DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!! The winner of our Favorite Bridal Party Pic EVER, with almost half of the over 200 votes cast is… Annie and Kwesi. Congratulations! Serious FUN!

Being in Synagogues always fills me with sentiment. I’m Jewish and didn’t grow up in a Jewish household. The two homes that informed my Judaism were Camp Tawonga, where I discovered the joy in being fully self expressed and skinny dipping in mountain river AND Temple Emanu-El, where I first discovered the joy of being part of a cultural steeped in centuries of tradition. I felt like I was part of a lineage for the first time.

One of my favorite traditions of the Jewish Tradition is the opportunity for young teens (13 for boys and 12 for girls) to go through a formal Rite of Passage into adulthood. Not only is it an opportunity to have a huge rockin’ party, it is also an opportunity for these young people to stand up in front of their community and share a part of themselves. I can’t imagine going through the process without having to face some fears and growing into a maturer version of yourself

This past weekend, we had the privilege of capturing Ezra Burk on the morning of his Bar Mitzvah at Temple Sinai in Oakland and in his letting loose with friends and family late into the night at Montclair Women’s Cultural Center. SO awesome working with this family. ENJOY!

I feel like this most of the time with my clients, just like the song – “We are family”. Don’t get me wrong. I have an AWESOME family – mom, dad, step-mom, siblings (half, step and in law), nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles. They all inspire great feeling of love and joy in me.

And it is the same feelings of love and joy that are inspired in me in relation to my clients. In many cases, I spend a year getting to know them, learn about their families, capture the experience of their BEST DAY EVER, work with them a bit after and then we are distantly lovingly connected. However, in some cases, I get to continue to capture the experience of their lives and that is what I want to share about today. About Family. About the product of the Love that brought you together in marriage to begin with.

How better to illustrate the experience then with a few before and afters. In this case I think you’ll find the “befores” look just as beautiful, radiant and full of love as the “afters”. Enjoy!

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how often I have the thought “This person is brilliant, I’m so inspired” followed quickly by the thought “OMG, these are my friends, I’m so lucky!”

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to many brilliant minds for my success in this world and to a few in particular when it comes to my business. You probably don’t know this but in August of 2010 I sat down with Bryan Franklin, a relatively new friend at the time and a successful executive coach. He had experienced me in action at a wedding, recognized my potential for greatness and wanted to contribute to my success. In our lunch I revealed that I was ready to drop the photography thing <insert utter embarrassment here> and do something different like teach yoga full time (my second passion and purpose in life) or something else that wouldn’t be “so hard”.

Bryan, as he is want to do, didn’t let me off easy – he reflected back that I was never going to find the experience of success I wanted if I didn’t commit and I could choose to commit fully to my business or commit to stop now, walk away and find plan B. In the days that followed I realized that the career I had built was not an accident but was born out of my skill as a photographer, my genius in seeing people as extraordinary and my belief that love is the greatest experience we can have as human beings. I committed to Wendy K Yalom Photography and spent the year transforming not only our look and brand but my whole relationship to loving what I do. If I have had the pleasure of working with you, you probably know that capturing people in life and in love brings me total joy and it was through Bryan Franklin and Jennifer Russell’s program Ascended Masters that I was able to discover that joy in all aspects of my business from the marketing to the sales to this moment here sitting at my desk writing this blog post. How I do this one thing is how I do everything. With joy, with appreciation, in service to love and growth and truth.

This past weekend, Jennifer & Bryan launched their 2012 Program. I’m at a loss as to how to describe the experience. Terms like Awe, Brilliance, Contribution and Gratitude fall short. From here, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Spending a day and evening at The City Club of San Francisco is like taking a mini-vacation from the sleek, exciting and fast-paced textures of modern San Francisco living and discovering yourself in the softly paced and exquisitely considered beauty of Art-deco opulent San Francisco. From the epic chrome ballisters ascending to the 11th floor to the sweeping Diego Rivera mural (his first in the US) to the dramatic tin pounded ceilings, there is not a detail that leaves us short of “WOW!”

As a recommended vendor at The City Club, We have had the priviledge and pleasure of capturing several monumentally fun, elegant and joyful events at The City Club and are always impressed with how effortlessly the event team led by Michelle Huie Kimmins run the whole event with total grace and ease.

Michelle has successfully supported countless happy couples in having the Best Possible Wedding Day Experience so we thought she would be the perfect person to get a special tip from here is what she told us ‘ Your wedding day will go by so quickly, take time to step back and embrace the celebration sometime throughout the day, remember what brought you together in the first place and ENJOY it.’

Now it is your turn to ENJOY two gorgeous City Club Weddings. ENJOY!