondys are both individually incredibly talented and professional photographers and their work as a team is outstanding. We are so grateful to the Vondys for capturing one of the most memorable days of our lives and recommend working with them wholeheartedly!
