About a year before I started photographing weddings, I got the chance to photograph the loveliest elopement in the redwoods of Woodside. It was just me, the couple, two of their best friends and their dog in the middle of the redwoods as they exchanged their vows. Since then, I have wanted to photograph another elopement, but haven’t had the opportunity yet! I decided to put together this Northern California elopement inspiration shoot in one of my favorite locations in the hills of the South Bay. One of the photos from this shoot was actually featured in Click Magazine. Special thanks to Dean and Willow, a charming bridal boutique in San Mateo, for lending me that gorgeous Mikaella dress! You may recognize the bouquet from my sister’s dreamy Rodeo Beach session! The best thing about paper flowers is you can reuse them 😉

A fellow photographer, Jessica, and her husband drove up the windy road (one way in places due to the crazy rain that we got this year!) and were sweet enough to model for me in the freezing cold, haha. I actually intended to have the session at the other side of this open space preserve, but we had a bit of a miscommunication and were parked at different entrances! At the time, I had T-Mobile, which has terrible service away from cities, so I couldn’t even get in touch with Jessica and her husband without driving. Luckily, I ended up finding them and stumbled across this new location, just in time for the dreamiest light. Even better, we didn’t even need to hike to get here… it was just a few feet in from the entrance. 

If you (or anyone you know!) is interested in a Northern California elopement, please reach out! I would love to photograph it!

Contact me or email me at alice@aliceche.com now to book your elopement or wedding.

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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, Saratoga, Fremont, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz and surrounding areas.