I love when I get to spend time with my couples on multiple occasions. It’s so gratifying to get to know their dynamic, to see their story unfold. I first met Z+C for their engagement session at Lands End in San Francisco, followed by their intimate backyard nikah ceremony, and finally at their wedding reception at MoHi Ranch.
At Lands End we explored the cypress trees, then made our way down to the ocean and the Sutro Baths ruins. It was a cold, moody early autumn afternoon and the atmosphere was effortlessly cinematic.
Next, a few months later, they hosted two wedding ceremonies over the course of a weekend honoring their respective religions. They chose to have coverage of the Muslim nikah ceremony in Z’s parent’s backyard, and opted not to photograph the Catholic mass the following day. Both of these services were intimate, with only their closest family members attending.
Finally in the spring of 2025, we met again at Z’s family home and made our way to MoHi Ranch in Morgan Hill for their celebration with friends and even more family.
In a post pandemic world, I've noticed that couples are celebrating in less traditional ways (hosting everything at once), often opting for smaller legal weddings and larger parties. I thought it would be interesting to gain their perspective about how their wedding unfolded.
In their own words:
The vision for the wedding came together pretty quickly after we got engaged - we both wanted an intimate ceremony weekend with our close family followed by a larger reception where we’d be able to celebrate with a wider group of family and friends. This allowed us to strike the balance we were hoping for. It was really important to both of us to have both of our backgrounds and cultures represented as we became a married couple so we were really intentional about weaving both together to arrive at events which would resonate with all of our family and friends. For the ceremony in particular it was really meaningful to have it in Z’s parent’s garden that her dad has poured a lot of time and care into over the years. It was a beautiful, cozy, intimate and magical weekend. And then the reception weekend was high energy and fun – all of our friends and family showed up for us from across the country and we were overwhelmed with gratitude seeing all of our favorite people together on an (unusually) warm weekend in the bay area. It was really nice that we were already married by the time the reception came around because it took a lot of the pressure off and we were able to spend a lot more time with all of our guests!
Everything turned out better than we could have ever imagined! We were so happy that we were able to have our wedding exactly as we had envisioned it. Having our ceremonies and receptions on separate weekends allowed us to be really intentional about each and ensure we had the space to celebrate both. We are generally private people so having the ceremony be really small felt much more like “us”. But since we didn’t want to give up celebrating with all of our friends and extended family, it felt like the perfect solution to have a bigger reception later on. It was so amazing to be able to celebrate with all of our family and friends in a way that allowed everyone to participate fully and allowed us to spend much more time with people individually throughout the celebrations! It did create a bit of additional planning overhead (sometimes almost felt like planning two separate weddings!) but that was a tradeoff we were willing to make, plus after planning one it made it easier to plan the second one!
Vendor credits:
Nikah
Bride and groom’s outfits - handmade by a tailor in Pakistan
Hair and makeup - Styles by Ann
Officiant - Summer Albayati
Catering - Karimi Indian and Pakistan Cuisine, San Jose
Cake - The Sweet Spot by HM
Reception
Bride’s outfit - Zainab Salman
Groom’s outfit - Menguin Tuxedos
Bride’s hair and makeup - Beauty by Chau Nguyen
Catering - Tandoori Flames, Morgan Hill
DJ - Richard Diaz of iMobileDJs
