Mission Ranch Carmel Wedding

July 25, 2023

As a Monterey wedding photographer, this Mission Ranch Carmel Wedding is one of my absolute favorite venues in the area! There is not another venue that will make you and your guests feel like they have traveled across the world to Ireland! Another plus is that it allows for you and your wedding party or immediate family to stay on property making your entire wedding day easier and instantly relaxed! In all my years shooting weddings there are few venues that offer this feature and it’s well worth the price!

Mission Ranch Carmel Wedding

Jessica + Keith:

Jessica and Keith both found each other the old fashioned way by swiping right on the dating app “The League”. After a couple of weeks of calls and texts back and forth, Jessica and Keith knew that they wanted to meet. Keith hit a home run by planning all of the dates around Moana – Jessica’s golden retriever puppy, who at the time was too young to be left home alone. (Truthfully, it was the other way around…Jessica wasn’t ready to leave Moana).

Jessica started the day in the main house on property with her best of friends and close family; while Keith was enjoying the guy time just next door in the honeymoon cottage.

Mission Ranch Carmel Wedding

After their first look with Moana, their beautiful and sweet Golden Retriever that helped their relationship unfold into the beauty it is today, we headed to the nearby beach to have a private first look with the two of them. Mission Ranch sits within 1/2 mile to the coast allowing for such moments like this! I love giving couples a more private moment for their first look; so it’s just them with no other guests or family members around.

Jessica and Keith said, “Getting ready with friends and family made the day feel like home. And having first looks with Moana made us feel that everything was falling into place, after months of day dreaming of what this day would be like. Once we were told first looks were happening- nerves started to kick in! Seeing Keith down by the sand, my immediate instincts were to run down and give him a big hug and kiss. But, I wanted to listen to my talented photographer and take it slow so that we can get the photos just right. Keith turning around and having tears in his eyes made my heart explode. It felt like we were seeing each other for the first time again. Yet again, I was infatuated with that bright smile.”

Getting back to the venue we were ready to to share our love with our family and friends. Hearing our officiant talk about our love story felt like we all 3 had the same thought. This was something special from the start. Even though I practiced my vows a hundred times, saying them to Keith and looking into his eyes reminded me how much these words were a true representation of how I felt and it was hard to get through reading them without tears of love and joy. Keith, per usual, made his playful jokes all while expressing his love and commitment to our love and our future. Being pronounced husband and wife was the best feeling! I was nervous about the dip kiss because-well- we didn’t do much practicing of that! But I give Keith an A+ because it felt great and I think we nailed it! I loved the rose petal toss and wish I could have stayed in that moment forever.

Carmel Wedding Photography

Jessica goes on to say, “Our first dance is something we have been working on for months. When we first heard the band we panicked because the band played the song much faster than the recorded. This song, honey bee, is a nickname that we use for Moana (given her first Halloween costume was her in a bee outfit). But the words of the song come through even stronger, “you are the one, the only one” is exactly how we felt about each other since day one. When Keith picked me up, I felt on top of the world. I was so impressed that we were hitting all of marks (without a trip or even a nip slip!).

Mission Ranch Carmel Wedding

I had so much fun doing the dance and singing along-this is another moment that I wish could have lasted forever! The dances with our parents were fun and allowed us to have a special moment with our special mothers. When we got to the cake cutting- cutting the cake was much more difficult than anticipated but the taste of the cake was even better! (And the cake didn’t slip off off the table! Phew! ).

After cutting the cake, we tore up the dance floor, as we usually do any chance we get with all of our family and friends! Even Grandma Mickie made it to the dance floor! The band was fantastic and played todays hits with a Jazz flare. Everyone was having so much fun.