From Sarah, our studio owner & principal photographer – 

It all began in the mid-1800s when my great, great, great, great Uncle Jose Vincente de Laveaga emigrated from the Spanish Basque country to Mexico, establishing himself in the silver mining and banking industry. On a trip to San Francisco, he fell in love with the foggy bay and decided to make it his new home, leaving sunny Mexico behind him. 

Jose Vicente’s status in the city was of such prominence that when his only daughter came to be wed, it merited a top-fold write-up with the society section of the San Francisco Call, accompanied by this single, precious photo of the newlyweds: the bride floating down the stairs of St. Mary’s Cathedral, arm in arm with her new husband. Her liberty satin train with clouds of tulle and orange blossoms surrounded them, highlighting the couple against the faded ink of well-wishers. This was the sole photo in the society column spread, a subtle reminder of what a treasure it is to have this image at all and what painstaking care must have gone into this single snap so many years ago.

 

This photo has sat with me in building up Sarah Ellefson Photography over the past 9 years and increasingly become the reason behind our studio’s drive to capture the start of your own beautiful legacy. The joy that this one image has brought me over 100 years later is just a small fraction of the abundance of delight your own future family will receive to discover not one simple clipping in the years to come, but a full gallery of memories that pull them right into the moments of your own wedding day.

Our why is not just to spark this joy for future generations but to spark joy for you with the start of your own legacy.