​Sometimes life gets crazy, but that doesn’t mean major life milestones have to be put off! In the midst of buying a house, moving, and yes, even E graduating med school in a few days, these two got to slow down and take a day to celebrate their love story. We adventured, we laughed, and we shared stories of our respective goldendoodle fur babies, a perfect day. Check out the rest of H + E's Alila Ventana Big Sur elopement below!

When B saw D playing guitar in a music video, little did she know that this man would one day be her husband. A love story straight out of a novel, these two fell in love when he crossed oceans to start a new chapter in LA. When they started to plan their wedding, they knew they wanted something intimate, something meaningful in a place that epitomized their love of California's landscapes. With his family all flying from overseas, they wanted to show their families the beauty of the place they lived. Big Sur became the perfect place for them. They started their day with a private first look in the redwoods, then had a beautiful sunny ceremony overlooking the coast, and ended with sunset overlooking the water. Check out the rest of their Alila Ventana Big Sur wedding below!

Exactly one year since their proposal, K + J got married with just their immediate family as their witness. The ocean served as their backdrop, and they even spotted an otter mom and baby swimming on the coast! It was little moments like that, or their nephew walking down the aisle with his ring security box, that made their day feel so intimate and meaningful. While we had to change locations last minute due to highway closures, we got to experience the magic of spring in Big Sur - yellow and white wildflowers lining the trails, calla lilies growing in the valley, and of course, the epic cliffs and coastal views that Big Sur was so famous for. Check out the rest of their Carmel and Big Sur elopement below!

D + C told me that it was important to them that they got to just be themselves - to savor the quiet moments, the warm embraces, the subtle looks, the gentle hand touches, the genuine awe of taking in the landscapes around them. They weren't the type of couple to run around with the biggest laughs, but instead found a safe home in each other where they feel at peace. So when it came to approaching photography for their day, I wanted to make sure that I respected their story - and it was exactly those quiet moments that made their day feel so authentic. They got ready together in a romantic cabin in the woods, cut a little cake together, changed into boots to explore the seasonal calla lilies, and got to see the Big Sur coastline (and even a cute little otter swimming below them!) If that all sounds like a dream Big Sur elopement for you, check out more photos below for inspiration!

​Sometimes you meet a couple and they just radiate love. They don’t wait for the camera to be on, they don’t need any direction, they simply just are. A + C was exactly that kind of couple. They both told me how excited they were as they got ready separately - the nerves were all there. But the moment they saw each other, it’s like they took a breath of fresh air. They were at home with each other, marveling at how lucky they were to have found an incredible love story. So thankful to have been a part of their day, to end 2023 on New Year’s Eve documenting the precious moments of their story. Check out the rest of their Big Sur elopement below!

One of my favorite questions to ask couples is "What are some of your favorite memories together?" K + J told me that some of their favorite memories were the smallest moments, the mundane things of everyday life and the weekend getaways spent camping outdoors. So it was fitting that they chose to spend their wedding day doing those very things - staying in a cabin in the woods the night before, saying their vows at the historic Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, setting up a tent at their campsite, hiking in the redwoods, cooking dinner together over a campfire. It was nontraditional and perfectly represented who they were. Check out the rest of their Big Sur redwoods camping elopement below!

​I always love asking couples what they love to do and their favorite memories together - it helps shape our planning as we craft a day that feels personal and authentic. For C + C’s day, there were a few important things we talked about during our consultation call - getting married by the ocean with their feet in the sand, including Kingsley, their 150-pound Great Dane, and ending their day sitting by a fire pit. Sure, there were mishaps like ants getting in their pizza, or getting sunburnt on an unusually hot day in November, or even leaving the champagne in the other car, but I could just tell that these two were in it through thick and thin. It didn’t faze them, and they continued to laugh and embrace each other as they celebrated an intimate day together. It ended up being the most incredible day, full of moments that reflected their love story. Check out the rest of C + C's Big Sur elopement 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!

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!