Hayden and Jennifer wanted a beautiful Catholic micro wedding

When Jennifer had a picture of herself sipping coffee on the dating app, Hinge, Hayden knew he could connect with her and their combined love of coffee! In true Hayden fashion, he sent Jennifer a witty message about coffee. That message was the beginning of a dating adventure for these two!

Last year, Hayden proposed to Jennifer at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino, CA. It was almost a year ago to the day that they were engaged!

A micro wedding was the perfect way to include their families while celebrating their faith. When having less that 50 people attend your wedding, or a really small guest list, an excellent option is to have a micro wedding! It is also a perfect idea if you would like to have a small religious ceremony and then have a larger wedding and reception later. Hayden and Jennifer were having two weddings. This particular wedding was their micro wedding and then, the following week, they were having a larger wedding in Lake Arrowhead, CA.

With a micro wedding, the setting is very intimate and everyone feels a part of the ceremony. It feels like an elopement and the small number of wedding guests makes it feel so personal. Every seat in the house is a good one! Small weddings give you more room in your budget! The feeling of the day is more relaxed. The wedding might be small, but the love is abundant!

Hayden and Jennifer decided to have this small wedding in a quaint chapel in La Verne, CA at Damien High School. Surrounded by their families, Hayden and Jennifer enjoyed a full mass by Catholic priest, Father John. Father John's words of wisdom and sense of humor were only magnified by his Irish accent! Smiles and chuckles were abundant as Father John performed the wedding ceremony.

Jennifer was escorted down the aisle by her father. Hot pink dahlias, yellow roses, small white daisies and eucalyptus, tied with a pink bow, adorned her bridal bouquet. The hot pink dahlias matched her hot pink heels!

Following the ceremony, family portraits were taken in the courtyard on this beautiful sunny afternoon in Southern California. Because there were only 25 guests, were able to get photos with the bride and groom and have a blast. There were also a few minutes to try a creative blur pose with the guests. (See the photo below!)

Immediately following the family formal portraits, I was able to do some bride and groom formal photos in the garden. As a wedding photographer, it is always so fun to photograph the couple on a wedding day. On a micro wedding day, there tends to be a little more time that you can dedicate to couples portraits of the married couple. At this particular wedding, there was not a wedding party, so more time could be dedicated to the married couple.

On this beautiful day, we were able to photograph lots of walking poses, candid poses and some fun lifts as well. I like to research some fun wedding poses and try new things with every wedding that I do. We were able to easily capture the wedding details of the rings, jewelry, shoes and florals!