Brenna and Tim's Cabo Ceremony and Temecula Reception

When high school sweethearts Brenna Paasch, a 27-year-old pharmacist, and Tim Duffy, a 28-year-old firefighter, began planning their wedding in California, they realized what they really wanted was to say “I do” in their favorite place: Cabo San Lucas. But they knew their families wouldn’t be able to attend. So they came up with the perfect solution: Two months after eloping in Mexico, where the couple read their vows to each other in a ceremony on the beach at Pueblo BonitoPacifica, they held a reception at Temecula’s Masia de la Vinya Winery with 100 friends and loved ones. Champagne flowed, Ray LaMontagne’s “You Are the Best Thing” was the soundtrack to their first dance, and guests enjoyed dozens of delectable appetizers amid the cocktail party atmosphere.

“We liked the idea of eloping and having the entire day be about our love,” says Brenna of the couple’s Cabo San Lucas ceremony.

“Once I saw it I knew it was going to be my dress,” Brenna says of her Stephen Yearick gown. “It fits my personality and what I had always envisioned for myself on my wedding day.”

The Pueblo Bonito Pacifica provided the perfect backdrop for the couple’s stunning wedding day photos.

“My favorite color is purple and I always dreamed of having purple flowers at my wedding, ever since I was a little girl,” Brenna says. “Of course I needed some sparkle, which led us to add the gold.”

The couple didn’t have a bridal party at their ceremony in Cabo, but for the reception, Brenna had her five closest girlfriends help her get ready.

“We fell in love the second we toured Masia de la Vinya, with its Spanish accents and delicious wines,” Brenna says. “It just felt like the perfect place to celebrate with our friends and family.”