Rachel and David got married on the lawn at Marbella Country Club in San Juan Capistrano, with the fairways rolling out green behind them and the eucalyptus holding the last of the California sun. Their ceremony arch was a full circle of white roses, hydrangea, and greenery, tall enough to frame both of them from the aisle. Rachel wore a satin ballgown with a square neckline and a cathedral veil edged in lace that ran the whole length of her train, and David and his groomsmen stood in black tuxedos with white rose boutonnieres. When he dipped her for the kiss, the whole aisle clapped, and Dreamwood Media Group caught the frame a half second before it, when she is already laughing.

Black and white held all day, and the restraint is what makes it read as elegant rather than busy. The bridesmaids wore floor-length black gowns and carried loose white roses with stock and soft greenery, and Rachel’s bouquet was the same flowers in a fuller shape. Their dog came along in a small white dress and sat for portraits like it was part of the plan. Every photograph from the getting-ready hours has somebody laughing in it, which tells you more about this couple than a shot list ever could.

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The reception moved to the terrace above the course, where long tables ran under strings of café lights with white linens, black napkins folded around printed menu cards, and low white roses in black footed compotes. A sweetheart table sat under a second floral arch while the sun dropped behind the hills. David lifted Rachel clean off her feet during their first dance, they poured a champagne tower together and drank from the top coupes with the foam still running over the sides, and they cut a three-tier white cake finished with fresh roses. Rachel changed into a strapless satin gown for the party, which is the move I recommend to anyone who wants to dance in something lighter than a ballgown.

Dreamwood Media Group photographed and filmed the day, and the thing I keep going back to in the gallery is how much of it Rachel and David spent looking at each other. The dip on the empty fairway at golden hour with her train fanned out across the grass. The two of them behind that stack of coupes. The quiet minute by the cake before anybody else came over. Dreamwood shoots stills and film side by side, which is why these frames sit still and move at the same time, and it is a good fit for a course at five in the afternoon when the light does most of the work. Rachel and David stood hand in hand at the start of a new chapter and built a day as graceful as they are, and the gallery below holds onto all of it.

Where is Marbella Country Club? Marbella Country Club sits at 30800 Golf Club Drive in San Juan Capistrano, in south Orange County, California, about ten minutes inland from Dana Point Harbor.

What does a wedding at Marbella Country Club look like? Couples marry outdoors on the lawn with the championship golf course and rolling hills behind them, then move to a terrace or ballroom for dinner and dancing. The Mediterranean architecture, cypress trees, and green fairways do most of the decorating on their own, which is why a restrained palette like Rachel and David’s black and white works so well there.