Kajal and Spencer's wedding had a unique blend of traditions stemming from their multi cultural background, and within said traditions were their unique versions of them.  Have a look at Kajal's beautiful henna hand art lit by natural light, really look at it, there's a cartoon dinosaur placed into the design!  THIS is one of the reason why I enjoyed photographing this particular wedding.

The morning preparations began at the beautiful Claremont Hotel in Berkeley.  After taking detail pictures of Kajal's dress and heels I asked her bridesmaids to place jewelry on the bride to be.  This is when I started to get to know this particular group, listening to their funny comments during the formal photo session was priceless.  I learned that Kajal is easy going and one who is in the moment in regards to making this day special because of the attending guests, and not because of a long list of must have bridal photos, she actually joked around during the semi formal photo session.  The camera's natural attention came into play at this point and I believe this bride felt the spotlight shining on her, either way you look at it; it was a fun experience for me as their photographer.

I did my due diligence and gave Spencer and his bride options of where they can pose for formal portraits inside and out of the Claremont, we decided to keep it simple and shoot in front of the wine cellar in the lobby.

..and a bridal party photo just down the hallway before Ubering to the ceremony, YES they called an Uber, how relaxed is that!

We arrived at the Brazilian Room and were greeted by guests waving their personal hand fans which helped them beat the heat, it was a warm day in the Berkeley hills.

Here is a great pose during the first kiss, the dip is classic.

Kajal and Spencer almost forgoed their formal post ceremony portraits in the Botanic Garden to be with their friends during cocktail hour, but Spencer's dad talked them out of skipping it.  With an understanding of keeping the formal shoot minimal so the newlyweds can go back to socializing and having a good time I posed them in three close by locations.

This is where the fun began, the couple made light of such a "serious" wedding formal shoot and instead gave me a comedic series of poses. 

Christian and his team at Culinary Excellence created a beautiful atmosphere with their floral arrangements, food and decor. 

Spencer's father had one of the funniest wedding speeches I have ever heard.

As the evening began guests trickled outside onto the patio to enjoyed the warm weather.

There was an evening dance performance choreographed to Indian pop music!

and light hearted fun at the cake table...

and my favorite part of the day, the evening portrait...