A Redwood Forest Wedding in Corralitos: Megan & Niklas

Megan and Niklas met in the military as corpsmen. They got married beside a creek in a private redwood grove in Corralitos, California — here's how the day unfolded.

Megan and Niklas met in the military, both serving as corpsmen — drawn to each other through a shared commitment to military service, fitness, medicine, and helping people. They see the world in a similar way, different enough in personality to complement each other, similar enough in values that a redwood grove beside a running creek in Corralitos felt like exactly the right place to make it official.

They described the day they wanted in a few words: outdoor, family, bright. Rustic, simple, light, with room for humor. That's exactly what we built the day around.

Getting Ready

The morning started at the Rio Sands Hotel in Aptos, just off the beach, where Megan got ready alongside her mom and closest friends. Instead of the traditional groom's-eye first look, this one belonged to her family — her dad, her brother, and her grandparents seeing her in her dress for the first time, right there at the hotel, before anyone made the drive out to the ceremony site.

By 12:15, the group was on the road to Corralitos.

The Ceremony

The property sits under a canopy of tall redwoods beside a creek, and the ceremony space built into that grove had the kind of hush that only old trees and moving water can give a place — private, still, like the forest had been waiting for this. The 1 PM ceremony opened with a prelude of music as guests found their seats. Niklas seated his own parents; his brothers, Mattias and Garrett — standing in for a bridal party they chose not to have — seated the grandparents.

Then Megan's processional into the redwoods.

The ceremony opened "unplugged" — one deliberate window for guests to grab a photo or an epic selfie before phones went away and everyone was simply asked to be present. From there: the story of how Megan and Niklas fell in love, their vows, the exchange of rings, prayers from Megan's father, and a unity candle lit in two stages — first their parents lighting Niklas and Megan's individual candles, then the two of them together lighting the larger shared flame between them. The newlyweds were presented to their guests under the redwood canopy.

A Private Moment

After the ceremony, Megan and Niklas walked to a separate area for a foot-washing ceremony — a quiet, deliberate gesture of humility and service to one another, which felt like exactly the right ritual for two people who built their relationship on service to something larger than themselves.

Guests were sent ahead to the reception area while the couple stayed back for a few minutes of private vows, just the two of them. They specifically asked for this moment to be photographed — not performed for an audience, just real, and documented quietly from a distance.

The Walk to the Reception

From the ceremony site, everyone walked together to the house where the reception was held — champagne and strawberries passed around along the way. We used that hour to hour and a half to gather family and friends for portraits: Megan and Niklas together, the direct family on both sides, brothers Mattias and Garrett, and one gloriously chaotic group photo of everyone at once, because a day this genuine deserved at least one picture where nobody was posed.

The Re

ception

The reception area told its own version of the couple's story: photos and mementos strung up on lines throughout the space, turning the grove into something between a wedding reception and a gallery of their life together. Cake cutting, a close-up round of ring photos, and the first dance closed out the evening under the same redwoods that had held their ceremony a few hours before.

Why This Wedding Stays With Me

Some weddings are about spectacle. This one was about intention — every piece of the day, from the unplugged ceremony to the foot washing to the string of photographs overhead, was chosen on purpose, by two people who've spent their relationship in service to something bigger than themselves. The redwoods and the creek just gave it somewhere quiet to happen.

If you're planning a wedding that's more about meaning than spectacle — in a redwood grove in Corralitos, on the Santa Cruz coast, or anywhere in between — get in touch here and let's talk about your day. You can also see more of what Corralitos and the surrounding Aptos area look like for a wedding on my Santa Cruz service area page or try my Location Finder to see which spot fits your style.