Melissa and Sean hail from New York by way of the Bay Area.  They came back for their wedding and couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day.  Their weddding was a day full of family (the groom’s mother married the couple), friends (old and new) and love.  The guests were stylish, the setting was gorgeous.  The bar of candy, soft and vibrant flowers, and the steel drum band showed how much fun this couple is.  Peter Bruce Photo & Video was happy to be there to capture their day.

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Old St. Hilary’s, a little history…

Wildflowers surround Old St. Hilary’s, Tiburon’s iconic hillside landmark, which was originally a mission church named for St. Hilaire, Bishop of Poitiers. The heirs of John Reed—who held title to El Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio, the Mexican land grant that included the Tiburon Peninsula—deeded the one-quarter acre site for $2 to the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which built the church as a place of worship for local railroad workers in 1888.

The building is of significant architectural importance because it is one of the few remaining Carpenter Gothic churches to survive in its original setting. It is constructed of redwood, with redwood doors and a Douglas fir ceiling. Amber glass replaced the original stained glass windows after they were broken. The stained glass window above the door has been restored and depicts St. Hilary (fourth century), patron saint of scholars. It was a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin Lyford.

The current electric lights are replicas of coal-oil chandeliers, which were lowered with ropes that brackets on the walls held in place. Heating and water are modern additions. Original furnishings include the white altar rail and two stands for statues on either side of the sanctuary, as well as the restored Stations of the Cross in the nave. A donor salvaged the cross from a church in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Most of the permanent furnishings are donations in honor of local residents. They include the concert piano and custom-made docent desk, chair and table, as well as oak pews that are reproductions of the originals. A group of local volunteers created the needlepoint pew cushions that feature local wildflowers.

The church was deconsecrated to make way for a new, larger one and was headed for destruction until several individuals intent on preserving local history established the Landmarks Society and purchased the site and building in 1959. It has served as a schoolroom and town meeting hall and is now a popular setting for weddings, concerts and other memorable events.

Landmarks Art & Garden Center a little history…

The property was part of the earliest settlement on the Tiburon Peninsula—John Reed’s Mexican Land Grant, El Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio. The Cottage (c. 1870), believed to be the oldest structure on the Tiburon Peninsula, was originally a bunkhouse for workers at the Rancho’s brick kilns in an area called the Hilarita, which was named for Hilarita Reed Lyford, heiress to the 1834 land grant. Working class homes and a dairy, which was located where Reed School is now, were part of the neighborhood as well.

When the Northwest Pacific Railroad came to Tiburon in 1884, it added a stop called Hilarita station to the tiny community. The trains served passengers and also carried bricks from the kilns to construction sites in the North Bay and to ferries for transport to San Francisco.

After the kilns stopped operating, and theo Rancho no longer needed to provide housing for workers, the Reed heirs expanded the bunkhouse and turned it into a residential cottage, which they rented to tenants. In 1944, artist William Newman and his wife Helen, an ardent conservationist, purchased the property and transformed the farmyard into a garden while preserving the historic house.

Fifty years later, Mrs. Newman bequeathed the property to the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society for use as an art center and to preserve the gardens. The society took on the task of restoring the cottage in typical farmhouse style and bringing it up to modern building codes, using rough-hewn materials from the original building as well as those of similar age.

The Newmans created the country garden and did most of the work themselves with guidance from a plan by Leland Noel, a noted landscape architect and botanist. The Landmarks Society preserved mature trees, shrubs and plants that had survived years of drought and neglect and made modifications to allow public use and accommodate current conservation practices. Master gardeners and volunteers planted the terraced acre with colorful flowerbeds and created restful vista points, and local residents contributed thousands of used bricks to complete the terraces and pathways.

