These two just moved to California for new jobs and wanted to celebrate their engagement in a place that reflected their love out outdoors and nature! So much of their relationship had unfolded in beautiful places, so it was the perfect way to capture their love story in a way that was genuine and authentic. I took them to some of my favorite redwood and coastal trails off Highway 1 in Big Sur - check out the rest of the engagement session below!
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When I first started talking to N + A, they didn't have a venue yet. They were looking at venues all over Big Sur and Santa Cruz, and knew that they wanted a place where they could spend a weekend with their loved ones. A few months passed, and they reached back out telling me that while they were unsure of almost everything during the wedding planning process, they were sure that they trusted me to capture their day. So we chatted dates and venues until they finally settled on Kennolyn Camp in Santa Cruz! They brought together an awesome team to bring their vision to life - a romantic redwoods wedding lit by candles and string lights, the perfect mix of modern boho and retro vibes all set in a beautiful outdoor location. Check out the rest of their Kennolyn Camp wedding below!
B + A started off as best friends, and never thought that what they were looking for was in front of them the whole time. When he took a chance to get out of the friend zone, she decided to say yes. The rest is history - since then, they’ve explored the West Coast in an RV, chased waterfalls, and eloped in Joshua Tree. They still wanted to celebrate with their loved ones, so they hosted an awesome party with everyone dressed to the nines, complete with a world pizza throwing champion, Tupac impersonator, and red carpet photobooth! Check out the rest of B + A's Waterfall Lodge wedding below.
"Your love story could be a Netflix movie...something titled like Love is in the Air," Keith said during their ceremony. Of course, just a week later, Netflix came out with a movie with that exact title. These two met working for an airline - he was a pilot and she was a flight attendant. Through their many travels and adventures together, the coast along Highway 1 became a special place in their hearts. It was the first place where she had reached out to him, the place where they shared their first holiday together, and the place where she knew where she was falling in love with him. Though they were living in the UK, they knew that this was absolutely the place where they wanted to get married. And Big Sur showed up for them - in a turn of events, we ended up skipping the beach and ending the day on the coast since we were running out of time and the sun was setting earlier due to a low cloud over the horizon. After we went home, I saw that there was a beach hazard warning, which meant that we likely wouldn't have been able to access the beach anyway. Turns out, we ended up getting to experience some of the most incredible waves safely from the rocky coastline (instead of from the beach where the tides would've swept us away!) I had never seen the ocean so white before, and these two couldn't believe their eyes as they got to stand awestruck by the landscape around them. Check out the rest of K + G's Big Sur elopement below!
D + B met at Stanford band and the rest is history. Though these two left California after college to pursue careers and further degrees, they knew that they wanted to get married in California where they met. With their love of the outdoors, Nestldown was the perfect fairytale redwoods venue to bring their family and friends to the Bay Area. Check out the rest of their Nestldown wedding below!
Through the past 10 years, these two built a life together - a life full of adventure, from hiking in Havasupai to wandering the beaches of Thailand. They even owned a sprinter van, the perfect vehicle for going on the next big adventure with their pup Cheeze It. Though N + R had been to California before, Big Sur had always been on their bucket list. They decided to drive their sprinter van from SoCal up the California coast for their elopement, with Cheeze It coming along of course! They spent the first few days camping at Pfeiffer Big Sur, and then got to spend a few days at the Alila Ventana Big Sur resort. Their wedding day was full of sweet, intimate moments, from a tearful ceremony to a first dance overlooking the water. Check out the rest of N + R's Alila Ventana Big Sur elopement below!
M + D had reached out while I was traveling, so we ended up getting all the details squared away over email and actually never talked over the phone. But even without a single phone call, M told me that she felt totally confident - she had read over all the resources, maps, timelines, and guides I sent (and even planned their Thailand honeymoon based on our itinerary from our travels!) Though we had exchanged only a handful of emails, we had an awesome elopement planned, a day filled with intentionality and room for the unexpected. Whether it was chasing sunbeams in the redwoods or epic waves on the coast, or accidentally taking the wrong trail back and trekking through thick bushes to get out, we were all for it! Check out the rest of M + D's Glen Oaks Big Sur elopement below!
These two loved the beach - one of their very first dates was actually a cold beach day on the East Coast. They had visited California a few times and fell in love with the West Coast, making plans to eventually make their way over in the next few years. As they started thinking about their wedding day, they realized that getting married in Big Sur was the perfect start to their new adventure! They celebrated their wedding day with an intimate group of family and friends who flew from all across the states. It was so important that they honor their Muslim religion, so they had a beautiful Nikah wedding ceremony overlooking the Big Sur coast. After the ceremony, I took them adventuring to some of my favorite spots all over Big Sur. We got to see the towering redwoods and climb up and down the rocky coast to see the epic views, which was what they came to Big Sur for. Check out the rest of their Big Sur wedding below!
These two met at the restaurant she was working at - he was coincidentally walking in to hand her his resume! But just a few months later, he left to attend a master's program and they stayed friends. Five years later, they ended up in the same place and reconnected. With long distance on top of the pandemic, K + R took a leap of faith. They moved in together and the rest is history! For their Big Sur elopement, they got ready at a cute A-frame cabin in the redwoods. The day was so full of emotion and tears - from the letters they exchanged during first look to their personal vows during their ceremony. You could just feel the emotion through through their day. Check out the rest of their Big Sur elopement below!
Just 2.5 hours south of San Francisco, there's a magical place on the California coast where the redwoods meet the ocean and the ocean meets the mountains. The Monterey Bay has grown more and more as a destination over the years - and for good reason! People come from all over the world to see the abundant wildlife and drive down Highway 1 to see the views that California is known for. It's not a surprise that this area is also popular for weddings. Surrounded by such a diverse range of landscapes, there's wedding venues for every type of couple - redwood forests for a fairytale wedding in Big Sur, ocean-view terraces for romantic sunsets overlooking the Pacific Ocean, gardens flourishing against the Santa Lucia Mountains. And the best part is that oftentimes you don't have to choose just one! You could get ready in a redwoods cabin, say your vows in a garden, and chase the sunset on the coast all in one day if you wanted to. If that sounds like your dream wedding, out this guide on Big Sur, Carmel, and Monterey wedding venues!
Planning an elopement or intimate wedding instead? Check out the Big Sur Elopement Guide for more information specifically for wedding days with smaller guest counts. |