The Benefits of Eloping : What is an Elopement

A wedding day is often flooded with certain expectations. 

Maybe it’s a venue big enough to hold all the guests you invited. Even if you don’t know them all that well. 

Perhaps it’s a scripted ceremony in front of watchful eyes (even if some were more voyeuristic than celebratory).

Sometimes, it means a big party packed with enough food and drinks for all. Even if your favorite meal or cocktail isn’t on the menu. 

Something I think every couple out there should know is this: Getting married today can look totally different. 

The wedding world is ripe with possibilities–hundreds of guests or no guests at all; a huge venue or a quaint, coastal space; a buffet line of food or a private chef creating a culinary experience in front of you. 

There are extreme ends of the spectrum, but limitless options populate every space between them. 

Eloping is one of those options–but even within itself lies a vast and exciting span of unique opportunities.

One of my missions as an elopement photographer is to gently push the door open for couples. To show them what an elopement could look like, the benefits of eloping, and what types of elopements are out there. 

But more than anything, to show them how to choose bliss on their wedding day. No matter what kind of wedding they choose. 

Pictured: A couple eloping on top of a mountain in the Columbia River Gorge with their best friend officiating.

An Intimate Elopement–Where Intention & Experience Meet

The definition of an elopement is going to differ depending on who you ask. 

To some, an elopement could mean:

• A courthouse wedding: an intimate ceremony of just you and your partner 
• A Vegas shindig: bright and sparkling with excitement 
• An adventurous experience: boots, backpacks, and all 
• A once-in-a-lifetime destination: a luxurious event, exploring a new place in awe together 

For me, an elopement can’t truly be defined by the type of event it is. 

It’s more of a feeling encompassed in an experience. It’s where your intention and your overall desire collide in a grounded, romantic way. 

An elopement is the ultimate freedom (even more so than a micro-wedding). Whether you invite a few loved ones or choose just to experience it with your partner. It all comes down to what’s meaningful for you. 

Something I often tell my couples is that eloping should feel like their honeymoon. It’s relaxing, stress-free, and blissful–you’re focused entirely on what you both want to experience and feel. 

Your elopement should feel seamless, light, and grounded–like you’re exactly where you’re meant to be in every moment of it. 

Elopements can–and should!–include creative wedding vendors to help you achieve that honeymoon feeling, too.

It all goes back to what’s important to you–food, thoughtful design details, experiences. Lean on creative vendors to help you envision and execute that honeymoon feeling you’re chasing.

Pictured: A couple eloping, just the two of them, on the edge of an alpine lake in the Colorado San Juan mountains.

The Feeling of Intimate Elopements  

Something most pro-elopement folks would tell you about them is that are no rules–and that’s something I believe, too. It’s the ultimate balance of doing exactly what you both want to do without having to juggle the desires of your loved ones. 

One of the benefits of eloping is that an elopement can look and feel like anything. 

Just you and your partner blending your love of exploring new places with your obsession for the tastiest food. You spend the morning getting ready together in a cute Airbnb on the Oregon coastline. You mozy through your day, making your way to a seaside meadow for an intimate ceremony. Your private chef appears with the curated charcuterie picnic of your dreams. You soak it all in as slowly and meaningfully as you’d always desired. 

You, your partner, and your four closest loved ones head to the Hawaiian destination of your dreams. Days before your wedding, you snorkel, sample all the fresh poke, share fresh-squeezed juices, and experience the beauty of the islands. On your wedding, you all gather at a cliffside venue overlooking the water–the aesthetic inside blending with the stunning outside. Your wedding day seamlessly flows into your honeymoon–in feeling and in experience. 

These are just two scenarios in a world of endless possibilities. But I share them to explain it as clearly as possible–your elopement can be anything you want it to be. 

Pictured: An elopement in Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park. A sweet moment between the couple as he draws hearts in the sand pressed onto her back.

