Deidre & Rebecca | Museum Hill Wedding — Santa Fe Wedding Photographer
Deidre & Rebecca | Fall Wedding at Museum Hill — Santa Fe
There's a moment during golden hour at Museum Hill where the sun drops behind the trees and the light goes completely soft and warm — backlit, hazy, everything glowing. Deidre and Rebecca were standing in it, holding hands, eyes closed, just breathing. That's the photograph. That's the whole wedding in one frame.
Museum Hill sits on a rise above Santa Fe, home to four of the city's most important cultural institutions: the Museum of International Folk Art, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, and the Wheelwright Museum. The Milner Plaza connects them — a sculpture-lined courtyard surrounded by classic New Mexico adobe architecture with massive wooden doors, iron-grille windows, vigas, and desert landscaping that turns gold in autumn. It's one of Santa Fe's most distinctive event spaces, and on a fall evening with the right light, there's nothing like it.
The Ceremony
Deidre and Rebecca's ceremony was elegant and deeply personal. Inside the gallery space, the warm adobe walls created an intimate setting — no fuss, no excess, just the two of them exchanging vows with an officiant in a bow tie and the sound of live strings filling the room. The cellist's binder was open to Ave Maria, and if you've ever heard Schubert's arrangement played live during a wedding ceremony, you know exactly what that does to a room.
The wardrobe told its own story. Rebecca wore a floor-length sequined gown — gold and magenta floral beading that caught every shift in the light. Deidre was in a tailored dark navy suit with a satin lapel, clean and sharp. Together, they struck a balance between glamour and groundedness that defined the entire evening.
The Portraits
We stepped outside for portraits as the sun was going down, and Museum Hill delivered. The sculpture gardens gave us one-of-a-kind backdrops — bronze figures with autumn leaves overhead, carved stone faces catching sidelight, metal folk art silhouettes against the desert sky. Every few steps was a different frame, a different texture, a different conversation between the art and the couple.
The shot with Rebecca in front of the warrior sculpture — sequined gown shimmering, arms open, the towering figure looming behind her against a deep blue sky — is pure Santa Fe. You can't get that anywhere else.
Why Museum Hill Is One of Santa Fe's Most Unique Wedding Venues
Museum Hill isn't a hotel or an event hall — it's a cultural campus on a hilltop. The Milner Plaza and surrounding grounds give you adobe architecture, sculpture gardens, desert landscaping, and views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains all in one location. For couples who want their wedding to feel like Santa Fe — not a generic ballroom with Southwestern accents, but actually, deeply Santa Fe — this is the venue.
The outdoor spaces are lined with sculpture from the city's gallery tradition — bronze figures, carved stone, metal work — which means your portrait backgrounds are literally museum-quality art. The iron-grille doors, the massive adobe facades, the autumn cottonwoods dropping gold leaves onto cobblestone paths — it all photographs beautifully from midday through sunset. And when the light goes golden, the adobe walls warm up in a way that flatters skin tones and makes everything look like a painting.
The ceremony can happen inside or out, and the Plaza accommodates everything from intimate gatherings to larger receptions. It's a short drive from the historic Santa Fe Plaza, Canyon Road, and downtown — but elevated above the city in a way that makes it feel like its own world.
Deidre and Rebecca — your wedding was elegant, warm, and completely you. The music, the setting, the light, the love. Thank you for trusting me with it.
Book Your Wedding Photographer at Museum Hill
Planning a wedding at Museum Hill or anywhere in Santa Fe? As featured in New Mexico Magazine, I know this city, these venues, and this light inside and out. Reach out and let's create something unforgettable.
