What We Heart About Santa Fe Weddings

Anyone who knows our team has seen how much we adore Santa Fe weddings and all of the amazing little spots where we’ve captured our couples and their love stories. From its vast architecture to it rich culture, Santa Fe is a gem among the Southwest and we feel so dang lucky to spend so much time exploring it.

One of the most iconic locations for weddings is, of course, the Santa Fe Plaza, but what many don’t realize is the vast number of different venues of all shapes and sizes for weddings.

Do you want a huge wedding with a parade around the historic plaza followed by an outdoor reception? There are several hotels including La Fonda on the Plaza, The Inn and Spa at Loretto, and La Posada de Santa Fe that are pros at these celebrations.

Or are you a bit more low-key and want an intimate wedding at a stunning hacienda or tiny inn? Spots like Hacienda Corta Caro and The Inn of the Five Graces are the coziest of wedding nooks.

Maybe you want a venue with an iconic past or one that’s even an art gallery? Places like Peters Projects at Gerald Peters Gallery, SITE Santa Fe, and The Santa Fe Opera are just a few of those unique, art focused spaces.

There’s even two incredibly famous churches right on the plaza, Loretto Chapel and The Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, for more traditional weddings.

And what about places for couples wanting to venture a bit outside of the usual Santa Fe scene for venues nestled among the mountains and vast New Mexican landscape? Venues like La Mesita Ranch Estate, Las Campanas, Hacienda Doña Andrea, and Four Seasons Santa Fe all provide amazing views and details for any and all weddings they host.

Not only does Santa Fe have so many amazing venues, but so many unique New Mexican and Southwestern traditions have stayed in style season after season in The City Different. Every season mariachi parades around the plaza take center stage, tequila donkeys like sweet Conchita make an appearance at receptions, and all the chili, cactus, and skull details accent every inch of weddings. We love how couples from near and far fully embrace all the special little pieces of Santa Fe that we have such a soft spot for. And we can’t help but absolutely love it even more when our lovers from previous wedding seasons continue to visit Santa Fe year after year just to always have a part of the Southwest with them.

In our eyes, any venue in Santa Fe is the perfect venue and every tradition is beyond special. We’ve been so fortunate to capture a huge amount of couples in the most unique locations and honestly, we can’t wait to explore new places with brand new love stories.

Featured Santa Fe Venues
La Fonda on the Plaza
Hacienda Doña Andrea
La Mesita Ranch Estate
La Posada de Santa Fe
Santa Fe Opera
Las Campanas
SITE Santa Fe
Gerald Peters Gallery
Hacienda Corta Caro
Loretto Chapel
Inn and Spa at Loretto
Inn of the Five Graces
Eldorado Hotel and Spa
Four Seasons Santa Fe

Weddings by Alicia, Ashley, Bre, and the ALP Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Wedding Inspo - Spring Florals

Even though we’re staying indoors a whole lot more this spring, we can’t help but be extremely inspired by all of the nature in full bloom we still get to witness. We’ve found our favorite spring infused color palettes from some of the sweetest wedding days to add a little bit of light to the blog!

Although some of these weddings weren’t necessarily spring weddings, these florals still made us daydream of the perfect April or May wedding, full of muted pastels, bright whites, or even softly colorful tones. From sage and white bouquets to blush tinted to arrangements to to even subtly bright floral arches, these flowers still light up our little worlds to this day.

Here’s to some of the beauty that we can continue to find in our world every single day, we can’t wait to capture more stunning florals like this in the future!

Featured Florists
Bagels’ Florals
Floriography Flowers
Renegade Floral
Albuquerque Florist
Viva Flora
Florecita Flowers
The Bouq’s Co
People’s Flowers
A Beautiful Theme
Shannon Loves Flowers

Weddings + Styled Sessions by Alicia, Ashley, Bre, and the ALP Team
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

ALP Team Picks - Alicia's Fave Weddings of 2019

Each year we kick off a new chapter by reflecting back on our favorite moments from the previous season. First up for 2020 is our boss babe and incredibly talented photographer, Alicia. She picked her two favorite weddings of the 2019 season and we’re super in our feels over these sweet couples!!

Alicia:
”When i think of back at my most memorable, favorite moments for 2019, there are bits and pieces from each and everyone of our weddings this year that instantly come to mind. But when Jaclyn said to narrow it down to just two, I knew I was in for quite the challenge! 

First up is Ari & Chris's incredible September day. Ari was a dream bride with her kind yet confident & witty self & Chris was sincerely every photographers dream groom, being up for it all, accommodating & just all around awesome, funny & so dang sweet. Those two together just made our job so incredibly FUN, laid back and sincere. Their approach to their wedding was uniquely special and one I'll admire forever. First, they vocalized on many occasions how they wanted to prioritize their time with family and wedding guests and wanted to be sure and be as intentional as possible while still maximizing any possible solo moments together and allocate tons of bride & groom portrait time. Because of that, not only were we able to get a plethora of candids & capture super sweet in-between moments, but we also got an incredible amount of gorgeous editorial and romantic shots, both silly and sweet! After wrapping up their portrait time, they rolled right into some of the most heartfelt speeches we've ever heard & the dance party of the century. Ari and Chris, thank you for having us…we'll love you forever & ever!! 

