I am SO excited to be sharing this gorgeous Santa Barbara elopement with y'all today! First of all, I LOVE elopements. Gorgeous, sweet, simple, relaxed and all about LOVE! Does it get any better than that? Well it does when you have said elopement surrounded by all the natural beauty Santa Barbara has to offer. And wait, it gets even better still when the people eloping are Kristine + Marcus.Kristine and Marcus are two of the sweetest people I could ever hope to meet! They are kind, friendly, caring and incredibly thoughtful. These two have been together for.ev.er. And I could not be more happy to have been the one to document these two finally tying the knot! It was important to Kristine's mom that they marry in the Year of the Dragon, so these two made sure to tie the knot before the new year! And as it turned out, not only was the sunny Santa Barbara in true form, it was also whale season. And GUESS WHAT? We all saw the whales were jumping off shore before their ceremony! So special and beautiful! Something I'll never forget, and I hope they won't either!Check out their gorgeous elopement at The Douglas Family Preserve below:

Kristine cried sweet happy tears!

They had a Hawaiian water ceremony which was so sweet and something I'd never seen before!

Santa Barbara looks great on Kristine + Marcus!

SO GORGEOUS!

To view their SLIDESHOW click here!

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Jessica found me in December while reading Style Me Pretty  and she immediately contacted me about photographing her 12-12-12 Santa Barbara elopement to the love her life, Norm. She told me that almost a year earlier Norm had been diagnosed with grade 4 brain cancer, and everything in their lives changed. They were engaged, but of course with the news wedding plans got put on the back burner. Norm's health was everybody's #1 concern, as it should be! But all these two wanted was to get married. They are madly in love. Soul mates. The truest of companions. So when Norm thankfully got some good news from the doctor and was given the okay to take a small trip for a few days, they knew what they wanted to do.They took a roadtrip from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara to elope! They drove Norm's restored classic 1960's VW Bus all the way. They would marry in Santa Barbara, and then honeymoon as they drove up the central coast! How romantic! And that's where I came in... to photograph the big day! I could not have been more honored! Because Norm + Jess aren't that familiar with Santa Barbara, I also kinda helped plan the whole day-- choosing the locations for the ceremony and portraits, styling their sweetheart table,  and giving some vendor recommendations! It was so fun helping to create the perfect day for such a special pair!I was honored to see their elopement on Style Me Pretty 10 days ago... and decided that Valentine's Day would be the  perfect day to share their story on my own blog. Because if ever there was a STRONG love that should inspire lovers and dreamers everywhere, it is the story of Jessica + Norm. Please check out the images, and read how you can help at the bottom of this post. Thanks!The two had their ceremony on Refugio Beach... and because a storm was looming, they had the beach all to themselves!

The ceremony was touching beyond words! Jessica was sooooo happy!! And so was Norm! Definitely an emotional moment!! And so full of love!!! After the ceremony we enjoyed the beauty of the beach!! Jessica you are gorgeous!!! Dancing on the beach... so romantic!! The roadtrip begins here!! LOVE!!! How cute is the bus?!!! We wanted to spend some time in those gorgeous rolling hills of Santa Barbara! GORGEOUS!! Jessica's bouquet and floral headpiece was by Simply Bouquets! BEAUTY!! I styled and put together a little reception table for them! It turned out so sweet! Cake is by Crushcakes and linens are La Tavola. How can you not just ADORE these two?!! Back to the bus we go! Just Married!!! There they go off on their roadtrip honeymoon adventure! LOVE! If you would like to know more about Norm's story please check out his blog. You can also help Jessica + Norm by donating to help pay off Norm's medical bills. Despite having good health insurance the medical bills have added up... every little bit helps! Thank you!!

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In December, I was very lucky to be able to photograph Jeremy + Sandy's beautiful elopement at the stunning Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara! Sandy + Jeremy were contestants on The Amazing Race, and they said that surviving the show together just cemented that they are meant to be! If they could travel the world, complete crazy challenges, and live out of a backpack together for weeks on end, they could definitely survive any and all of the challenges of life together! So Sandy, Jeremy and Jeremy's son Grant headed down to Santa Barbara to say their i-do's. Their ceremony was so loving and heartfelt. They even included Grant, by having him read a sweet poem, and then Jeremy had a special reading for Grant as well. Tears of joy were shed as we all shivered on the beach in December. I was their only witness (over 18 I should say), so I even got to sign their license! What an honor!It was a beautiful day for a beautiful family. I couldn't have been more thrilled to document such an intimate wedding, for three incredibly warm, genuine, caring and thoughtful people! I love my clients! And I LOVE weddings-- big or small! Check out the images below:

Th grounds of the Bacara are so lovely! And the staff was nice enough to let us use a golf cart so we could navigate the vast property!L-O-V-E!Seriously, how gorgeous are these two?!!Grant was one incredibly cute ring-bearer! This is just adorable! I LOVE it!An intimate ceremony on the beach......full of sincerity, love.......and pure JOY!NEWLYWEDS!The GORGEOUS couple! LOVE them!

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