Happy New Year everybody!

I am so sorry, but we have been so busy. It's not easy juggling a full time job, and trying to run and manage Weddings 9-1-1 AND The YStudio Photography business, but boy are we blessed and grateful! We just finished the last wedding of 2009 this past week, and now we can take a deep breath!!!

We would like to thank all of the happy beautiful couples that made this year a success for us, we look forward to keeping in touch with them all and we look forward to news of new babies arriving...wink wink....

Congratulations to all of our couples of 2009:

Christopher & Jacqueline Bucini, Duke & Michelle Pahulu, Kenneth & Natalie Jamaca, Alfredo & Jacqueline Chavez, Robert & Raquel Rothenbeuscher, Jose & Lucia Vega, Michael & Theresa Burk, Nick & Elisha Cortez, Chris & Amanda Dunne, and John & Amber Schultz! You were ALL a blast to work with!

We would also like to thank all of our clients this year for other celebrations we captured:

Teresa Reynolds, Make-up Artist, Wells Fargo Bank, NA., The Richmond/El Cerrito Fire Department, Merry Jones, Emani Lewis, Safia Umar, Anabel Gomes, The Valley View Bible Church, Michael Esterline, The Jenny Brady Family, Susan Frazier, The Manaleo Organization and Napa Aloha Festival, The Rouse Family, Alyssa Martinez & Carla Mock-Ketcham, Annette Cueto, Maricel Quiroz (Go BIG Network), Kate & Brian, Michelle & Eric, David M'ore, Joy Evangelista Family, Shelly and Danielle Hodges, and the Rosales Family.

We would also like to take this time to thank Gerry, our Photography Associate, for assisting us this year with GREAT imagery AND our new LOGO! We LOVE IT! A special heartfelt thanks also goes to Angelo Cervantes, my son, who is the World's Greatest Lighting Assistant! Juliana Alvarez-Thumas for also being a great assistant! We are so blessed, and you all are very special to us! And to my darling and loving and extremely helpful husband, Wayne, you are "mi piedra", and I love you por vida!

We look forward to a BRIGHT successful 2010! Enjoy the slide show (Scroll down to the bottom), from all of our shoots this year!

"Something about MARY!"

We are so excited we could hardly stand it! I received a call last week from Theresa Reynolds, one of our friends whose daughter we photographed along with a few other runway models, in our FIRST Trash the Prom Dress photo shoot. We're happy to report that Mary, the beautiful blond you see here, has just signed with The Ford Modeling Agency! Great news for all of us since mom told me YStudio Photography were her favorite photos!

We'll have to keep you posted once we have another shoot, because, as you can see, there is SOMETHING SPECIAL about Mary!

Congratulations Mary and a special hug goes out to Theresa for all of her hard work, dedication and for being one of the Bay Area's Best Makeup, Airbrush, and Hair Artists! Visit Theresa's site here: http://teresa-reynolds.com/

Stay tuned everybody! It IS going to get better......

The 2nd Annual Napa Aloha Festival

We would like to send the maximum amount of ALOHA possible to the Manaleo Hawaiian Cultural Foundation, Inc., who chose us to be this years official photographers for this fabulous event! Visit the organization here: http://www.manaleohcf.org/aloha%20festval.htm

The 2nd Annual Napa Aloha Festival event took place Saturday, September 19th at the Napa Valley Fairgrounds in Napa, California. We rose and shined early and arrived at the festival early and we were welcomed with loving hugs and ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOha! Plenty of vendors, volunteers, and performers! This years Special Guest, direct from Hawaii...Cyril Pahinui, see why so many patrons came to the festival.....we were blessed! Check out Cyril's page here http://www.cyrilpahinui.com/

If you look to the RIGHT of this page you will see our slideshow from some of our favorite shots from the festival. The staff was delighted with our work and have called us again for future events, one right around the corner, in October. We are blessed, see why........Mahalo and aloha!

Barbara & Wayne...... and please visit our NEW site at: http://ystudiophotography.com

Congratulations to Jacqueline & Alfredo!

We would like to extend a heartfelt congrats and shout out to our latest happy couple Jacqueline & Alfredo. Jacqueline, also of Cuban descent married Alfredo of Nicaraguan and Moroccan descent and had a HELLUVA celebration. Their ceremony was held at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church, where Alfredo attended school as a child, and their reception and celebration was held at the Pacifica Beach Resort. Family flew in from Miami, Florida, Los Angeles, and other parts of the state to join in on this much awaited and fabulous wedding. John Calloway and his Latin Ensemble performed throughout the night and it could not have been more perfect, the bride and groom's first dance was to the song "Como Fue", and old traditional Latin standard chosen by the couple for their first dance.....and the song you hear on this post. The song made famous by great Cuban singer, Benny Moré. Cheers to the happy couple!!!

Congratulations to our son Angelo - Class of 2009!

I will never forget the visit I had to my doctor's office when she told me "yes in fact, you are pregnant!" The first thing I said was "it's a boy doctor!" She said she could not answer that and I had to remind her that I wasn't asking, I was telling her, "I just know it's a boy!"

I also remember having vivid dreams and seeing my little Angelo. The day he was born, August 10, 1990, and I saw him for the first time, he was exactly as I had imagined! Lots of hair, almost Asian looking and GORGEOUS! Angelo weighed a whopping 10.5 lbs and he was about 21 inches long! Although a c-section baby, thank GOD, he was the BEST thing that could have ever happened to me and my entire family! We are all so blessed that Angelo (which means first angel in Greek and angel in Spanish), was the next best thing to having God right at my side. Never have I forgotten that children do not really belong to us, they are created for us and we are here to nurture, teach and care for them with great love and care.

Another vivid memory is myself talking to a group of girlfriends and telling them how this experience of motherhood has finally revealed that I could be IN LOVE, and that I was FINALLY in LOVE, and yes with motherhood, but more so, with my son, Angelo. We are very proud of his achievements and congratulate him as he embarks to the City College of Berkeley, Ca.....hat's off to the grad and to the BEST kid a mom could ever dream of!


PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW THE ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL YEAR'S SHOOT! ENJOY!

Natalie & Kenneth - A "MATCH" made on Match.com!

When I first got the email from Kenneth that Weddings 9-1-1 was among their 3 choices for wedding photographers, I was ecstatic. We immediately arranged a meeting I was excited and anxious to meet the bride and groom-to-be as well as introducing Weddings 9-1-1's photography services.

I had no idea that after a nice conversation and presentation that the couple would make their decision on the spot, but, THEY DID!! Wow!! I can still remember Natalie, closing the sample wedding album I demonstrated and said "we've already made our decision, we want YOU to shoot our wedding!" I was humbled, to say the least.

We met with the couple a few months later and shot Natalie & Ken's Engagement Session, and wow, what a photogenic, fun and fabulous couple they were....read more on their E-session (scroll down). After the e-session, we were counting down the days before we would see them again, this time, Natalie would be in her bridal gown and Kenneth in a tux.

Their wedding day finally arrived, and the rest, well, we will leave it to you to see why we think this couple is blessed in so many ways! Congratulations to a couple who is not only generous in love, spirit and excitement, but they are truly a unique pair indeed! Major kudos to match.com, love arrives no matter how it's the "when" that matters.

Safia's Bridal Mendhi Party

We are so happy to share with you, our FIRST Bridal Mendhi Celebration, as you can see by some of my favorite shots, it is a culturally rich and beautiful part of the traditional Indian Weddings.... The wedding lasted three whole days and evenings and last night was the final reception. The reception took place at the Unity Center in Novato, California, it was a lovely venue with a lavish garden and lovely photo opportunities. Please stay tuned, we will be sharing more of this beautiful celebration. We congratulate the newlyweds and their families and we at Weddings 9-1-1 wish them a multitude of lifelong health, happiness and prosperity! A la sature!