Top 5 Reasons To Have An All-Day Elopement
Couples choose to elope for many reasons, chief among them being the ability to have exactly the day they want without catering to what anyone else wants it to look like. There’s a common misconception, though, that when you elope it means only a few hours instead of the full day affair of a traditional wedding.
While you totally can do a half-day elopement, it means missing out on the total experience you can get by dedicating an entire day to celebrating your marriage! If you’re looking for the adventure of a lifetime on your wedding day, an all-day elopement is definitely worth the investment.
Why Your Elopement Wedding Should Be Just as Long as a Traditional Wedding
1. A Stress-free Elopement Day
Eloping is already way less stressful than a traditional wedding. You don’t have to worry about keeping other people happy or spend tons of money on food, decorations, and a venue for the most expensive party of your life.
If you opt for an all-day elopement, your wedding day will be even less stressful! No more checking the time every ten minutes to make sure you’ll be able to get in all the shots you want. No disappointment at realizing we’ll only have time for half the stuff you wanted to do. No meeting up for a sunrise kick-off and finishing at noon, leaving the entire rest of the day to wish you’d had time for more.
2. More Locations
Because of all the extra time afforded by an all-day elopement, you don’t have to prioritize only one or two locations for your elopement ceremony and photos—we have time to do it all! Having a full day gives us the space we need to travel between destinations, and take our time when we get there. The timeline is so much more relaxed, which again, means less stress!
3. Time for Breaks (and Food!)
Sometimes an elopement can feel rushed if you try to pack too much in. Having plenty of experience with elopements, I help you plan out a timeline for the day so we don’t feel this pressure to go from one thing to the next in rapid succession. But when making that schedule for an all-day elopement, I always find it a lot easier to set aside dedicated time for rest! No photos, no videos, just time to unwind and eat a nice lunch before diving back in.
I even provide an option for my couples with a charcuterie board, creating a super romantic picnic on a mountain top or at the beach where you can take your time snacking on delicious, refreshing goodies (and I can take some super fun candid shots!)
4. Sunrise and Sunset
How’s this for all-day elopement perks: You’ll get stunning photos of your love story at both sunrise and sunset! I’ll scout our location in advance and set the timeline to ensure we reach the perfect location for each event in plenty of time to take lots of gorgeous golden hour photos.
If you only do a half-day elopement, you have to choose between sunrise and sunset (or mid-day). And I just don’t think you should have to choose!
5. Two Day Elopement Option
Some people are just not morning people. I get it. Sunrise might be daunting, or maybe you just don’t think you’ll have the stamina for a full day of elopement activity. Again, this is why eloping is so much better than a traditional wedding!
If you don’t want to take all day but still want to get the most out of your elopement, you can split the event across two days! We can have six hours of fun and exploration at one or two locations, then you two can head back to your Air BnB or hotel to rest before meeting up with me again for part two the next day.
Also, with my 10 or 12 hour packages, I give you the option to split the time up for the same day. This mainly happens during the summer months where the daylight hours provide for more than enough shooting time. For example, with the 12 hour package, you could start at 6:00 a.m. and go until noon then break for 4 hours and start up again at 4:00 p.m. and go until 10:00 p.m. for sunset. Pretty cool, huh?
This is your wedding, and it should be exactly what you want it to be.
What You Get with a Full Day Elopement
Although I dedicate myself 200% to every couple I have the honor of photographing, I go the extra mile for my full day packages. By opting for one of my full day packages, you get:
- 12 hours with me, from sunrise to sunset or split across two days
- Option for a mouth-watering charcuterie board
- My personalized location list
- Dedicated timeline creation and location scouting
- An online gallery full of high-res, edited images plus printing rights within a month of your elopement
- A stunning social media teaser within 48 hours
- $1,500 (10 hr) or $2000 (12 hr) in printing credit to start a photo album or order prints for your home
Here’s something you will definitely need, a couple links to the permits for our most popular elopement locations.
For Yosemite, you will need to do this way ahead of time because they are next to impossible to get ahold of. Also, make sure you read the fine print as they can change quickly. https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/weddings.htm
For Olympic, you also want to make sure that you apply at least 60 days in advance. It’s not very expensive and we may not even get asked for it but getting the permit is still advised.
As an added bonus, my travel expenses are covered for all elopements in the Western United States, plus those taking place anywhere I’m already traveling to at the time of your wedding! If you want to know where I’ll be when you get hitched, contact me and let’s talk about your dream elopement experience