The cast-iron bell at the side of the cottage was originally a fire bell for Belvedere Island, sounding the alarm to let firefighters know that their services were needed. When telephones came into vogue, operators began calling firefighters to alert them, and the bell found a new home at Belvedere School where it summoned children to class. It also chimed daily at 4 p.m. to tell children playing in the islands open spaces that it was time to go home. It now hangs from a farmyard post, and celebrants ring it to mark special occasions.

The lovely 5-foot-by-7-foot pagoda birdhouse is a Victorian garden folly that dates from the 1890s, a time when oriental objects were fashionable, and was a fixture in the garden at 207 Beach Road, Belvedere, for many years. Mindful of its history, the owners donated it to the Landmarks Society for preservation in the Art & Garden Center.

We hope you enjoyed these photos and a little history. Please let us know

Best Peter Bruce Photo & Video

Peter Bruce Photo & Video was lucky enough to shoot a wedding at the wonderful Fairmont Hotel for Christine & Tony. What a fun couple and a great wedding. The Fairmont is such a great place for a wedding and this fun couple and beautiful bride had the best of the best in the Presidential Penthouse suite. Here is a litlle history of the Fairmont Hotel.

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In the beginning, the earth shook… The Fairmont San Francisco hotel was not yet open, but the massive structure was already completed, and the interior furnishings had been delivered and were awaiting their various places in this Palace on Nob Hill. The hotel had just been sold on April 6th, less than two weeks before the conflagration that was to all but level the City. The story however, goes back earlier than that. Tessie and Virginia Fair were the daughters of James Graham Fair, one of San Francisco’s wealthiest citizens. ‘Bonanza Jim’ had struck it rich in a Nevada Silver mine, and his daughters were determined to construct a grand monument to their father, who had passed away in 1894. In 1902, construction began on The Fairmont Hotel, but by 1906, it had become too much of a burden for the Fair sisters, and they sold it to the Law brothers, Herbert and Hartland, in exchange for two existing office buildings at Mission and New Montgomery streets. How could anyone know that the ‘great San Francisco fire,’ as locals referred to the disaster of the earthquake and what followed, was just days away.

The ’swells’ of San Francisco rested in their beds, dreaming of Carmen from their previous night at the Opera, where Enrico Caruso had held an overflow crowd spellbound, and the party that followed had lasted into the wee hours. Suddenly, at 5:12 AM, a shot like a cannon resounded through the City, and three foot waves rolled through the landfill that was downtown, while church bells rang cacophonously all at the same time, tolling a din that would be remembered forever. And what of The Fairmont? Remarkably, it still stood, looking relatively unharmed although there was some structural damage to the interior. Photographs taken at the time show The Fairmont standing proud, Parthenon-like at the top of the hill, whilst all around there was devastation and rubble. But the fires, which burnt uncontrollably, finally reached top of Nob Hill twenty-four hours after the earthquake, taking down mansion after mansion as if by appointment. Hopkins, Stanford, Huntington, and finally Crocker all became unwilling victims of the fire. It was 5:31 AM when The Fairmont’s windows first began to crack from the heat. Writer Gertrude Atherton was crossing the Bay at the time and notes, ‘I forgot the doomed city as I gazed at The Fairmont, a tremendous volume of white smoke pouring from the roof, every window a shimmering sheet of gold; not a flame, nor a spark shot forth. The Fairmont will never be as demonic in its beauty again.’

Herbert and Hartland Law took the burden of social responsibility seriously, and went ahead with plans to repair, redecorate and where necessary restore. Their original choice for a new architect was Stanford White, the prominent New Yorker. Within weeks however, Mr. White met his demise while dining at Madison Square Garden, when multimillionaire Harry K. Thaw shot and mortally wounded him. The Law brothers, undeterred, continued along, this time with an electrifying choice: Julia Morgan, the first woman graduate of the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris who was just starting out, and would later rise to be known as the nation’s preeminent female architect. Diminutive, with her hair pinned tightly to her head, she nevertheless did a magnificent job overseeing every aspect of the job, often climbing up on ladders to inspect the work of her contractors. She was not above dressing down a worker twice her size if his work did not conform to her strict standards.

