In the tiny Mexican town of Todos Santos, a couple of hours outside Cabo, stands the alluring, dimly lit Hotel California, which locals have long claimed is THE Hotel California, of the famed Eagles song. Past owners of the hotel say Don Henley stayed there in the 1970s, when you could rent a room and a mattress for $2, and penned the song there. When Jean and Michael hired us for their November wedding, which would take place at the hotel, we were intrigued and dove into Google looking for stories. Sadly, the legend is just a myth, and Don Henley says he has never been to the Hotel California – the song came completely from his imagination.

Regardless, the hotel is captivating as you walk through its lantern-lined, winding corridors, down narrow stairways into fountained courtyards. It’s a truly magical place.

Jean and Michael’s ceremony was at a private beachfront home, with the reception at the Hotel California.  During the course of four days with this group, we went out with them to the clubs in Cabo, hit the beach with everyone after the wedding and explored the coast of Baja in a rented convertible Jeep. It was a fantastic experience, and, as Jean told us this week, the time of her life.

Since we still have a few more shoots to blog from this year, we probably won’t be able to put together a timely Best of 2009 collection, so we want to share Jean and Michael’s slideshow as a sendoff to 2009. You can view it below and also here.

Happy New Year everyone!

I have known Vlad for almost half my life now, and if there is one person that I can credit with giving me the opportunity to become a photographer, it’s Vlad. The first time I met him I was photographing a college basketball game for a photo class assignment. Because I was a student then, I didn’t have very good equipment, so Vlad  - who worked for the city’s newspaper – let me borrow one of his lenses for the game. That story pretty much sums Vlad up – he is incredibly generous, even if he has never met you before.

After that first day, Vlad helped me learn how to see light and find unique angles with the goal to always come back from a newspaper assignment with a photograph our editors wouldn’t expect. We both eventually left the newspaper business to focus on weddings, and Vlad has since transitioned into video, becoming the most creative and exciting wedding filmmaker I have ever worked with. You can see his photos and films here.

Vlad and Rachel have been together for several years and have a beautiful new daughter, Mira. Their wedding at La Posada was small – just family and a few friends – which fit perfectly with what is important to them. It was a day that I will always remember as one of my proudest because Erin and I finally got to pay Vlad back a little bit for all that he has given me the last 14 years.

Clara and Charles’ wedding was one of the most unique and most fun of the year for us – and also marked the first chance we had to work with the one-of-a-kind Alison Events. This wine country wedding was held under a circus tent drenched in color from top to bottom. The ceremony featured a rousing rendition of Endless Love by two of Clara’s friends. And instead of a champagne toast, guests downed a round of vodka shots.

Our associate photographers Dave Getzschman and Aaron Morris joined us for the evening. It was Dave’s job to get people to lose their inhibitions for his camera in the photobooth.

Despite living in San Francisco, we had only two weddings here this year, with Caitlin and Cyrus’ being one of them. In addition to getting to stay in our hometown, their celebration, at the historic Merchants Exchange Building, with the reception in the glamorous Julia Morgan Ballroom, gave us the rare opportunity to shoot both the ceremony and reception indoors. The extraordinary light in the Merchants Exchange Building was some of the most interesting we’ve seen, and luckily we had a full night of Persian dancing to go along with it.

Since first photographing Caitlin and Cyrus’ engagement session we have become fast friends. Cyrus keeps us informed on the latest in hip-hop music, and we all talk about what’s going to happen next on the vampire TV show True Blood. Now we just have to wait for the next season to start before opening up a pack of O-Positive TruBlood with them.