KC & Jordan were simply incredible from day one. Their love story was inspiring, their personalities were beyond sweet, open minded, thoughtful, and their wedding day, well that was just a blast! They made it a point to let us know throughout their entire wedding planning process that they trusted us wholeheartedly and wanted to give us complete creative liberty to do our thing, and because of that, we were able to deliver some of our all time favorite images we’ve ever created! Similar to Ari & Chris, KC & Jordan also valued time with family and guests but planned their day seamlessly where it gave us plenty of solo portrait time with just them two. Their gallery is one I was so eager to share with them because it included an abundance of darling candid moments & some of my all time favorite editorial bride+groom shots all over downtown Santa Fe! KC + Jordan your sweet day was one for the books and i'll treasure it forever!”

Alicia’s Fave Weddings
Chris + Ari at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm
Jordan + KC at Cristo Rey Catholic Church and La Fonda on the Plaza

Lead Photographer - Alicia
Second Photographers - Bre (Jordan + KC), Cameron (Chris + Ari)

Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Wedding Inspo - First Look Moments

One of the biggest decisions to be made for your wedding is whether or not to do a first look, and if you know one thing about our gang its that we ADORE first looks!

The biggest bonus, besides being able to shake off some of the pre-ceremony jitters, is that with a first look you and your hunny get even more time alone together on your wedding day (something that is surprisingly hard to get on the biggest day of your lives!). In addition to extra time, you get a few special, quiet moments together to take in how gorgeous/handsome your future spouse looks without anyone else around (except for us of course!). Although some might argue that seeing each other before walking down the aisle takes away from emotional reactions, we couldn’t disagree more. In fact, first looks just add to that magic because you get to experience seeing your lover in front of all of your friends and family too!

There’s also the major plus of getting extra photos together during and after a first look! And who doesn’t want even more gorgeous wedding photos without having to stress about squeezing in all of the romantics into the day after the ceremony? And with a first look you can also get wedding party and family photos done which means that everyone gets to enjoy alllll of cocktail hour!

We could seriously list off five million reasons why first looks are amazing, but we’ll let all of our couples in this special post do the talking for us!

Our Real Life Love Stories
Chris + Ari at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm
Jason + Natalie at La Fonda on the Plaza (coming soon to the blog)
Colton + Lindsey at Hyatt Tamaya
John + Anna at La Fonda on the Plaza
Morgan + Mattie at Las Campanas
Geoff + Jocelyn at Hacienda Doña Andrea de Santa Fe
Ryan + Jennifer at Sarabande Bed and Breakfast
Carter + Carrie at La Fonda on the Plaza
James + Lauren at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm
Randy + Elizabeth at the Santa Fe Opera
Shaun + Jessie at Sarabande Bed and Breakfast
David + Lauren at La Fonda on the Plaza
Drew + Lauren at La Mesita Ranch Estate (coming soon to the blog)
Mack + Shelby at Four Seasons Santa Fe
Jake + Angela at Sandia Event Center
Jon + Paige at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm

Weddings by Alicia, Ashley, and Bre of Alicia Lucia Photography
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography

Wedding Inspo - Ballgown Bridal Gowns

As any wedding lover knows, classic and chic bridal looks are always in style. So this week we honed in on one of the original and most beloved bridal gown styles to date, ballgown wedding gowns.

While this wedding dress silhouette has seen dozens of changes over the last century, we know one thing is certain about ballgown dresses, they never fail to make our brides look like absolute queens all day long. The last few seasons we’ve captured a few absolute stunners including an unreal Pnina Tornai beauty that pulled major inspiration from Duchess Kate Middleton’s iconic gown to an enchanting Reem Acra number that gave just the right amount of couture to an epic summer wedding to a charming Randy Fenoli creation that brought all the delicate jewel details imaginable.

If you’re looking for the perfect addition to a modern yet classic wedding day, ballgown wedding gowns can add the right amount of elegance. Not only do they look flattering on every single bride out there, but these ballgown beauties add the right touch of bridal style magic to every soon-to-be wifey.

Bridal Gown Designers
Reem Acra
Lazaro Bridal
Pnina Tornai
Jenny Yoo Collection
David’s Bridal
Alfred Angelo
Randy Fenoli

Bridal Boutiques
Warren Barron Bridal (Dallas, TX)
Schaffer’s Bridal (Scottsdale, AZ)
Kleinfeld Bridal (New York City, NY)
Lovely Bride (New York City, NY)
David’s Bridal
Uptown Bride (Albuquerque, NM)
White Lace Bridal (El Paso, TX)

Weddings by Alicia, Ashley, and Bre of Alicia Lucia Photography
Blog + Photo Curation by Jaclyn of Alicia Lucia Photography