Some may say politics is a topic to avoid at weddings, but for B + S, it was an important part of their lives! These two found love while working on the same political campaign. Together they travelled across the US going from one campaign to the next before finally settling down in California and starting their own political consulting business. When the pandemic hit, they spontaneously decided to elope at a courthouse on a trip to Lake Tahoe, and grew their family with a little one. A few years later, they decided to celebrate with their family and friends. S was best friends with the owner of Loma Vista Gardens,  so Big Sur had always been a special place to her. It became the perfect backdrop for their celebration with an intimate group of family and friends. One of their guests even commented that the magical garden wedding reminded them of B + S's own backyard! It was such a sweet reflection of their lives together, complete with personal touches like campaign buttons and article cutouts from their work together. Check out the rest of their Loma Vista Gardens wedding!

K + S worked for the same independent music magazine, but she was on the East Coast while he was on the West Coast. One fateful meeting over a delicious roast chicken dinner that S hosted led to sparks flying between these two. But the timing wasn’t right, so they kept in touch while living on opposite coasts. 5 years later, K found herself back in San Francisco again, and they fell in love on their first real date. She officially made the move to San Francisco right before the wedding, where they got to celebrate with an intimate group of family and friends. It was a day that reflected all the things they loved about each other and the community they built - from spending their day in the city where they fell in love, to riding a VW bus around, to hiring a DJ who S had met from a local bar he loved to frequent, to serving SF based Anchor Steam beer and Tartine cake. Check out the rest of K + S's garden party themed wedding at the San Francisco Botanical Garden Redwood Grove and Stable Cafe!

E + M met in college at Stanford, where they spent their weekends exploring the outdoors and hiking in the redwoods. Though they ended up moving to the New York City, they returned to the West Coast to get married in the place where they fell in love! There were so many sweet moments on their wedding day - M gifting each of his groomsmen Star Wars themed socks chosen specifically for them, the two of them tearing up during the first look, M walking his grandparents down the aisle, having their first dance (which was beautifully choreographed by their friend), all the cousins rallying around the ringbearer on the dance floor, and ending the night with a sparkler exit. Check out the rest of E + M's Saratoga Springs wedding below!

There were a few things Y + B knew they wanted on their wedding day: an intimate first look down the aisle in the redwoods, and pretzels and beer to represent one of their favorite trips abroad to Germany. B had come from a family of 8 sisters whereas Y was an only child, so they chose to keep their guest count on the smaller side to balance the two sides. These two's wedding day was so full of laughter and fun - you could just tell how excited B's sisters were to include a new sister in the family and they surprised the couple with a rap song performance just for them. Check out the rest of their wedding at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden below!

When C + N first reached out to me, they had been dreaming of an intimate wedding with family in the Big Sur redwoods. They had known each other for 10 years, but school and finances kept getting in the way of their marriage plans. After looking at a few different redwood venues, they fell in love with the fairytale setting of Nestldown and decided to increase their guest list to celebrate with their family and friends. They chose to keep some traditions - like her walking down the staircase where he saw her for the first time, and skipped others like vows and toasts. It didn't make it any less emotional as she teared up as they were pronounced husband and wife. Check out the rest of their redwoods wedding at Nestldown!

What do you do when you want to have an intimate ceremony and an adventurous elopement in Big Sur? Do it all in one day! D + C imagined a sunset ceremony with just their family overlooking the Pacific Ocean, so I took them adventuring before their ceremony at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands. I asked her how adventurous she wanted to be, and she said she was down to get the dress dirty. You got it girl! (But don’t worry, you can’t even tell it got dirty from the gorgeous ceremony shot on the gazebo). They spent the rest of the evening dancing the night away with their loved ones at a beautiful reception (all of which was handmade by the bride's mom - the floral arrangements, agate placecards, and prints of Big Sur!) Check out the rest of their Hyatt Carmel Highlands wedding below!

There is something so beautiful about multicultural weddings - the blending of two families, the sharing of traditions, and warmth and welcoming of family and friends coming together to celebrate love all make weddings all the more meaningful. For N + S, they chose to honor both sides with their wedding outfits, ceremony, and incredible dances to kick off the night. Their wedding day started with the gowri puja, a prayer ceremony with the women to pray for and bless their marriage. After sharing a first look together, these two were ready to get the party started! Their ceremony started with an epic baraat, with the groom on his bike as their loved ones cheered in excitement, and was followed by traditional Indian wedding rituals to celebrate the start of a happy marriage. As the ceremony came to an end, they incorporated Western traditions of saying their vows to each other and exchanging wedding bands. And of course no Indian wedding is complete without traditional dancing, one of the most fun parts of the night! Check out the rest of N + S's Indian and Western wedding below!

Nestled right in downtown Monterey next to the ever popular Alta Bakery is a beautiful barn and garden venue. It's a hidden gem that you may not even know is a wedding venue until you see all the flowers, decor, and tables start to all come together! C + Z met at graduate school in Berkeley and quickly fell in love over a shared love of books and game nights with friends. They skipped having a wedding party or cake cutting to instead focus on what mattered to them - a reunion of friends and a day of making memories, from gathering all their Cal classmates together after a long pandemic year, to dancing a traditional Greek dance to honor her family. Check out the rest of their beautiful wedding day at Barns at Cooper Molera!

J + A’s love story started their senior year of high school (just like Keith and I!) - a prom date, a few school and career transitions, and a postponed wedding later, these two were beyond excited to finally get married. When we started chatting about their wedding day, they told me that they loved the way that the sun would shine through the redwoods - there was just something so magical, so beautiful about the way it felt out of this world. Well, nature pulled out all the stops for us. These two got married under the majestic redwood trees at a stunning property out in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Check out the rest of their boho redwoods wedding below!

3 years ago, I first started chatting with A + V as they started planning their enchanted redwoods forest wedding. These two had met in high school when a fateful meeting due to an art project turned into love at first sight. Over the years, these two grew together and grew apart before finally finding love again at the right place and the right time. He proposed at the door of her house where they had met all those years ago, and they were excited to start planning their wedding at The Mountain Terrace, a redwoods venue not far from where they grew up. Then COVID hit, forcing them - like many others couples - to change plans. Finally they got to share in a beautiful evening on September 5, 2021, with a day that felt just as magical as the day they met. It was an evening full of happy tears, karaoke songs, and the best late night snacks. Congratulations A + V!!