I had just returned from Maui, while my photographer friend, Maria, had just returned from Europe! We set off to San Rafael on a warm Saturday morning in July to photograph the wedding of Madalena and Rafa. We caught up on the drive, shared travel stories, and got excited to shoot a wedding together for Elegant Events Media!

Back story: when I really dove into wedding photography in 2015, I shot with Maria a bunch and learned so much from her! She is a true talent, and so fun to work with. We hadn’t shot together since last year, so I was super excited to be spending this day documenting love with her.

We arrived to shoot the lovely bride and her family getting ready. After capturing stunning details like dresses, jewelry, shoes, and a gorgeous colorful bouquet, we headed over to St. Vincent’s church where the ceremony and reception would be taking place. We felt the energy in the room, or church I should say, as guests were arriving. The groom greeted the guests as they entered into the stunning stained glass lined church. It was beautiful.

Surrounded by family and dearest friends, everyone watched the stunning bride head down the aisle. The train of her dress and long veil made a gorgeous appearance, and the groom smiled big when he saw her. I bounced around taking photos during the ceremony, but loved the shots I got from the upper level of the church where the choir usually hang out. It made for some epic angles (the best reason to have two photographers at your wedding).

After the ceremony, I snagged the reception detail photos of the gorgeous courtyard. Lined with papel picado (celebratory flag art!!) and colorful flowers, it was going to be a great reception. We snapped some more photos, and made our way back to the reception.

The reception was epic to say the least. Their was mariachi along with a live band. The energy was booming, and it was so neat to capture. The mariachi sang to the bride and groom, and they had their first dance to the live band. I don’t think there was a dry eye in site.

After the dances we took the smitten newlyweds off to take sunset photos. The church campus was long and had so many fun areas to shoot. I saw a stair case outside, that I couldn’t quite tell where it led, and decided to walk up it. I’m so glad I did! There was a grove of eucalyptus trees, and the golden light of the end of the day was just streaming through them. We had the most epic bride and groom session with them. So many of my favorite photos of the day came from this moment. I definitely recommend sneaking out for sunset photos if you get the chance on your wedding day. You get a moment along with your new spouse and get some extra stunning photos of the two of you.

I have to give a shout out to Instagram location tags real quick! On IG you can search locations. I like to do this if I’m shooting somewhere I haven’t been to get familiar with it in advance. I did that with this place, and learned the eucalyptus grove was around there somewhere, I just had to find it once we got there. I’m so thankful I found it and brought the newlyweds out there for photos. The bride hugged me when she found out I “discovered” this hidden gem, but really, I just did a little research and exploring!

The wedding day went by all too fast. We captured the epic dances to live music, bouquet and garter toss, cake cutting, and more. It sure was lovely to be apart of this day of love.

I hope you enjoyed my favorite 100 photos from their wedding (it’s always so hard to narrow it down).

Until next time!

xo, Christina

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