Isabel and Adam got married at El Chorro on a Saturday afternoon in May, and by the time the sky over Camelback Mountain went gold during cocktail hour, I’d already filled several memory cards with moments I didn’t want to stop shooting. Their day mixed Jewish tradition — a chuppah on the flagstone, seven blessings, the glass break that sent the whole lawn into cheering — with the kind of loose, family-heavy celebration that turns a reception into one long toast. Here’s a look inside that day: the details, the light, and the parts of El Chorro that make it one of my favorite venues in Paradise Valley to photograph.
Design + Details
Isabel and Adam built their day around soft greens and ivory, and it showed up everywhere — the moss-covered arch under the chuppah, the olive hedges the bridal party walked through for portraits, the anthuriums and dahlias in the bouquets. Mint Green handled the florals, and their work held up from the ceremony lawn straight through to the reception tables, where low arrangements left room for guests to actually see each other across the table instead of talking around a centerpiece.
The paper suite, from Celebrations in Paper, carried that same restrained palette onto the invitations and place cards, and BBJ La Tavola’s linens gave the reception tables a soft, textured base rather than a flat one. Abakeshop’s cake sat simply on its own stand rather than fighting for attention. What I keep coming back to when I look through this gallery is how well the whole thing worked with the venue instead of against it — El Chorro already has texture, stone, and old trees to spare, so the design leaned into that instead of covering it up. Camelback Mountain sat in the background of nearly every reception table shot, which is not something you can order from a vendor.
Photographing a Wedding at El Chorro
El Chorro’s light changes on you all afternoon, which is part of why I love shooting here. Early portraits in the olive hedge walkway are soft and even; by cocktail hour on the Casa Paloma patio, the light turns low and gold and everything gets a little more dramatic without me doing much of anything. I got a few aerial shots during that window — the courtyard and lawn read completely differently from above, and it’s one of the only ways to actually show how the ceremony and reception spaces relate to each other on the property.
The chuppah ceremony itself is one of my favorite things to shoot here — the flagstone patio gives it a natural stage, open on all sides, with Isabel and Adam framed by the trees and Camelback beyond them. Once the sun dropped, the venue’s own lighting took over almost entirely, so I spent the rest of the night working with candlelight and string lights rather than fighting them.
Ceremony + Reception
The ceremony had all the moments that make a Jewish wedding feel different from a typical one: the ketubah signing beforehand, the kiddush cup, the wrapping of the tallit, and the glass break that got a roar out of every row of guests. Isabel’s parents walked her down the aisle together, and I caught more than one guest wiping their eyes before the couple even reached the chuppah.
The reception never really slowed down. The hora had people passing chairs overhead within minutes of the toasts ending, the father-daughter dance pulled the whole crowd in close, and by the time dinner wrapped, the party had moved off the lawn and inside to a checkered dance floor under a string of disco balls for a proper after-party. Isabel changed into a second dress somewhere in there, which tells you everything about how long that dance floor stayed full. Even the exit felt earned rather than staged — guests spilled out toward the golf carts still talking over each other about the toasts.
The Moments I Keep Coming Back To
The moments I keep coming back to from this day aren’t the posed ones — they’re the ones nobody scheduled. The hora, the family photos that turned into everyone talking over each other, the toasts that ran long because nobody wanted to stop. Isabel and Adam built a timeline with real room in it, and that room is exactly where the best frames came from — not from directing people, but from people forgetting I was there.
Vendor Credits
- Venue: El Chorro
- Planning & Design: MADE Event Company
- Florals: Mint Green
- Cake: Abakeshop
- Videography: Solara Film Co.
- Linens: BBJ La Tavola
- Paper Suite: Celebrations in Paper
- Hair & Makeup: HVH Faces
- Music: Lucky Devils
- Rentals: Event Rents, Hazel Grove, Confetti Studio, Divinity
- Transportation: Joyride Golf Carts
- Coffee Cart: Caffio Espresso
Planning a Wedding at El Chorro?
If you’re planning a wedding at El Chorro or anywhere else in Paradise Valley, I’d love to hear what you’re putting together. You can see more of my work in my portfolio, get to know me a little better on my about page, or get in touch. And if El Chorro is on your list, you can also take a look at another wedding I photographed there for a completely different feel at the same property.