I've interacted with this family several times over the years – mostly with the groom's brother (I shot his marriage proposal as well as family photos later on at this same location). Everyone is from Texas, so this is a special spot along the Bay that the family enjoys to come together at.
Today, Matt and Pamela held an emotional, intimate wedding on , a grass-covered clearing on Ribera Beach in Carmel, with a large rock outcrop standing firm as backdrop. A beautiful location, to be sure, and a stone's throw from where Matt's father was married years before – but the view was nothing compared to the beautiful bride walking down the makeshift aisle with her father. In no time, everyone was sniffling and dabbing at their eyes, soaking up the pure joy of the moment on this beautiful day.
I love Panther Beach in the winter - it tends to be calmer (and often warmer) than the summer. However, one thing is pretty much a guarantee – the waves will be large and unpredictable. Even though we arrived at LOW tide, we got surprised several times by waves – the cameras managed to stay dry but my couple, well... let's just say they now know the exact temperature of the ocean here. They were super easy to work with and had a positive attitude while both dry and wet. I'm looking forward to their wedding later this summer. Enjoy a few of my faves from their beach engagement session below:
Shark Fin Cove is a new location for me, which is kind of crazy because I shoot at Panther Beach, literally a mile away, all the time. Lucky for me, Alex decided this is where he wanted to pop the question to his girlfriend Lisa last week.
Patrick and Kelly met me at Panther Beach in Santa Cruz for their mini engagement session - technically these sessions are only 30 minutes long, I usually am having too much fun with couples so we spend 2x as much time together taking pics! Even though our shoot was two days before Christmas, it was really nice out – no wind at all, which is rare for this west-facing beach. Here's a few of my favorite pics from Kelly and Patrick's engagement session, enjoy!
This super fun couple decided Panther Beach in Santa Cruz would be the perfect spot to celebrate their 5-year wedding anniversary. They're full of energy and love, as you can plainly see in the photos below. This was a very candid shoot, lots of running and jumping and generally trying to stay warm on the cool October evening. I'm really excited to share some of my favorites from Kendall and Drew's portrait session below:
