I’ve been dying to share Patrick and Julie’s vibrant Casitas Estate wedding with you! I actually photographed this wedding back in July, but I have been holding off on blogging until it was featured on Wedding Chicks! You may remember Patrick and Julie from their Palo Alto engagement session last year. They were actually the very first couple to book me to photograph a traditional wedding. I am incredibly honored that they trusted me, because at the time of the booking, I had only photographed a redwoods elopement and two weddings as a second shooter.

Patrick and Julie’s Story

I wanted to share some words from Patrick with you, because who better to tell their story?

“On July 9, 2016 we finally said “I Do”, but to understand our relationship you have to go back, way back. We first met freshman year of high school. Our relationship started with friendship and a mix of flirting and by senior year we were best friends, eventually taking it a step farther by falling in love. Just as the relationship got serious, we both went off to college on opposite sides of the country.

Through the four years of our long distance relationship, plus the 3 years leading up to our engagement, lots of communication and the constant reminder that this was my best friend is what kept our relationship together. When in the thick of any struggle, including wedding planning, this was always the core principle we had to return to.

When I proposed to Julie on her 25th birthday, it was the culmination of so much thought, anxiety, and excitement leading up to getting down on one knee. We endured through the months (alright, years) constant inquiries about when we were getting married — though they were mostly directed at Julie, I felt like all the eyes burning a hole in the back of my head. I had to stealthily research engagement rings, choosing the right style, price point, gemstone (learning all about the 4 C’s), taking trips during my lunch break to check out jewelers so Julie wouldn’t get suspicious. I had to pick the spot and plan what to say, all without the help of my best friend and confidant. So much thought went into planning the engagement, I felt like the hard work was done. I thought at least we would have a few months (or at least one!) to relax and enjoy being engaged. Boy, was I wrong.”

Patrick and Julie ended up putting together the perfect wedding, even if there were a few bumps along the way! They quickly learned one of the most important things a newly engaged couple needs to know… Everyone has opinions, but in the end, it was their wedding!

Patrick wrote, “We had to fall back to what our whole relationship was built on — as Julie said in her vows, we are “best friends and partners-in-crime”. We started to identify the parts of the wedding that were important to us. For me, that was having something intimate where I would be excited to see every person there. For Julie, it was to have vibrant colors, a beautiful dress, and a wonderful photographer to preserve the memories.”

Venue – The Casitas Estate

Picking a wedding venue can be a difficult decision, but once Patrick and Julie picked the Casitas Estate in San Luis Obispo, everything started coming together. I’ve already dedicated an entire post to how much I love Casitas Estate as a wedding venue, so you should just go read that for more details ;). As you’ll see from the photos, it is an incredible venue with sweeping views and lovely landscaping. Featuring a beautiful rose garden, a ceremony site surrounded by a vineyard and a lovely lawn with fairy lights for the reception, it’s hard to imagine a better place for a wedding venue! For Patrick and Julie, who live up in San Francisco, it was a destination wedding, helping them keep it small and intimate.

Wedding Details

From there, Janet Tacy of Sandcastle Celebrations helped them put together their dream wedding. Noonan’s Design created gorgeous, vibrant bouquets and draped the tables in lush greenery and bold, colorful flowers. Brown Fox Creative tied their flowers into their invitations, adding beautiful pops of colors and featuring the lovely red anemones that Noonan’s Designs wove all throughout the flowers.

Pat of Casitas Estates helped them pick out the best local wine and beer, which complemented the delicious food from Field to Table and the amazing cake from Annie of Just Baked SLO. Patrick and Julie’s cake was one of the prettiest cakes I’ve seen! I loved how it was so simple and elegant, with that one blue ribbon at the bottom, the bits of gold leaf and the gorgeous flower topper. One of my favorite little touches to their wedding were the favors–beautiful Mexican tiles that tied into the lovely tile details that can be found all around Casitas Estates.

On the day of, everything went as planned and, most importantly, Patrick and Julie got married surrounded by all of their closest friends and family. All of the details were beautiful and the setting was lovely, but what I loved the most was seeing how incredibly happy everyone was! It was definitely a day to be remembered.

Wedding Vendors

• Flowers – Noonan’s Wine Country Designs
• Venue – Casitas Estate
• Coordinator – Sandcastle Celebrations
• Dress – Novella Bridal
• Hair and Makeup – Bluebird Salon
• DJ – Cultivate Entertainment
• Officiant – Smiling Vows
• Calligraphy – Bourbon Blue Cards
• Cake – Just Baked SLO
• Catering – Field to Table Events
• Rentals – Central Coast Tent & Party
• Invitations – Brown Fox Creative

Special thanks to my amazing friend, the incredibly talented Kate Densmore Photography for second shooting with me!

Contact me or email me at alice@aliceche.com now to book your own Casitas Estate Wedding in San Luis Obispo!

Alice Che is a San Francisco Wedding Photographer based in the Bay Area specializing in intimate, emotional wedding, engagement, couple and boudoir photography. Serving the South Bay, Peninsula, and East Bay: San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Carlos, Burlingame, Los Altos, Milpitas, Union City, Fremont, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz and surrounding areas.