Looking for an up and coming photographer in San Diego who is fun and artistic and available on Dec. 5 to photograph our wedding reception (reception only). We're looking for something in a reasonable budget. The event is taking place downtown and will need someone for at least six hours.
Hi! My fiancé and I just moved to Rockridge/College Ave area from the Mission. We're still getting to know the area.
I'm starting a new job and have a choice of the following health care plans:
We're hoping to try/start a family in 2027. I would love to hear experiences anyone had with labor, delivery, prenatal care, OB's in this area. I lived in SF many years and had a sampling of different providers in the city. I used and loved UCSF. I used and was okay with Kaiser. I also used Sutter on Cesar Chavez and it was not great.
What are the good hospitals, clinics, providers here? Would love any tips or recs!
Thank you!
We've narrowed it down to two photographers who we love and vibe with and have beautiful galleries. They are both artists who make incredible images. I constantly hear brides griping about their galleries and not liking how they look and I am incredibly torn between the two.
Anything you didn't but wish you had considered when making your selection? It's such a big investment and I can totally picture myself being someone who hates how I look in 90 percent of pictures.
If it helps, one of them is male, he has a hip quirky energy, his galleries all really highlight the personalities of the couples and the energy of the wedding party. But there's some where the bride's foreheads are shiny or they are candids of the bride laughing or contorting her face where I imagine they are not thrilled. The other is female, and her photos are not as artistic and high energy but the brides look really airbrushed, soft, romantic, their dresses are perfectly placed, and I feel she would make sure I look really good, but not necessarily capture and tell the story of the whole day in the way he would.
We've searched high and low and are paying $10k and don't want to pay more. These are all published good photographers. Each seems to have some strengths and weaknesses. Would love to know how you all chose and if there's anything you'd do differently.
I narrowed it down to my top 3! I love all of them. Which one do you prefer?
Note: all three have the option of adding some form of an off the shoulder swag sleeve, which I would likely have on for the ceremony and take off for the evening. So if you see some photos with or without sleeve that’s why. 1 and 2 have long trains and 3 has a short train. All three of which I would bustle for the evening portion.
#1 Mila by Maria Farbinni
#2 Bliss by Eisen Stein
#3 Davis by Kyha
Edit: #2 can have lining added. The sample is totally bare up top, those are cups I slipped in from the bridal store 🙊
I’m getting married at San Francisco City Hall in November in a one hour private ceremony. I have been to 8 wedding dress shops and am still having trouble committing to my dream dress.
After trying on so many dresses, I know I want a Satin A-line gown with Juliette sleeves. I found one by Kyha that I love! (dress #1). It costs $5200 to custom order, which is just at budget. It’s Duchess Satin and the fabric looks so luxurious and expensive in person. When the saleswoman put the veil on me and the flowers my mom and aunts were all elated and I got emotional. It’s the dress I keep going back to and even after wearing it again I still feel the front and bodice is perfect for the elegance of city hall.
But when I got home and looked at the pics, I saw the train and felt completely deflated. (dress #1A). The train looks flat and limp. I think the satin veil looks odd trailing behind on the stairs like that.
I had a very specific image of having a photo on the steps of city hall with a long train and satin buttons going down the back. I found a Justin Alexander dress that’s very similar. (dress #2) I don’t love that weird sash thing across the bodice and the bow in the back won’t be there. And the sleeves have to be custom made. But they have one in inventory that’s my size with the bow detached, so you can fasten onto your bustle (dress #2B). It’s only $2k, which would help cus we are a little over budget. It’s a marchesa satin w some netting underneath so the material still looks nice in person (better than these pics) but not quite as expensive as the duchess satin.
I still feel like front bodice on the Kyha is next level. Should I get over the idea I had about the staircase. I have also thought of putting on a bridal cape for the photo shoot at city hall after where we would take pics on the stairs but I feel a little insane buying a whole accessory for one photo. Would it be weird or look good to do a cathedral length cape to create that dramatic effect? Jenny Yoo has a nice one that could work.
I also found a version of the Kyha on StillWhite for $1500 that only needs minimal modifications. The bride also paired it with a cathedral veil and it looks gorgeous (See ex.). Would a full lace cathedral veil work with dress?
Help! I need someone who understands veils and capes and photography and bridal styling to orient me. Do I go for the Kyha and just style it for the effect I want or go for the Justin Alexander?
We are in contract to buy a penthouse condo in our dream neighborhood. I know all the reasons not to buy a condo but we couldn’t afford SFH without compromising on location and we by a unique set of circumstances found a unit that we loved that is off market, placed an offer, and were super excited. It has great views of the Bay, a massive wrap around deck, and at 1500 sq ft was as big as a lot of the SFH we were looking at.
We got our appraisal and it’s $125,000 less than our contract price. We were absolutely stunned as we thought we were getting a great deal. The comps in the area put the sq ft at slightly above the rate we are paying. I’m a little shocked that our per square foot price would be lower.
Part of the issue is that there is nothing directly comparable in the unit or neighborhood in terms of size or its features. I’m a little worried now as I can’t imagine sellers will come this low. They will probably want to test the market and see what they can get. But we don’t have the means to front this big of a gap without our lender. I’m very worried about losing the home now. And also simultaneously worried that maybe we were completely overestimating its worth and overpaying? Although even looking at the comps the appraiser used I still feel its value is much higher than what he is estimating.
Has anyone seen a gap this big? We are first time homebuyers and our real estate agent has made a few mistakes so any guidance would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Edit: our appraisal contingency was set to expire today but our under our realtor’s advice we are asking for an extension.
Edit: the unique features were not all part of the appraisal as the deck is owned and maintained by the HOA but this unit has a private easement giving exclusive rights. So essentially we wouldn’t own our deck but it would be “ours” in that it’s the deck on our unit and our furniture would be on it. For this reason the appraiser doesn’t consider it.
Edit: learning how to read an appraisal report for the first time and understanding how he got to his number now. He seems to have counted our deck but valued it as a typical apartment balcony (not a huge wrap around deck), he doesn’t count the den as a third bedroom/office but it has a French door and functions as a third room so he comps to two bedrooms but we have been so excited about having three rooms, he couldn’t find a comp in our exact neighborhood so he went one neighborhood over which is not a bad area per se but it’s an area that’s a little more sketchy (there was a drive by shooting not too far from there last week) whereas our unit is surrounded by a golf course. It’s apples and oranges in my book. But that “comp” is a three bedroom townhome that is modern and turn key so he’s valuing as way above ours. It’s a perfectly nice and well priced place but tbh I avoid that area when I look at Zillow in map mode!