Ivana and Kevin’s San Francisco Wedding

Collage of photos from Ivana and Kevin's San Francisco wedding

We feel so fortunate to photograph weddings in San Francisco, especially Presidio weddings. Every wedding, no matter how large or small, ends up with so many unique elements that make it quintessentially San Francisco. Ivana and Kevin's wedding was no exception.

With a ceremony in the Presidio to a reception a local favorite restaurant, along with local San Francisco wedding vendors, Ivana and Kevin's wedding was just lovely.

Ivana and Kevin's Story

Ivana was so excited to share their story with us, so we're going to share it verbatim!

While Kevin and I both agree that how-we-met stories are fun, we think you might also find the couple of times where our paths almost crossed even more fun.

Both of our sisters were in the same class when they were in elementary school. I guess at that time, Kevin and I had a couple of things in common--we both weren't too big on back-to-school nights or the school potlucks.

Then there was another time when Kevin's friend had a huge crush on my other sister and because the friend didn't want his parents to know that his teenage son wanted to spend a bit more than chump change for a girl's Christmas gift, he asked Kevin to help him purchase an iPod.

Kevin and I went to the same middle school. At the time, the boys I "knew" were cartoon superheroes. The "real" ones in the world were made by mistake, often being the sources of chaos. And so you can imagine why I had trouble recollecting any memories about them.

"We all played basketball together. You were there and Kevin was there," my childhood friend said, as we caught up over coffee.

I blinked.

"This happened for more than a handful number of times..."

I blinked for more than a handful number of times.

"Ivana, all of us were in the same chatroom."

I thought about how laggy my internet was. And how every time I was on AIM--for the younger generations, that's AOL Instant Messenger--I got spurts of 10+ messages at a time. And people had customized backgrounds and font colors. Everyone else was immersed in middle school drama while I was learning about color theory.

High school came around, and while Kevin and I went to the same school, we had different circles of friends. So no, we didn't meet in high school either. However, we were brewing a common interest in a sport that became the primary reason for our eventually crossing paths.

Could our luck have gotten any worse? The answer is yes. For college, I stayed in the Bay Area and he moved 500 miles away to San Diego. But remember that brewing of a common interest? Luckily, it all paid off!

Through a mutual friend, we met on our neighborhood tennis courts during one spring break. I wanted to play for serious and Kevin wanted more time to warm up so we could chat. Kevin claims that that was when "sparks flew."

What really happened was that after we had started playing tennis together, and texting each other, I learned that my phone could store no more than 50 texts at a time. Every time I hit the fiftieth message, I had to delete entire conversations at a time so my phone could stay functional. One day, out of frustration from needing to wipe clean of our chats and realizing that the bulk of them were animal jokes, I sent him one that was a bit less funny: "What are your intentions?"

100+ mutual friends, many miles apart, a love for tennis, poor technology, and 6 years later, here we are.

Thank you, Ivana, for sharing that adorable story!

San Francisco Wedding Day

Ivana and Kevin spent months searching for the perfect venue in the SF area. The Presidio held an open house event, which they attended, and they fell in love with the Officers' Club, especially the Ortega Ballroom. It was perfect for the ceremony. As Ivana said, "the Presidio area is just full of beautiful outdoor spots for taking photos." We couldn't agree more. The Presidio is one of our favorite places for wedding photos.

After the ceremony and lots of amazing photos at the Presidio, we all went to Tai Wu. Ivana and Kevin chose Tai Wu for their delicious Chinese food and easily accessible location for their guests. The food was delicious, but like at most weddings, the bride and groom didn't even get to eat! Luckily their considerate family packed leftovers for them so they were able to enjoy the yummy food later.

We loved this wedding, beginning to end! Thank you Ivana and Kevin for sharing your day with us. Check out the full gallery of photos below:

Vendors

Wedding Planner and Day-Of Coordinator: TDE (The Day Entertainment (From the bride: "TDE came highly recommended to us by a friend, and their attention-to-detail and organizational prowess shone through every step of the way. Carina and Jessica took care of all of the flowers and kept us on track for our big day. Carina went above and beyond for us by taking on the role of impromptu MC and also single-handedly set up the massive photo backdrop at our reception. Thanks Carina and Jessica!"

Photographer: Us, of course. But we had to list ourselves to brag about Ivana's compliment to us! "Red Eye Collection also came highly recommended to us--in fact, by one of the groomsmen. In his words: "Oscar is a goddamn professional." We took that testimonial to heart, booked Red Eye Collection immediately, and we're ecstatic about how the pictures came out. The photographers at Red Eye Collection were friendly, organized, and indeed, professional. Thanks Oscar and crew!"

Wedding Cakes: Sheng Kee Bakery and Yasukochi's Sweet Stop. From the bride and groom: "Sheng Kee has been a fixture throughout both of our lives, supplying our families with BBQ pork buns and moon cakes for as far back as we can remember. We ordered a small, two-tier wedding cake from them that was delicious and beautifully decorated. Yasukochi's is a more recent addition to our lives. Ivana's cousin brought one of their famous Coffee Crunch Cakes to a family barbecue last year, and we knew we had to have that for our guests."

Hair + Makeup: Adorned Co. From Ivana: "Diana, one of my bridesmaids, did my hair along with the rest of the bridesmaids'. She was a trooper for having worked that whole morning prepping the eight of us. And her business partner, Josephine, did an awesome job too--she did my makeup that lasted through the whole day with minimal touch-up."

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