Union Hill Inn Wedding – Maggie & Ryan - Lindsey Drewes Photography

Maggie and Ryan were married in the history gold country town of Sonora, CA. And everything from their fun bridal party to their candle lit ceremony, their wedding was truly golden.

Sonora for those of you who don’t know, is a tiny old fashioned town in Northern California. It was founded during the gold rush back in 1849. I use the word “founded” loosely, because basically this was various nationalities living in tents mining gold from rivers and streams. Downtown consists of about 5 blocks with 2 traffic lights. Which makes it the sweetest little historic town, in my opinion!

Union Hill Inn – the wedding venue for Maggie and Ryan is simply amazing. It’s a sprawling campus with various houses and barns, majestic tree lines and valleys. The down side was that it’s all built on the side of a mountain with about a 30 degree incline, so it seemed we were always walking uphill. But I don’t mind, since I always am looking for ways to get a little bit of extra exercise. Highlights of the day included the epic bridal party portraits in the historic dairy barn and toast given by the father of the bride, who brought in dozens of boxes to represent the countless stories his daughter told him about Ryan throughout the 9 years of their courtship.

The challenge for this shoot was that there were so many amazing spots that you could snap photos, we had to pick and choose. The old school barn that was converted into a wedding chapel was certainly my favorite photo location and highlight of the day. The only thing better was during the toasts, Maggie’s father brought in boxes, “literally” of stories she had told him about a Ryan during their almost decade courtship. You could tell that this was spontaneous as well, the looks on Maggie and Ryan’s faces, as well as everyone else was priceless.