Sasha & Jafer California Wedding

Winters on the BC coast can be a little bleak and gray at times.  Spectacularly beautiful, serene, haunting, pristine, and awe inspiring,  yes..., but sometimes in a dismal, dreary and tiresomely long sort of way.  With that in mind it took very little convincing for us to accept Sasha and Jafer's invitation to come down and photograph their wedding in California in December.  We also felt rather honored to be asked instead of the myriad of great photographers already in California.  Sasha and Jafer had been guests at Carley and Daniel's Victoria, BC wedding that Darshan had photographed in 2012 (see it here).The ceremony was held in a sweet little church in Sausalito, a super scenic and elegant town that clings to a steep hillside just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.  The preparations and reception took place out on the coast in Muir Beach.  A town that isn't really a town but does feature a very authentically styled 16th century English inn called The Pelican where we had the pleasure of spending the night and merry making along with the celebrants.  Complete with lead paned windows, inglenook walk-in fireplaces, low ceilings and doors and hundreds of period antiquities, The Pelican Inn veritably transports one to another era and continent while somehow remaining rather plush and comfortable.Getting ready amid her 'girls', Sasha appeared to be truly in her bliss.  She spoke aloud of wanting to slow the moments down so she could savor and be fully aware of the sweetness of the time.  A radiant bride indeed.  It was a radiance of joy.  And joy is an apt word to describe the rest of the day as it transpired.  From the joyous passion of the vows and speeches at the ceremony to the joyous cackles and reddening faces during the 'roasting' toasts at the reception.  Late in the evening the small pub area within the inn became the hub of celebration as a duo of musicians steeped expertly in the Celtic tradition warmed and mesmerized us with song, picking, piping and fiddling, all the while furthering greatly the illusion of being transported in time and space to old England.  It was a good reminder in this time of DJ prominence of just how sweet music can feel when real fingers are plucking real strings.