I first met Kimberly and Barnett when they were guests at this San Francisco wedding. It’s been so fun to photograph this group of friends and their weddings! Two things are for sure, they all have a great sense of their style, and they absolutely know how to properly celebrate with friends and family!
The bride Kimberly is also designer, and when we first chatted, she described her vision for their wedding, along with sharing a visual mood board. When their wedding day arrived, their vision was fully realized: it was modern, with a clean design, understated, with touches of teal, and a palm tree motif. The palm tree motif was a nod to their venue, Building 39 in San Francisco’s Presidio, where you will find rows of palm trees lining the street. I love how the bride really tied in the sense of place for their wedding, which gave an incredible backdrop to their wedding day story!

The day started early with the groom taking his groomsmen on a boat ride in the SF Bay! Then the ladies began hair and make-up, all done at the bride and groom’s San Francisco home. The bride gave her family members cards and gifts. And the couple exchanged hand-written letters that they each took a moment to read. The atmosphere was relaxed, calm, and heartfelt. Everyone made sure to eat a good lunch too (from SF’s Arizmendi), which is so important on your wedding day!

In thinking over a location to have their First Look, we decided to go to the Lyon Street Steps in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. The groom waited as the bride made her way down the first section of steps. I loved this First Look with the bride’s dramatic entrance and then a sweet moment between the couple!

The couple just radiated love and kindness, and completely trusted me to document their wedding day. That trust is so important to me, as I want them to feel relaxed, and it also gives me the freedom as their photographer to be creative!

About halfway down the Lyon Street Steps is a beautiful landing with a garden that had some nice fall colors. It’s not often you can see the seasons in San Francisco, but fall is usually the best weather. Their wedding was held in October, the most popular wedding month in the Bay Area.
We seemed to have this beautiful garden all to ourselves, and I loved capturing these intimate portraits of the bride and groom before their ceremony. I really appreciate that the couple made sure that their wedding day schedule had plenty of time for these photos, and so we felt no rush as we strolled around.

I asked the bride and groom: What advice they have for other couples planning their wedding?

We recommend thoughtfully evaluating the motivations behind your decision making as a couple. Are you following a tradition because it’s something you strongly believe in and want to see show up in your wedding? Or is it something that has limited significance to either of you and you could do without?

For example, when picking out florals we weren’t sure what style of boutonniere we wanted. Then we paused, researched the history behind boutonierres and came to the conclusion that we really didn’t care for them. When we decided that no one would miss them during our ceremony, we happily put those resources towards details we really cared about, like dessert!

Let’s here it for the desserts! They were, well, phenomenal. And as the observant photographer, I somehow completely missed that none of the groomsmen were wearing boutonierres. But I DID notice the incredibe Saint Honoré cake (scroll down to see the pastries)!

What was the most memorable moment during your wedding?

Our ceremony was hands down our favorite part! We took our time in writing the ceremony script together over the course of a few weeks, which included evaluating and discussing traditions (wedding, religious and cultural). This was an incredibly valuable exercise to do together, especially before making such a significant promise to one another.

What did marriage mean for us specifically? Ultimately the more we refined our ceremony script the more we shaped who we wanted to be as a married couple, what traditions were important to us and what promises we wanted to make to each other. In the end the script felt 100% like us, nothing inauthentic or generic. To top it off, our very close friend officiated which made those words all the more meaningful. This felt like the most honest way to start the next chapter of our lives together. Another huge plus was that because we knew the script like the back of our hands and because we asked our dear friend to marry us, we felt so comfortable and relaxed at the altar. This allowed us to be fully focused in the moment and we didn’t want it to end!

Why did you select your venue?

We knew hosting all of the wedding events in one location would make for the most seamless experience for our guests and us. A space that could accommodate the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception was on the top of our minds when browsing venue options. Not only did it eliminate travel time, coordinating transportation and providing directions for out of town guests (majority of our guests weren’t based in SF) but many of our older guests really appreciated the ease of one event seamlessly flowing into the next without much walking or coordination on their part.

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, the couple had a tiered Saint Honoré cake from a Bay Area pastry company, Tarts de Feybesse. Puff pastry heaven! They also had a variety of other pastries, including apple rose tarts and eclairs, yum!

The First Dances kicked off the party, and the music was flowing from Heart of Gold’s DJ Whit.

The Presidio offers wonderful views of the Golden Gate Bridge, but also a classic San Francisco vibe.

Congratulations to the Klanes! It was an honor to photograph their San Francisco wedding and document their incredible bond, and their supportive family and friends!

Vendor Credits:
Venue: Building 39 in the Presidio
Planner: Maggie Panontin Young
Photography: Sonya Yruel
Florals: Blumen, @blumen_sf
Stationary Suite Design: Kimberly Klane
Rentals: Standard Event Rentals and AM Party Rentals
Catering: Melons Catering
Cake & Pastries: Tarts de Feybesse
DJ: Heart of Gold DJ’s, DJ Whit
Hair & Makeup: Style Bee
Photographer: Sonya Yruel
Videography: Nick Mancini

If you are planning your wedding in one of the many San Francisco Presidio venues, contact Sonya about photography. Unfortunately, Building 39 (formerly the San Francisco Film Centre) has since closed to events, but there are other great locations such as the Presidio Social Club, the Log Cabin, the Presidio Officer’s Club, the Golden Gate Club, the Presidio Golf Club, and the Presidio Chapel.