Cavalli Estates Wedding | San Luis Obispo, CA
A gentle, intentional spring wedding in San Luis Obispo—
You can’t beat May in Edna Valley. The vineyards are beginning to bloom again, the ocean breeze is blowing, and the hills of SLO are green! This was the idyllic setting we found ourselves in for Lauren and Dylan’s Memorial Day Weekend wedding at Cavalli Estates, a recently, beautifully refreshed wedding venue in the midst of the Central Coast’s lush wine region. This was such a special day for us too, as Lauren and Dylan have become friends of ours over the years! You may remember their epic cliffside engagement photos Dylan surprised Lauren with in San Diego last fall.
I met Lauren many years ago when she graduated from Cal Poly and I got to take her senior portraits. That night was so life-giving for me, and I really felt like we’d kindled an old-friend kind of relationship, bonding over things like our shared faith. That night, she told me about Dylan, the boy she met while at Cal Poly, and how, after graduation, they’d be trying out long distance, with Dylan moving to Santa Cruz for a job, and Lauren to San Diego for grad school. We ran into them at so many weddings over the years, and I was so excited when Dylan called me last fall to tell me he was finally proposing to Lauren.
Fast forward a few months, and we were reunited with them at Cavalli, a wedding venue which we actually toured for our wedding too! Since then, the venue has changed hands and undergone some beautification, and we were so impressed with the way it looked when we scouted the venue with Lauren and Dylan before their wedding weekend began. There was a lush, manicured nature to the venue that elevated the space, and our favorite part? The new owners love growing lavender as a hobby, so much they planted an entire field on the property. I’d personally never seen anything like it before, and I was so hoping we’d get the chance to utilize that space in the photography of Lauren and Dylan’s day.
This post is going to be another total overshare, because every moment of it was so aesthetically, and emotionally beautiful. When I sat down with Lauren and Dylan to talk through their timeline prior to their wedding, they shared with me their earnest desire to spend as much time together, and with their bridal party and immediate families as possible. They’d learned traditional wedding days can be quite a blur, in which you reach the end and realize you didn’t actually get much quality, intimate time together. They were hoping to avoid this as much as possible, and so they intentionally planned their timeline around their priorities, and not the other way around.
Here are a few things I loved that Lauren and Dylan incorporated into their weekend, to ensure they had ample quality time with each other and all of their people:
They chose a venue that gave them full weekend access and enough space to house their entire family and bridal party. They were able to have so much time celebrating with their closest people, as well as host a welcome party to get more time with everyone else.
They spent a few hours having coffee together, praying, and reflecting the morning of their wedding, instead of immediately rushing into the getting ready process.
They carved out almost an hour for their first look and private vows, knowing this isn’t customary on a wedding timeline, but wanting to prioritize time for it anyway. They knew this would be one of the only chunks of time they had fully alone all day, and wanted to make the most of it. They also asked us to give them some space during some of this time so they could truly be present with one another. (I now recommend this to everyone!)
During the chunk of the timeline we typically take for more posed bridal party portraits, they asked if we could do the photos in a more candid manner that gave them the opportunity to spend time with all these closest people, all together
Instead of the typical one hour for “cocktail hour,” they had two. They wanted to make sure they’d have enough time to hug and have a real conversation with each of their guests.
They kept their dance floor playlist on the more chill side (their people still absolutely got down) so it was less club, more happy dinner dance party vibes.
I loved every second of this day. Photographing old friends is so incredibly special. I couldn’t help but feel that everything that had so beautifully fallen into place for Lauren and Dylan’s wedding— their story, their faith, their circle of supportive friends and family, the picturesque SLO weather, the gorgeous decor that so softly complimented it all— was like a little taste of heaven. I would give anything to go back and relive it. And the icing on the cake came at the end, Lauren and Dylan told us they felt like they hadn’t posed for a single photo all day, because we let them simply be in the moment. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into this incredible wedding at Cavalli Estates in San Luis Obispo!
MEET THE BEST SAN LUIS OBISPO WEDDING VENDORS!
Venue - Cavalli Estates / Planner - Simply Treasured Events / Florals - Aurelia Flora / Catering - Old SLO BBQ / Dessert - Seabreeze Cupcakes / Bartending - Bottles and Ice / DJ - Modern Symphony / Beauty - Twist + Co. / Videography - Cobblestone Productions / Rentals - Got You Cover’d / Dress - Anthropologie Weddings, Jenny Yoo / Groom’s Outfit - The Black Tux
LOOKING FOR A SLO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER? EXPLORE OUR PACKAGES AND INQUIRE WITH US!
Cobblestone Productions, one of our absolute favorite vendors to work with (and some of our greatest friends) on the Central Coast, made Lauren and Dylan’s sweet wedding film, and we wanted to include it here too!
Hello friends! We’re Katie & Joseph, a husband & wife team, and destination wedding photographers!
We are big fans of documenting wedding days in an unposed, raw, genuine, and honest way that allows our couples to maximize their experience on their day while also receiving a gallery full of stunning images that communicate how it felt to be there.
Though we’re based in Arizona, we’ll travel anywhere (like our second home of SLO!) for a good love story (and dance party). We invite you to follow the links below to learn more about us and our services, and to get in contact with us!
