There are weddings you photograph and weddings you feel. This backyard wedding in San Clemente, California was the second kind.

I already knew this family. I had photographed Brooke’s wedding the year before — and when Kate reached out, I didn’t hesitate for a second. Watching a family trust you with two of the most important days of their lives is not something I take lightly. It’s something I hold close.

As a Southern California wedding photographer, I get to show up for moments like this one more than I can count. But some weddings stop you. This was one of them.

It Started at the LA Temple

Kate and Michael were sealed at the LA Temple — the same temple where her parents were married. I didn’t know that until she told me, and when she did, I felt it. There is something about continuing a thread like that. A building that holds your family’s history, now holding yours too.

The ceremony was quiet and sacred and full. The kind of full where you don’t need a lot of words to explain it. As a Southern California wedding photographer who has documented ceremonies in temples, chapels, backyards, and everywhere in between, I can tell you: meaning always photographs. Take a look at these moments captured right outside the temple. 

Then We Headed to San Clemente

I want to be clear about something: when I say backyard, I don’t want you to picture a typical backyard. I pulled up to the reception and my jaw dropped. This was a property that stopped you at the entrance. Completely breathtaking — the kind of outdoor space that looks like it was designed for exactly this. String lights, mature trees, a sweeping view, and a natural backdrop that made every single frame feel effortless. The people who loved them filled every corner of it, two food trucks were parked out front, and laughter carried into the evening like it belonged there.

Her mom and Kate made the flowers themselves. Every arrangement, every bouquet — done by hand. You could feel the care in every stem, the way you only can when it was made by someone who means it. Southern California weddings have this energy when they lean into the personal over the produced, and this one was all personal.

Two food trucks pulled up: The Habit for burgers, a taco truck for the rest. No stiff plated dinner. No awkward silence between courses. Just good food, long lines, and guests going back for seconds because the night was that good.  I mean, just look… 

The Reception Was a Full Party

I mean that. Kate and Michael brought out a jump rope at their reception. I will never stop loving them for it. That is the energy I am here for — a couple who is not trying to perform a wedding, they are trying to have one.

The whole day had this ease to it. Nothing felt forced. Nothing felt over-managed. It felt like a celebration that knew exactly what it was: two people who love each other, surrounded by everyone who loves them, in the backyard where Kate grew up.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing. And it was perfect.

What I Want You to Take From This

If you’re in the middle of wedding planning and you’ve started to feel like your day has to look a certain way, I want you to hear this: the most alive galleries I have ever made came from couples who stopped trying to make their wedding look like everyone else’s.

DIY flowers hit different when the hands that made them are your mom’s. A backyard hits different when it’s the yard you grew up in. A food truck hits different when your guests are grabbing seconds and laughing in line.

You don’t need a venue with a built-in aesthetic. You need a day that is actually you. And if you’re looking for a Southern California wedding photographer who will show up for all of it — the sacred, the silly, the jump rope — I would love to be there.

Book Your Southern California Wedding

Planning a wedding in San Clemente, Orange County, Los Angeles, or anywhere in Southern California? Let’s talk. I would love to hear about your day and show you what’s possible.

Save this to your Pinterest board for your backyard wedding inspo and come be friends with me over on instagram! >> @brookebakken