When the days were warm and long, and tomatoes were at their very best…

…Jennifer and Ramsey got married.

Their love-filled event took place at the Banta Residence, in Lucas Valley, with the help of the fantastic planning duo, Green Girl Events. Their wedding was significant to me, not just because it took place on a long summer day, with a ridiculous amount of fresh heirloom tomatoes, and in a gorgeous setting, but because their love story deals with a subject that is close to my heart.

Jennifer and Ramsey have both experienced recent hardships, which have taught them the value of life and the importance of living life as much as possible before it is gone, which includes marrying the person you love most… but then came politics.

Jennifer has a sister who is a lesbian. And one day after Ramsey asked Jennifer to marry him, Jennifer’s sister lost her basic human right to marry to the person she loves because of Proposition 8, in the 2008 election.

Heartbroken for her sister, Jennifer did not feel it was fair for her to be able to get married when her sister did not have the same right. But her sister, who is also responsible for setting Jennifer up with Ramsey, gave Jennifer her blessing. And at their wedding, Jennifer’s sister delivered the most incredible toast that brought everyone to tears… including me, which made it very difficult for me to focus my camera.

But hopefully their story will help focus the attention that is needed to change this ridiculous law that prevents people from obtaining basic human rights. And hopefully someday soon everyone will have the right to experience the overwhelming love and support that you feel when you marry the one person you love most in the world… just like Jennifer and Ramsey got to feel on this warm, long day, when the tomatoes were at their very best.

One last reason why I loved photographing this wedding, was because I had the help of another awesome photographer, Jessamyn Harris, who was second-shooting for me. Because I knew I had such a great back-up photographer, who was covering the day with her digital camera, I was able to play more with film, which always makes me happy.