Ashlee + Ashley's Santa Cruz Micro Wedding - The Dream Inn, Santa Cruz, California

From Boise, ID to Santa Cruz, CA

Ashlee and Ashley fell in love with the area during their first trip to Santa Cruz. Living in Boise, ID, they didn't want a stereotypical Boise wedding. Nothing wrong with them, that's just not who they are. They wanted something different. Something fun. Something...somewhere else. Once they visited Santa Cruz, they knew this was the place for them.

They booked the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz and hopped on planning their destination micro wedding on the beach. They were so excited to have their intimate group of friends and family in attendance. Both of them are super go-with-the-flow so they kept their plans loose and flexible, which made the events of their wedding day super easy. The arch was built by some friends locally, painted/stained by the brides the night before, florals for the arch were arranged by family, and everything else just came together.

They wanted to do a first look. They had chosen to keep their dresses secret from one another the entire time and were surprised when they turned around to see that they had similar dresses! Their first reactions were so sweet. Ashley was so excited and looked at me with a face that said, "DO YOU SEE HER?! 😍" After the brides' first look, we were ready to head to the ceremony site.

With only 10 guests in attendance, their ceremony was very intimate. Both sides of their families were there, as well as some pictures/pendants for loved ones who are no longer here on this earth with them. Their ceremony was sweet, quick, and beautiful. The brides chose to exchange vows privately after the ceremony, so it could be something just between the two of them. So the ceremony was quick and easy! Of course, we took family photos and then headed off to take pictures of the newlywed couple and for them to exchange their vows.

It was a dream working with these two. They originally reached out to me in October 2020 to book their wedding, so we had been planning this for a long time and I was so excited to finally meet them both. We'd been following each other on social media and chatting the entire time, so I felt like I knew them before we'd actually *met*. The excitement these two had in the days, weeks, months leading up to their wedding was adorable to watch and the excitement they had day-of was incredible.

These two are beautiful from the inside out. And while their vows were private, I can assure you they were heartwarming, sweet, and full of the purest love I'd ever witnessed. Wish these gorgeous brides congratulations with me and enjoy your scroll through their sneak peeks of their wedding day.