Time,as they say, is a gentleman. Exactly a year after the earthquake, a grand banquet celebrating the opening was held at The Fairmont, with 600 pounds of turtle, 13,000 oysters and $5,000 worth of California and French wines. At precisely 9:00 PM, fireworks began, illuminating the beautiful new Fairmont, the thousand ships at anchor in the Bay, City Hall and all the buildings that had risen up, phoenix-like, in defiance of nature’s wrath. San Francisco was alive and well, and would thrive again.

When Ned Greenway moved his debutante parties up to The Fairmont, it quickly became the social hub of the City. Wealthy families, displaced by the earthquake, took up residence, some for many years. Meanwhile, the Law brothers had signed a ten year deal for the Palace Hotel company to manage The Fairmont. Not too many months later, a familiar figure came back to town on a mystery mission. It was Tessie (Fair) Oelrichs, who returned to her beloved City after her husband passed away whilst on a transatlantic steamer. By May of 1908, she was once again the owner and hostess par excellence of San Francisco’s most famous hostelry. She welcomed Teddy Roosevelt, President Taft, and even Rudolph Valentino. By 1917, D.M. Linnard took over the management, and in 1924, bought the controlling interest from the Oelrichs family. Linnard had a chain of hotels in California. In 1929, he sold the Fairmont to George Smith, a mining engineer, who had just completed the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Smith undertook a major renovation, including adding an indoor pool, the ‘Fairmont Plunge.’

Like Tessie Oelrichs, D.M. Linnard could not stay away from the lure of The Fairmont. In 1941, he repurchased the hotel, which by now had entered an era of ‘benign neglect,’ victim of the depression and its own lethargy, with a clientele of mostly permanent residents, who blended in among the potted palms, adding to the general gloom and mustiness.

But once again, The Fairmont ‘rose from the ashes.’ The occasion was the end of World War II, and the catalyst which transformed her was two-fold: the International Conference which led to the birth of the United Nation, and the purchase of the hotel by Benjamin Swig. Ben Swig was an East Coast businessman who, ‘had a knack for seeing a good thing and turning it around,’ according to Richard Swig, his son, who later became President of The Fairmont Hotel Company. Ben Swig knew that the interior of the hotel badly needed a facelift, and so he engaged Dorothy Draper, the most famous decorator of the time, to transform the lobby and the public areas. Mrs. Draper, fresh from her remarkable redo of The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, came up with quite a different vision for The Fairmont. She visualized the hotel as an enlarged copy of a Grand Venetian Palace, but at the same time she wished to capture the charm and ‘Romance’ of San Francisco. Her goal was to restore The Fairmont to its position as the center jewel in the crown of the Golden Age of San Francisco. With this in mind, she introduced new design innovations unheard of until then…black and red carpets, wild geranium and strawberry colors, gold and black lacquer…all replicating a certain ‘rakish’ charm and flamboyant atmosphere, synonymous with the California Gold Rush. The result was magic, and Kings, Queens, Presidents and all who visited were entranced by their surroundings. To the American public, starved from new things for too long during the war, it was exactly what they craved. The ‘Draper touch’ was a smashing success, and The Fairmont was once again the place to see and be seen. Meanwhile, The Fairmont had made news with its role as the venue for the meetings of the United Nations. Once again, history was being made in a big way. To this day, the plaque commemorating the drafting of the Charter for the United Nations can be seen outside the Garden Room on the lobby level while the country flags of the original signatories fly proudly above the porte cochere.

Dorothy Draper also added her ‘Draper Touch’ to the Venetian Room. Its grand reopening took place in 1947 as San Francisco’s premier Supper Club. The Venetian Room went on through the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies and even into the eighties, thanks to Richard Swig’s insistence on having a place where hotel guests, as well as locals, could dine and dance while enjoying big name entertainment. And what names they were too: Ella Fitzgerald, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Marlene Dietrich, Joel Grey, Bobby Short, Vic Damone, James Brown, and many, many more. Ernie Hecksher and his orchestra came for a limited engagement, and never left, becoming the official band for the Venetian Room. The Venetian Room is most famous as the place in which Tony Bennett first sang ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco.’

