Some weddings are beautiful. And then there are the ones that feel like the world literally arranged itself just for two people, where the setting, the love, the details, and the light all conspire and chat amongst each other to create something that doesn't feel entirely real until you're standing inside it.
Riley and Steven's wedding in Carmel-by-the-Sea was the latter.
The Day Before: Cliffside, Tide Pools & a Cigar
We began the way the best love stories do — not with a schedule, but with a feeling.
The evening before the wedding, Riley and Steven and I made our way to the cliffs above the Pacific. The kind of light that only exists on the California coast was doing everything it promised. Seagulls moved overhead. The tide pools below were full of life — and Riley and Steven, both deeply environmentally intuitive people, couldn't help but slow down and look. Steven lit a cigar. They were just two people, completely themselves, completely together, with the ocean as their backdrop.
Those images will never leave me.
This is why I always encourage couples to consider an engagement or pre-wedding session the day before. You arrive at your wedding day already comfortable in front of the camera, already settled in the feeling of being seen. It changes everything.
The Morning: Getting Dressed in the Places That Shaped Them
Riley got ready inside her grandparents home, Biddlestone Cottage, surrounded by the people who have loved her the longest. Her mother. Her sister. Her grandmother. A handful of the women who have shaped who she is. The cottage itself is extraordinary: a residence so thoughtfully designed, so layered with personality and intention, that it has been featured in magazines. Every corner offered a frame. Every room told a story, one that will be passed on for generations and will leave the town talking.
Steven, meanwhile, got dressed in the man cave outside with his groomsmen. The contrast couldn't have been more perfect, seriously, soft light and laughter inside, easy camaraderie and anticipation outside.
The First Look
Before the ceremony, before the celebration, before any of it…there was the first look.
Just Riley and Steven. A quiet corner of the cottage grounds, tucked away. The moment Steven turned around is the kind of moment I will point to forever when someone asks me why I do this work.
Biddlestone Cottage: A Ceremony Like No Other
Riley and Steven were married in her grandparents backyard, and I need you to understand that this was not a compromise. This was THE destination.
Biddlestone Cottage in Carmel-by-the-Sea is a property of rare beauty, magazine-featured, interior-designed with the kind of eye that takes decades to develop, and soaked in the family history that makes a wedding truly mean something. The garden was intimate. The ceremony was small. And their dog served as the ring bearer, which was, without question, one of the most precious things I have ever photographed, I mean come on.
Their officiant, Brian Borgia of Monterey Wedding Officiant, led a ceremony that felt personal and unhurried, keeping the guests reaching for tissues. The kind you actually remember.
Following the vows, a champagne tower, of course. Then hors d'oeuvres from Angela Blessing Catering while the emotion of the ceremony settled into pure, uncomplicated joy. The florals, lush and California-coastal in every way, were designed by Fleur du Soleil, who brought exactly the right softness to a wedding that was already full of it. The florals caught your eye from every corner, with arrangements even added to the trees.
La Playa Hotel: Where the Evening Opened Up
From the cottage, guests walked, or took a short ride, down to the legendary La Playa Hotel for the reception. If you've never experienced La Playa, it is one of those properties that makes you understand why Carmel-by-the-Sea has drawn artists, writers, and romantics for over a century. The grounds are lush. The architecture is warm. And the balcony, where cocktail hour was held while we took the bridal party through the hotel grounds, offered views that made every conversation feel more significant and intentional. I kept catching myself noticing how everyone’s energy felt so present and content.
Dinner followed, beautifully catered, filled with speeches that made the room cry and laugh in equal measure, specifically sister and grandpa. Parker-Lusseau Pastries provided the cake, which was as elegant as everything else about this day. Makeup by SimplySkin with Heather Coss kept Riley radiant from the first getting-ready frame through the final dance.
Then, as the night began to wind down, Riley and Steven and I slipped through the hotel, into the warm, dim light of the bar and corridors, for one final set of portraits. This is often the most romantic hour of a wedding day, and it never disappoints. Soft light. Empty hallways. Two people at the end of the best day of their lives, still completely present with each other. This is what dreams are made of. Two empty champagne glasses and a new ring on the finger.
