Abigail & Dylan | The Mystic Wedding — Santa Fe Wedding Photographer
Abigail & Dylan | Fall Wedding at The Mystic — Santa Fe
Some venues have history. Some have style. The Mystic has both — and an energy that's entirely its own. Abigail and Dylan's October wedding here was the kind of night where the desert, the details, and the love all lined up at once.
The Mystic started life in 1953 as the Silver Saddle Motor Lodge on the original Route 66. In 2022, Amanda Tucker and Rick Goldberg — a husband-and-wife team from Houston who fell in love with Santa Fe — acquired the property for $2.5 million and poured over a million more into transforming it into something completely new. They kept the bones and the soul of the old motor lodge but reimagined every inch of it: globally sourced design with African, Mexican, and Native American influences, a bohemian desert aesthetic, and a 13,000-square-foot outdoor event space they built from scratch called the High Desert Hideaway.
That backyard is where the magic happens. And on an October night with Abigail and Dylan, it absolutely did.
The Details
The styling for this wedding was effortless and personal in the best way. Abigail's gown was a flowing off-shoulder silhouette with billowy chiffon sleeves — romantic without being fussy, and perfectly suited to the desert setting. A pearl cluster hair pin caught the light every time the breeze moved her dark curled hair, and her gold leaf earrings with pearl drops added just enough warmth to tie everything together.
Then there was the bouquet. Magenta dahlias, lavender roses, yellow ranunculus, white cosmos, blue delphinium, and orange accents — it looked like someone had gathered every wildflower in New Mexico and tied them together. Against the coyote fence and desert greenery, it popped in every single frame.
And the welcome table told you everything you needed to know about this couple. Gold-framed signage surrounded by loose wildflower arrangements in magenta, yellow, and orange. But the best detail? Custom photo boxes covered with pictures of Abigail and Dylan — and their cat. Selfies, silly faces, and the cat front and center. That's when you know the wedding is going to be fun.
The Ceremony & Portraits
October light in Santa Fe doesn't miss. The air was cool, the sun was dropping golden behind the trees, and everything had that warm backlit glow that makes portraits feel alive.
The veil shots from this wedding are some of my favorites I've ever taken. There's a moment where they're both under the lace appliqué veil — leaf and vine embroidery framing their faces — and they're just laughing. His hand on her waist, her hand on his chest, foreheads almost touching. The bokeh behind them is all golden orbs from the sunlight filtering through the trees. No direction needed. They found each other and I found the light.
The tighter frame tells the rest of the story — her face in sharp focus under the veil, laughing with her eyes nearly closed, the pearl cluster pin catching light, while he's soft in the foreground. It's the kind of intimacy that only happens when two people forget the camera is there.
Dylan cleaned up in a dark charcoal suit with a crisp white shirt and a light blue tie — understated, classic, and a perfect contrast to the organic warmth of everything around them. In the garden portraits they looked like they'd been styled for an editorial, except nobody told them what to do. He was just looking at her, and she was just being herself.
Why The Mystic Is One of Santa Fe's Most Exciting Wedding Venues
The Mystic isn't your traditional Santa Fe wedding venue — and that's exactly the point. It's a renovated Route 66 motor lodge with a 1960s Shasta trailer converted into an outdoor bar, an I-beam fountain in front of a small stage, a massive hand-painted desert mural, and a retro-meets-modern vibe you won't find anywhere else in New Mexico.
The 13,000-square-foot High Desert Hideaway can handle up to 150 guests comfortably for dinner and dancing under the stars. Guests can stay in the boutique motel rooms on-site, and the High Desert Cafe keeps the party going with craft cocktails and live music. It's ten minutes from the Plaza, Canyon Road, and Museum Hill — close enough to everything but far enough to feel like an escape.
For photographers, this venue is a playground. The textures alone — adobe, corrugated metal, hand-painted murals, desert plants, string lights against a night sky — give you a completely different look around every corner. And when the sun drops and the fire pit comes alive, the portraits practically take themselves.
The Reception
When the sun dropped and the flash came out, this wedding shifted gears. The slow-sync reception work from this night has that drag-shutter energy I love — string lights streaking overhead, motion blur from dancing guests swirling behind a sharp subject, the whole frame vibrating with movement.
There's a shot of Dylan on the dance floor — vest and silver tie, jacket long gone, the string lights above him smearing into gold streaks from the slow shutter. He's sharp in the center while the whole party blurs around him. That's what a good reception looks like through a camera. Not posed, not staged. Just someone having the best night of their life while the photographer gets in the middle of it.
Abigail and Dylan — your wedding was everything a Santa Fe celebration should be. Warm, wild, personal, and completely you. The cat on the photo boxes. The wildflower bouquet that looked like it grew out of the desert floor. The way you two laughed under that veil like nobody else existed. Thank you for letting me capture all of it.
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Book Your Wedding Photographer at The Mystic
Planning a wedding at The Mystic or anywhere in Santa Fe? As featured in New Mexico Magazine, I've shot multiple weddings at this venue and know every angle, every light shift, and every frame waiting to happen. Reach out and let's make your day unforgettable.