Not long after the Swig purchase, people going to take a dip in the ‘Fairmont Plunge’ were startled to find themselves aboard the ‘S.S. Tonga,’ which provided a ’ship-shape’ atmosphere, along with exotic drinks accompanied by Chinese food. Not satisfied with that, the S.S. Tonga went into dry-dock, replaced by the Tonga Room, with its musical boat in the middle of the pool, tiki huts under which patrons can enjoy a refreshing Mai-Tai, and an exotic menu reflecting the South Sea & Asian ambiance. A gleaming dance floor provides space for guests to dance; little do they realize that it was originally the deck of the S.S. Forrester, one of the last of the tall ships that plied the route between San Francisco and the South Sea Islands.

Another exciting room in the Fairmont was the Cirque Room, which was the first bar to open in San Francisco following prohibition. It was decorated by architect Tim Pflueger in a beautiful Art Deco style with an incredible bar, and murals by the celebrated Bruton sisters. Before the Venetian Room was opened, the Cirque was the place to go for entertainment in the City.

And what of the fabled Penthouse-The Fairmont’s most exclusive (and at $12,500 per night its most expensive) accommodation. It was constructed in 1926 as a residence for John S. Drum, President of the American Trust Company. Drum designed and constructed the residence, and the interior was decorated by Arthur Upham Pope, a noted Professor at UC Berkeley, who was an expert on Persian Art. This Persian influence reached its height in the game room, with its Arabian nights décor and arched doorways and windows. The two story library with its rotunda depicting the constellations of the nighttime sky and ‘map room’ bedroom were decorated by artist Robert Boardman Howard, and alone are worth a visit.

The Penthouse was later to become home to another VIP, Benjamin Swig. As in the novel ‘Hotel’ by Arthur Hailey (which was later to become a TV series filmed at The Fairmont), Mr. Swig resided in his aerie high above Nob Hill, with a birds eye view of his beloved ‘City by the Bay.’ Although in his later years he lived alone, he was not a lonely man, for his roomy Penthouse was often home to guests from all walks of life. Chief Justice Earl Warren, Governor Pat Brown and General Omar Bradley were but a few of the luminaries who shared Ben Swig’s hospitality. The Penthouse was truly a home, as well as a home away from home. When Ben Swig passed away, the Penthouse was used as a luxury accommodation, and served as home to Presidents, Heads of State, celebrities and other dignitaries. The Penthouse is still available for rent, and can be booked by contacting the Executive office of the hotel.

In November of 1961 another section of The Fairmont was opened; the 23 story Tower, designed by Mario Gaidano, San Francisco’s first glass elevator carries people to the Crown Room at the top of the tower, with San Francisco’s most beautiful view. The Fair sisters would have definitely approved. Richard Swig supervised every phase of construction, making sure that the quality of craftsmanship be up to Fairmont standards.

As the San Francisco residence for every U.S. president since William Howard Taft, The Fairmont garnered a reputation for world-class hospitality. As the Fairmont’s reputation grew, so did its collection of grand hotels bearing its name. In 1999, Fairmont Hotels merged with Canadian Pacific Hotels to form Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, the largest operator of luxury hotels and resorts in North America.

As the company’s flagship property, The Fairmont San Francisco at Nob Hill once again made history when it greeted the 21st century with an award-winning $80 million restoration.

In about May of 1999, legions of craftsmen checked into the San Francisco landmark to recreate architect Julia Morgan’s vision for the 1907 hotel. Comparing the project to an archeological dig, the restoration team uncovered original marble floors, ornate domes and intricate design work throughout the historic hotel.