Is an Elopement Right For You? Four Benefits of Eloping to Help You Decide

Write Down What You Want to Feel 

One of the best ways to decide what kind of wedding is right for you and your partner is to focus on the feeling. 

If you’re debating between a micro-wedding, an elopement, or a bigger wedding, ask yourself this– 

“Above all–what feeling are we chasing?” 

What feelings do you want to evoke? 

If you’re after a day immersed in nothing but love, intention, and romantic experience woven between you and your partner, an intimate elopement might be the perfect avenue. 

Looking to prioritize warmth, love, and infinite support from all your closest people on a day you never want to forget, a micro-wedding could be the right choice. 

If you’re chasing a celebration that feels bigger and bolder than the day itself, surrounded by every important person in your life, maybe a big, traditional wedding is your route. 

Talk Through the Differences 

Being honest about how you want your day to feel is the first step. Having a clear understanding of the options available to you is the next. 

Truthfully, there are thousands of different ways to get married. But the most common I’ve seen tend to fall into three categories: elopements, micro-weddings, and traditional weddings. 

Take the time to talk through each of these kinds of weddings with your partner. Be honest about how you feel about each, what you think the benefits of each are, and what negatives might exist. 

Talk about what you want the focal point of your day to be and who you want to be included. Put your heads together and brainstorm a creative (but honest) picture of what each kind of day would look and feel like. 

There’s no right or wrong way to get married. It truly depends on what sparks joy for you, who you want standing by your side, and what you want your experience to feel like. 

Have the Budget Chat 

Every couple’s budget is different–but so are their goals and the experience they’re chasing. 

A wedding budget can do wildly different things based on what you’re looking for. For the sake of an example, let’s say a couple’s wedding budget is $30,000. 

If they’re leaning toward a micro-wedding, that budget could get them a beautiful venue, perhaps a catered dinner, and a few other details that are important to them (like floral design). 

The plot twist is this: that budget, when applied to a destination elopement, can inarguably get them something very different. 

That venue-dinner-and-florals suddenly turns into a destination elopement in a place they’ve dreamed of exploring. Imagine a catered meal from a private chef standing right in front of them, or even a luxury excursion that’s been on their bucket list. 

It’s not “more” or “better”–it’s different. How you and your partner want to allocate your budget and what you both want to experience are conversations that work hand in hand.

Think About What’s Most Important to You

We live in a world of social media weddings that feel immaculate and iconic. Looking to these weddings for inspiration is never a bad thing. Seeing beautiful ideas come to life is and should be inspirational. 

But when you’re choosing the kind of wedding that feels beautiful and fitting for you and your partner, it’s important to shift the focus to what’s most important to you.

For a moment, forget the puzzle pieces of your wedding–the florals, the design, the food, the outfit changes. Subtract all the elements and let your day exist as a thought and a feeling inside your heart. 

Think about the intention of your wedding–the emotions, the experiences, the love you want to feel immersed in. 

What’s most important to you and your partner? 

Then, work backward. 

Add back in the puzzle pieces and elements that align with that vision, those feelings, and that day. 

Pictured: A couple eloping in Redwoods National Park amongst giant redwoods and magical ferns.

Elopement Photography to Capture Every Intentional Moment 

The day you choose to get married should be about the feeling of it all–but so should every moment after you spend reflecting on it. Your elopement should be saturated in experience, intentionality, and love. It should be a day you wish you could relive time and time again. 

The images of that day should be the magic piece that sends you back there. Every moment captured as a time capsule, whisking you back to lounging seaside in the sand after your vows on a coastline. Slowing time down just enough to remind you of that look you shared after the first bite of your gourmet dinner. 

Whatever you choose, whatever you chase–I’m here to capture and create those chances to step back into one of the best days of your life with the love of your life.

When you’re ready, reach out to me to talk more about elopement photography or micro-wedding photography that captures your day at its most authentic, iconic, and romantic.