Erica and Aaron were married on the most perfect Big Sur day ever. I mean, the wind was minimal (and if you know Big Sur, you know it can be insane), it was warm, clear and had the most gorgeous sunset ever… What else could you wish for?

What else could you wish for?… That’s a rhetorical question that sits in the space of gratitude. Sometimes it’s hard to straddle gratitude and the longing for someone to be there to witness your wedding day that can’t. Maybe that person is living too far away, or has had a life shift that prevents them from joining. Sometimes a person is ill or sometime a person isn’t living anymore. As a personal piece of my participation in anyone’s wedding day I take particular care with this aspect.

Joy and jubilance can sit right next to grief and longing. They can co-exist and it’s easy to sometimes think that one or the other has left the car when in reality it’s just right there in the backseat, still a passenger, still very present. Sometimes within a day I see joy and grief take turns driving and in those split second moments I’m courageously aware that my support, my silence, my setting down of the camera or picking it up to document is a split second and ever so delicate decision that matters. It really matters. I matter. The moment matters. Every person in the room matters just as much as why we’re all collected matters. It’s our humanity that brought us all together at and the end of the day it’s our humanity that will hug our goodnights knowing that the day was a journey with many different drivers on the road trip; Each of them loved.

Be well, hug your folks, call your friends. Say “I love you” often.

The brilliant team:

Venue: Cliff Estate

Planning: Seastar Catering

Catering: Seastar Catering

Bartending: Vanessa Share

MUA: Face Forward Bridal

DJ: Hanif Wondir

Rentals: Stardust Rentals

Shuttle: Barefoot Adam