‘While we have preserved our turn-of-the-century charm, we have embraced the 21st century by providing today’s most wanted amenities, including a health spa and a business center as well as high-speed internet access in all meeting and guest rooms,’ comments Regional Vice President and General Manager Mark S. Huntley.

Highlighting the restoration is the re-emergence of the Main Lobby as a grand public space. Dorothy Draper’s heady design of 1945 has been stripped away to reveal pristine marble floors and Corinthian columns trimmed in gold.

After more than six decades of closure, The Laurel Court has been restored to its original design and once again functions as the hotel’s main dining room and bar. Crowned by three domes, The Laurel Court serves breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner on the hotel’s lobby level.

In addition to the restoration of public spaces, the hotel’s 590 guest rooms and suites, including the famed Penthouse Suite, have been luxuriously refurbished. Marble baths and picture windows are complemented by business amenities such as two-line telephone systems and high-speed Internet access in every guestroom.

I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know,your feed back is nice.

Also Dad, give the kids more than 6 cherry’s…

Cheers Peter Bruce Photo & Video and team bELLE

What a fun wedding Lisa & Jeff, who I had never meet booked me to shoot there wedding at B R Cohn,what a great place.

Located in the heart of the beautiful and historic Sonoma Valley, B.R. Cohn Winery is nestled between the Mayacamas and Sonoma Mountains. Our 90-acre B.R. Cohn Winery offers a romantic atmosphere for a wedding. The stunning surroundings are ideal for a wedding.

It turned out to be one off the best weddings of the year for me, a fun couple great family and a cute bride, how could you go wrong. Along with father Gerry joining them is always nice. Chelsea doing great flowers from bELLE fine flowers. The food and wine was great. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Please let me know

Cheers  Peter Bruce Photo & team bELLE

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Julie & Juan at the Westin St Francis on Union Square…

Here are some questions that you the bride should be asking your photographer and things that your wedding photographer should consider. At Peter Bruce Photo & team bELLE we always try to keep these basic in mind at every wedding.

1… Create a photo ‘Shot List’

Get the couple to think ahead about the shots that they’d like you to capture on the day and compile a list so that you can check them off. This is particularly helpful in the family shots. There’s nothing worse than getting the photos back and realizing you didn’t photograph the happy couple with grandma!

2… Ger aFamily Photo Coordinator

I find the family photo part of the day can be quite stressful. People are going everywhere, you’re unaware of the different family dynamics at play and people are in a ‘festive spirit’ (and have often been drinking a few spirits) to the point where it can be quite chaotic. Get the couple to nominate a family member (or one for each side of the family) who can be the ‘director’ of the shoot. They can round everyone up, help get them in the shot and keep things moving so that the couple can get back to the party.

3… Scout out the Locations

Visit the locations of the different places that you’ll be shooting before the big day. While I’m sure most Pros don’t do this – I find it really helpful to know where we’re going, have an idea of a few positions for shots and to know how the light might come into play. On one or two weddings I even visited locations with the couples and took a few test shots (these made nice ‘engagement photos’).

4… Preparation is key,be a good boy/girl scot

So much can go wrong on the day – so you need to be well prepared. Have a backup plan (in case of bad weather), have batteries charged, memory cards blank, think about routes and time to get to places and get an itinerary of the full day so you know what’s happening next. If you can, attend the rehearsal of the ceremony where you’ll gather a lot of great information about possible positions to shoot from, the lighting, the order of the ceremony etc

5… Set expectations with the  bridal Couple

Show them your work/style. Find out what they are wanting to achieve, how many shots they want, what key things they want to be recorded, how the shots will be used (print etc). If you’re charging them for the event, make sure you have the agreement of price in place up front.

6… Turn  the sound off on your camera

Beeps during speeches, the kiss and vows don’t add to the event. Switch off sound before hand and keep it off.

