Elopement Photos in the Temecula Valley
Rosie and I have always discussed having a small intimate wedding, but coming from a Hispanic family, we knew we had to get married with a huge celebration and of course dancing. We had exactly one month to plan for it since we wanted a spring wedding and a short engagement. We chose April 11, 2020 for our wedding day in Temecula, Ca.
We were so excited as we planned on having tacos, funnel cake, and a non stop playlist of Cumbia music. My family owns an event rental business and our property was just recently finished to host weddings. The catering was free since the taco lady owed my brother a favor, and both of my cameramen were going to shoot my wedding as a gift since I did the same for their weddings. We literally had our dream wedding planned within 3 days, under $5k and we were so excited!… Then out of nowhere, we found ourselves in the middle of a pandemic and “due to the Coronavirus,” we had to postpone our wedding. Literally all my April and May weddings postponed and bookings came to a halt.
Rosie and I went back and forth and were deciding to just cut the guests down to our families but later found out that no more than 10 people could gather. We knew that the only way we could go about getting married, was to plan a small local elopement ceremony.
We weren’t going to let a epidemic stop us from starting our lives together, especially when the panic was manufactured and the news stories were completely fake. Rosie and I went to the courthouse, literally the day before the shut down, and applied for a marriage license. I then called a friend who officiates weddings and he conducted our ceremony while my sister in law Jasmine (who also is a wedding photographer), took our photos. We had everything we needed
The day before, I went out to the location and scoped it out with my son and uncle. The location had a special place in our heart since we have our sights on purchasing the property when the time is right.
On a brisk Saturday afternoon, we both said I do and enjoyed the blue sky and scattered clouds. We later went to an orange grove for some sunset photos before heading back home.
We later went home and I surprised Rosie by inviting her immediate family to have dinner with my immediate family. My aunt and uncle took care of the cake and flowers while my mom made arroz con pollo.
It was the wedding we always dreamed of and a day we will never forget.
