I love cool weather (Winter is hands-down my favorite season). So when Nailyn and Alex contacted me to photograph their destination wedding on the Mendocino, CA coast, a place where the average high temperature tops out at 66F in the peak of Summer, I was looking forward to comfortable temps (at last!) and perhaps some moody, overcast skies to soften the light for us too. And Mendocino did not disappoint! After a long 3+ hour drive from the Sacramento airport through dizzyingly windy coastal mountain roads, I was rewarded with absolutely breathtaking scenery. Beautifully jagged coastal bluffs covered in grass and dried fern stretched like tentacles westward, arcing and twisting their way out into the Pacific, punctuated by dense groves of trees that include Redwood, Douglas fir, and Cedar, among many others. It was by all accounts, a beautiful backdrop for a wedding.

Nailyn got ready in a beach house overlooking the ocean and the deck there made for a dramatic location for them to see each other for the first time on their wedding day. It was incredible and we got to venture out onto some of the bluffs for some photographs of the two of them before making our way back to the ceremony location, which was on a bluff overlooking the ocean as well. There were so many beautiful moments! Nailyn and Alex both looked absolutely amazing and their ceremony (officiated by Alex’s father), was like something out of a fairy tale.

Congratulations Nailyn and Alex! Thank you so much for the opportunity to photograph your beautiful wedding! Enjoy your first sneak peek at a few of the many highlights! More coming soon!

Photographer: James Thomas Long Photography

Coordinator: Zoe Braga Events

Venue: The Stanford Inn by the Sea