• Welcome!

    Luster Studios is my personal portfolio where I share weddings, special events, engagement sessions and portraits. My origins stem from a fine arts degree in photography and computer graphics. My "style" is a perfect blend of creative ideas driven by a relaxed attitude and a fun yet thoughtful personality.

    Through a combination of posing and photojournalism I strive to capture planned and spontaneous moments that will later help you relive how you were feeling at that exact moment. I'm based in North Carolina and often travel to destination locations. I look forward to getting to know what inspires you both creatively and personally.

    - Craig Carpenter

San Francisco Weddings + Trash The Dress at Bakers Beach

Nothing quite beats a wedding in San Francisco… well, except an awesome Trash The Dress session at Bakers Beach! Simply put, I can say that Jenna and Charles are one of those “love to be around them” couples and their wedding reflected their creative and adventurous spirit. The theme of their wedding reception was “Dancing with the Stars” and as you can see their day after and “trash the dress” session yielded some amazing photographs!

But first a little backstory… They both met while snorkeling in college where they attended Point Loma Nazarene University, a small private college in San Diego, CA. He is originally a Kansas boy, and Jenna shared with me that he was literally “a fish out of water” in the ocean…and he almost drowned in the huge waves that day! Thankfully, he survived and asked her to go dancing the next day. The rest is history. Ballroom Dancing together is now one of their favorite hobbies.

After college, Charlie, Jenna and two of their friends (and business partners) took off to live in Europe; Prague and London respectively. When they finally returned to California, Charlie knew that Jenna was the perfect woman for him. The original plan was to propose at the Eiffel tower, but he ended up popping the question at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco!

Congratulation to both of you and may you live a long and happy life together!

bride groom kissing

This one almost has an “old masters” quality to it. I’d love to see it recreated as a painting someday.

san francisco downtown wedding
grace cathedral church san francisco
california church wedding

Jenna’s dress was a beautiful traditional ballroom gown style and she truly looked like a princess when she entered the room and descended the stairs.

sir francis drake hotel‎ san francisco
princess gown wedding
ballroom gown wedding dress
california couple married
pink roses bridal bouquet
san francisco trolley wedding

This dog was a true “wedding photo crasher.” :)

downtown san francisco weddings
bride groom hail cab
trolley wedding san francisco

Nothing says San Francisco like a trolley!

trolley weddings married couple
san francisco wedding photos

san francisco wedding photography
unique wedding photos black white

One of the hearts from the San Francisco campaign. These were scattered throughout the city. This photograph was taken in Union Square. I thought the gold heart was most fitting for this happily married couple!

hearts union square san francisco
day after wedding photo session
civic center plaza san francisco
golden gate bridge weddings

This is one of those shots that doesn’t even look real due to how high she jumped. The lighting isn’t exactly what I would have liked, but I was caught off guard when Jenna started climbing up on the ledge. I only took a few shots and didn’t dare ask her to redo it for fear that she would fall into the ocean. She’s an excellent swimmer and we had planned to get in the water anyways but I’d prefer her to be on solid ground as opposed to a 20 foot dive!

san francisco bridge golden gate
trash the dress photogrphs ocean
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bakers beach bride
bakers beach wedding

I saved the best for last. It’s one of my favorites of the day!

trash the dress

4 comments

Lucas Caldeira - June 17, 2010 - 11:11 pm

Parabéns pelo seu trabalho! é realmente L.I.N.D.O!
Nunca vi coisa parecida!
“Luster Studios” vou guardar esse nome!
Abraçoos!

Clara Crizer - June 7, 2010 - 8:37 pm

I love your photography. My immediate response to your photos was, I can’t wait to trash my dress!

Angelique - January 19, 2010 - 4:46 am

Beautiful! The ones in the water are the best wedding pictures I’ve ever seen. Excellent. Trash the dress! It’d be worth every penny to have such wonderful, passionate, FUN pictures to keep forever. First wedding pictures I’ve ever seen that actually provoked an emotional response from me. Awesome job. Lucky people to have such a clever photographer.

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