I am going to start a new series on the blog for everyone out there planning their wedding. The bay area has so many awesome locations to have your wedding at sometimes it can be hard to find that right place. Since we have been shooting weddings in the area for 11 years we have been to pretty much every venue around and know all the great locations to have your wedding at. Every Wednesday we will highlight a new venue and show some work from a recent wedding there.

For our first week I want to highlight one of my favorite places to photograph at, Villa Montalvo (now officially called Montalvo Arts Center) in Saratoga. Montalvo is a perfect location for a wedding, the stately mansion sits at the end of an expansive Italian garden and lawn area and the views around the grounds are just breathtaking. The mansion itself (built in 1912) is an amazing backdrop for a wedding, there are so many areas around this property that just inspire the artist inside me to create beautiful wedding images. And the grounds around the mansion are just as break taking, its nestled in the Saratoga hillside and common to see deer walking across the front grass as you and your guests are dining along the front veranda.

Here is a little history of Montalvo Arts Center:
Montalvo Arts Center was previously known as Villa Montalvo, a historic landmark built in 1912 by James Duval Phelan (1861-1930). Phelan, a passionate Californian who had been a three-term progressive mayor of San Francisco, went on to become California’s first popularly-elected U.S. Senator. Villa Montalvo was Senator Phelan’s favorite home and a center of artistic, political and social life in Northern California. Phelan invited leading writers and artists to Villa Montalvo to work on individual artistic projects in an environment rich in dialogue and fellowship. Jack London, Ethel Barrymore, Mary Pickford, Douglass Fairbanks, and Edwin Markham were among Phelan’s many guests.

And a little slideshow from one of our favorite weddings out at Montalvo last year:

Wedding at Villa montalvo and St. Claire Hotel from mark stagi on Vimeo.

Congrats Michael and Annmarie for a perfect wedding day from start to finish.  You guys are such a sweet couple and I can tell you will have a lifetime of awesome times ahead.  What a very spectacular day, even with the heat (it was over 100 degrees this day) you would have never know it, everyone had a great time and a huge smile on their face all day long.    We got to shoot at some of our favorite places all in one day which was just amazing, the day started out at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga where Annmarie and the girls got ready in the bridal room.  Annmarie had the most amazing veil, words can’t describe it you have to see the slideshow below.  The ceremony was at the Villa at the Oval gardens.  It was great to work with Kathleen and her crew who always put together a flawless event.  After the ceremony we had some good time with Michael and Annmarie to walk around some of the grounds at the Villa for photos and family pictures.

The reception was at the St. Claire hotel in downtown San Jose (which is where Annmaries parents were also married) and Hilary out there did a great job making sure every detail was attended to and went according to plan.

We got to shoot at some great places but the people are who always make a great wedding.  Both families were great to work with on the day and they really had the “A” team of event professionals working the day.

Here are some of the people who helped make the day great:

Wedding Coordinator:  Amazáe Special Events – Agnes

Video:  A Video Reflection – David and crew

DJ:  Los Gatos DJ – Cassie and Dan

Congrats again guys!!! Here is the slideshow:

Wedding at Villa montalvo and St. Claire Hotel from mark stagi on Vimeo.

– Mark

Michael and Annmarie had such an amazing wedding on Saturday. It was hot out but they are just 2 lovebirds and the heat didn’t even phase them! We captured so many great photos of them and got to shoot at some of our favorite locations all in the same day. The ceremony started at at the lovely Villa Montalvo in Saratoga for a morning ceremony. After that we headed over Hakone gardens for some more photos of them and ended the day at the St. Claire hotel in San Jose.

We had the A list team all day also with Amazáe Special Events coordinating and David from Video Reflections filming. More details and photos to come soon!

Here is another new wedding slideshow from a event out at Villa Montalvo (now Montalvo Arts Center).  One of our favorite places to photograph in the South Bay we have shot many weddings out at Villa Montalvo.  There are two different areas you can have your ceremony there at the Oval Garden or the Love Temple.  This wedding was at the Oval Garden with the reception in the front of the Villa.  One thing I love about shooting weddings here are that the grounds are enormous and you have so many cool things to shoot, the inside of the Villa has some great photo ops the outside there are some great architectural spots to shoot around and then you have the vast grounds that you could spend hours walking around photographing a bride and groom.  

Villa Montalvo wedding from mark stagi on Vimeo.

Check out their site at:  http://montalvoarts.org/rentals/weddings/ if you are looking for a wedding venue!

 
– Mark

P.S. For any photographers looking for great slideshows like this one, check out http://www.motionslideshow.com/

Over the past years we have photographed a lot of weddings out at Villa Montalvo (now Montalvo Arts Center). It is really a gorgeous spot to get married, such a classic and elegant spot to have a wedding. There are so many great little areas around the grounds for weddings I can shoot there over and over and always find new places to shoot at that just look amazing. Greg and Sheren were such a sweet couple and so great to work with on the day, here are just a couple of favorite shots of the day:

villa montalvo bride

villa montalvo ceremony

villa montalvo wedding photo