Let's talk about the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco for a quick minute. Easily one of the most iconic places in the City, the Palace first debuted in 1915 for the Panama Pacific International Exhibition. The City was still recovering from the devastating 1906 earthquake when Bernard R. Maybeck, architect and student of the École des Beaux-Arts, built the Palace to reflect Roman ruins and evoke a feeling of quiet and sadness. One of my personal favorite touches can be seen at the top of the columns, where you see ladies hunched over the tops and crying. Originally, the tops of those columns were used as planters - the ladies tears continuously watering them. Although you can't see the greens anymore, it's such a beautiful reminder of what Maybeck's original vision was.

(*You can thank my 4.5 years studying at the Academy of Art University for the above tidbit of information. I took an insanely informative Bay Area Architecture Class where we learned all about the history of these awesome places. Here's lookin' at you, Professor Bertoli!)

Back to the present now. I don't know about you but these days when I am at the Palace, there is hardly a thing that evokes a sense of quiet in me. The never ending tourists, the bands, the field trips, the 1000 conversations in 1000 languages going on around you. That being said, I have never seen it so peaceful and quiet than this day at Cosimo and Brooke's engagement session! We had the place practically all to ourselves and it was an absolute dream! The gorgeous Spring sun decided to show up and as a photographer, this is as good as it gets.

I feel like I've already talked your ear off, so I'll let these photos speak for themselves.

xo