What a dream this past weekend was! Last Sunday, I joined Abby and Eric in the Bay Area for their outdoor wedding at the beautiful Hacienda de las Flores in Moraga, California. I video-chatted with them last fall when they inquired about me traveling to Northern California to be their wedding photographer. I eagerly agreed and spent the next months excitedly awaiting their wedding day in the California redwoods.

When the weekend finally arrived, we were all a bit nervous because the forecast threatened intermittent showers, and they had looked forward to celebrating their wedding in the fresh air of the gardens of the 100+ year old Spanish style mansion.

As we and the wedding party pulled into the parking lot, showers of rain fell. We ran inside, protected by umbrellas and rain jackets and prayed for the rain to stop in time.

Like clockwork, the rain stopped just in time for their scheduled first look and we were able to photograph it and portraits near the pavilion and ceremony area.

Look at these happy faces!

They had a great wedding party! The bridesmaids were so helpful, and Abby’s younger sister, Jaimie in particular is just adorable and charismatic!

Abby was such an elegant bride! I loved her classic style.

The winds made Abby’s veil naturally pick up every once in a while, so we had to take advantage of her chapel-length veil (my favorite!) to take a flying veil photo. Love it.

Every little nook and cranny of this venue is beautiful. I loved the soft blue fish scale tile on the floor of the ceremony pavilion. The arches were so photogenic too! As were the Spanish tiles on the outdoor staircase, and the gardens in general. Hacienda de las Flores translates to “mansion of the flowers” and they delivered on the flowers and trees!

The wrought-iron gates, staircase and (I believe) California redwoods lead to the ceremony pavilion. Guests watched on in this peaceful ceremony setting.

As Abby and her father entered through the gates, I turned and caught Abby’s mom’s reaction. So sweet!

Just as the officiant was going to pronounce them married, Abby and Eric got some lucky wedding rain to sprinkle them down the aisle.

We all popped up our umbrellas for the remaining 30 seconds of the ceremony and Abby and Eric laughed happily down the aisle and into the forest for some protection from the rain. Fortunately, the rain stopped within 10 minutes, and they were able to have their outdoor reception by the lawn and fountain.

Abby and Eric had the best wedding dinner I’ve ever had! Throughout the afternoon, I got glimpses of Paella Bliss working their magic. I had never tried paella before, and seeing it come to life, layer by layer was so cool. It was de-li-cious!

It was a lovely wedding for a sweet couple in a beautiful setting. Let’s do it again soon, please!

The vendor team for this Hacienda de las Flores wedding was:

VENUE: Hacienda de las Flores| COORDINATOR: Rachel He| FLORALS: Marbled Mint | VIDEOGRAPHER: Stereoscope Media | DJ: DJ Ryan O| CAKE: Gather’d Bakehouse| CATERING: Paella Bliss | WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER: Cristy Angulo Photography

If you like what you see, contact me here to inquire about your own wedding: www.cristyangulo.com/contact