7… Shoot the small details, yes the small stuff

Photograph rings, backs of dresses, shoes, flowers, table settings, menus etc – these help give the end album an extra dimension. Flick through a wedding magazine in a news stand for a little inspiration.

8… Use Two Cameras & have back ups

Beg, borrow, hire or steal an extra camera for the day - set it up with a different lens. I try to shoot with one wide angle lens (great for candid shots and in tight spaces (particularly before the ceremony in the preparation stage of the day) and one longer lens (it can be handy to have something as large as 200mm if you can get your hands on one – I use a 70-200mm).

9… Consider a Second Photographer,but you are the main guy

Having a second backup photographer can be a great strategy. It means less moving around during ceremony and speeches, allows for one to capture the formal shots and the other to get candid shots. It also takes a little pressure off you being ‘the one’ to have to get every shot!

10… Be Bold but Not Obtrusive,how would you like to be treated

Timidity won’t get you ‘the shot’ - sometimes you need to be bold to capture a moment. However timing is everything and thinking ahead to get in the right position for key moments are important so as not to disrupt the event. In a ceremony I try to move around at least 4-5 times but try to time this to coincide with songs, sermons or longer readings. During the formal shots be bold, know what you want and ask for it from the couple and their party. You’re driving the show at this point of the day and need to keep things moving.

11… Learn how to Use Diffused soft Light

The ability to bounce a flash or to diffuse it is key. You’ll find that in many churches that light is very low. If you’re allowed to use a flash (and some churches don’t allow it) think about whether bouncing the flash will work (remember if you bounce off a colored surface it will add a colored cast to the picture) or whether you might want to buy a flash diffuser to soften the light. If you can’t use a flash you’ll need to either use a fast lens at wide apertures and/or bump up the ISO. A lens with image stabilization might also help.

12…  If you can’t shoot film then Shoot in RAW

I know that many readers feel that they don’t have the time for shooting in RAW (due to extra processing) but a wedding is one time that it can be particularly useful as it gives so much more flexibility to manipulate shots after taking them. Weddings can present photographers with tricky lighting which result in the need to manipulate exposure and white balance after the fact – RAW will help with this considerably.

13… Display Your Shots at the Reception

One of the great things about digital photography is the immediacy of it as a medium. One of the fun things I’ve seen more and more photographers doing recently is taking a computer to the reception, uploading shots taken earlier in the day and letting them rotate as a slideshow during the evening. This adds a fun element to the night.

14… Consider Your Backgrounds

One of the challenges of weddings is that there are often people going everywhere – including the backgrounds of your shots. Particularly with the formal shots scope out the area where they’ll be taken ahead of time looking for good backgrounds. Ideally you’ll be wanting uncluttered areas and shaded spots out of direct sunlight where there’s unlikely to be a wandering great aunt wander into the back of the shot.

15… Don’t throw away  Your ‘Mistakes’

The temptation with digital is to check images as you go and to delete those that don’t work immediately. The problem with this is that you might just be getting rid of some of the more interesting and useable images. Keep in mind that images can be cropped or manipulated later to give you some more arty/abstract looking shots that can add real interest to the end album.

16… Change Your Perspective and angles

Get a little creative with your shots. While the majority of the images in the end album will probably be fairly ‘normal’ or formal poses – make sure you mix things up a little by taking shots from high and low.

17…. Group Shots

One thing that I’ve done at every wedding that I’ve photographed is attempt to photograph everyone who is in attendance in the one shot. The way I’ve done this is to arrange for a place that I can get up high above everyone straight after the ceremony. This might mean getting tall ladder, using a balcony or even climbing on a roof. The beauty of getting up high is that you get everyone’s face in it and can fit a lot of people in the one shot. The key is to be able to get everyone to the place you want them to stand quickly and to be ready to get the shot without having everyone stand around for too long. I found the best way to get everyone to the spot is to get the bride and groom there and to have a couple of helpers to herd everyone in that direction.