The moment I started talking to S + B, I felt like I had met the Keith and I's alternate selves. We had so many similarities - from growing up in the Bay Area, to following each other through grad school, to living in crummy apartments during our school days, to having a love for nerdy things like Lord of the Rings and Marvel movies, to sharing favorites memories of road tripping around Scotland. Even better was the Fault in Our Stars reference in S's vows - an ode to one of his favorite books (for those who don't know, Keith has a love for all things John Green, and we even went to the Hank and John Green show one year. Keith's goal is to visit the bench in the Fault in Our Stars movie one day). When these two started dreaming about their elopement, they knew they wanted something intimate. A day where they could honor the love they had for their family but also get to adventure with just the two of them. So as California natives, Big Sur became the perfect place for them, a place not too far for their family to travel but just magical enough to whisk everyone away to see the coast. Though they had originally thought about getting married on the coast, they fell in love with the garden venue of Loma Vista Gardens as an accessible place for their guests to gather. It had rained a little that morning and even hailed the day before for their spring wedding, but as luck would have it, the sun came out for one of the warmest Big Sur weddings I've ever captured. Their guests even came down to the beach with them after, which was such a fun way to show their family why they chose Big Sur in the first place. Check out the rest of S + B's intimate wedding at Loma Vista Gardens!
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Distance was no stranger for T + D. For these two, they battled long distance as T went through medical school and D trained as an Olympic athlete, who literally ran the distance as a skeleton athlete, sprinter, and hurdler. Through the years of long distance, they leaned on each other and cheered each other on as they pursued their dreams. So when their wedding day finally came, it was a day they were beyond excited for. T's close friend played worship as they walked down the aisle - a beautiful coastal trail in Big Sur - and they shared communion together privately after the ceremony. We then adventured to the coast, where they changed into traditional Vietnamese outfits and watched the fog moved over the mountains. After it got dark, we all returned to their Airbnb in Pebble Beach and celebrated with a tea ceremony and dinner with their family and friends. It was the perfect way to spend quality time with everyone. Check out the rest of T + D's Big Sur elopement below!
If I could ask for perfect weather, it would most definitely be fog on the beach and sunset on the coast. Though typically I like to end at the beach in case the waves get a bit too close and we end up soaked at the end of the session, I decided to switch up the order of locations for A+D's session since I knew that they loved the coast more! It was misting just as we arrived, and we got to see the fog settle into the cliffs as we ran up and down the sandy beach. When we arrived to the coast, the sun peaked out just in time out of the clouds. Check out the rest of A+D's Big Sur engagement session below!
"I wanna stand with you on a mountain
I wanna bathe with you in the sea I wanna lay like this forever Until the sky falls down on me" Those were the lyrics that played as E + K had their first dance. It couldn't have been more perfect as they swayed on top of the mountain, listening to the ocean waves crash against the rocks as the moon shone above them. And the craziest thing was, we hadn't even planned on having their first dance here. We originally were going to have their first dance on the beach, but when it was too difficult to get there and we were running out of light, I suggested having their first dance at the end of the night instead. If that isn't the most romantic way to end your wedding day, I don't know what is! Check out the rest of E + K's beautiful Big Sur elopement below. What do you do when there’s an atmosphere river (aka a ton of wind and rain) forecasted for your Tuesday elopement, and you have friends already flying halfway across the world to celebrate with you in Big Sur? You make a last minute call on Sunday to move it a day early to Monday. We had been watching the weather for a while, and it had been forecasted to rain Monday through Wednesday. But when the forecast changed 2 days before the wedding - giving us a break in the rain on Monday - we decided to move the wedding up. Many phone calls later, J + Z packed up their car to head to Big Sur the next day. The redwoods ceremony venue didn’t work out, so we pivoted to a coastal ceremony and beach picnic. But it couldn’t have worked out for the better as we drove up Highway 1 in a VW bus, watching whale spouts pop out from the ocean waves, an otter hanging out by the coast, and even a little sun peaking out from the clouds. And sure, all the details had the wrong date, the stunning embroidered jacket the bride had made herself, their engraved rings, the camping mugs, and invitations but it didn’t matter. I watched these two have the best time with their closest friends and celebrate in a way that felt so authentic to them. And now they’ll always have an awesome story to tell! Check out the rest of J + Z's Big Sur elopement below.
When it came to grand gestures, P was both subtle and brilliant at the same time. Back when it was near impossible to get Hamilton tickets, P went out of his way to get tickets for M...and her friend. He hadn't even planned on accompanying her after going through all the effort, but that ended up becoming the start of their incredible love story. When they started planning their wedding, they knew they wanted a low-key, stress-free day. One thing that was important to them was starting the day privately - just the two of them, taking in the incredible scenery together and all the little moments in between. And it was those little moments that made their day so special, like the way that M twirled P, or how P would grin from ear to ear in a private moment between the two of them. As the day winded down, they got to sit down for dinner and watch the sunset together with their family and friends. No schedule of activities, just quality time with the people they loved the most. Check out the rest of their Big Sur wedding below!
A + R met in Monterey when he moved to the area to attend the Naval Postgraduate School. Little did he know that A had long picked her dream venue in Big Sur before they even met. She showed him all her favorite spots and they would spend their weekends hiking around Big Sur. Oftentimes they would see couples taking their wedding photos while on their hikes. So when they got engaged, it was finally their turn! It was so surreal to finally be the couple - the couple getting married, with grins ear to ear as these two shared their own private vows overlooking the epic coastline. When our plans to get photos in the redwoods didn’t pan out, I took them to one last spot on the coast just as sunset turned to blue hour. It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly as we watched the colors of the sky change right before our eyes. Check out the rest of A + R's Monterey and Big Sur wedding!
I’m only a little sad that F + A didn’t bring their sweet doodle Theo to their elopement, but it was definitely made up for by all the adventuring we got to do. We started their day in the redwoods, where F + A shared an intimate first look and said their vows to each other privately. They had a short and quick ceremony to make it all legal with their family as their witnesses, and then spent the rest of the day hiking along the Big Sur coast! We were running on the beach until we were out of breath, climbing up and down hills like it was nothing, and scaling the rocks right up against the waves. Check out the rest of their Big Sur wedding below!
C + C reached out to me to capture their engagement session in Big Sur. Though they were living in the San Francisco Bay Area, they couldn't resist taking advantage of being so close to a beautiful destination! Since it was on a holiday weekend, I recommended we explore one of the hidden gems in Big Sur, away from all the crowds. Check out the rest of their Big Sur engagement session below!
S + M came to Big Sur to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. The weather forecasted wind and rain, and we almost rescheduled the shoot due to the atmospheric storms that battered the coast. But we decided to stick with the plan when the rain cleared up for a bit, and ended up getting to experience the most incredible fog bank in the forest. I’ve seen a lot of sun rays in the redwoods, but rarely do I get to see a day like this. So thankful that these two trusted me to capture magic even with the rain! Check out of the rest of their session at Alila Ventana Big Sur.
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