Insider Knowledge About Planning An Intentional Elopement from a Seasoned Elopement Photographer
Set on eloping but not sure what the day will look like? Look no further! Molly from Nomadic Weddings is an amazing elopement photographer (and Tapestry affiliate partner!) here in the PNW and beyond. She’s sharing all of her insider knowledge on what to expect from the day and tips for planning an intentional elopement that feels authentic to you.
Images courtesy of Nomadic Weddings
Heck yeah! You and your partner have decided to elope but now the questions begin flooding in. What do we even do on an elopement day? How much photography coverage should we have? Will this just feel like an all day photoshoot since it’s just us?
All totally valid questions, my friends! For a quick intro, I’m Molly the lead photographer at Nomadic Weddings. I specialize in adventure elopements here in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. And I am here to provide some helpful insight into the questions above and more. There is no roadmap to planning elopements like there is traditional weddings! Traditional weddings have been following a formula for decades. The beauty with elopements is that you get to customize every. single. part. of. your. day!
First things first, I do recommend sitting down with your boo and having a date night where you two just dream big and talk about the overall vision of the day. This part is extremely insightful and will help guide your planning going forward. So dream big and don’t worry about the logistics because we will sort out the rest during the planning process. Questions to ask yourself might include: why are we choosing to elope? what does the perfect day look like to us? what are our favorite activities to do together? These will start as jumping off points and see where the conversation takes you.
With your ideas in place, it’s time to begin crafting the perfect day! Elopements are so much more than a ceremony and wedding portraits. Remember those answers to what does a perfect day look like & what are our favorite activities to do together? Well, those are perfect answers to craft your day around! I’ve worked with couples who love wine tasting and opted to have a blind wine tasting during their day! Another couple knew they wanted to “start their life off together with a difficult hike because if they can do that they can do anything together!” Truly, the day is your oyster and don’t let your impressions of what a wedding day looks like inhibit your vision!
Let’s talk about feeling awkward in front of the camera. We all feel it! And I bet I can guess, somewhere on “why we are eloping” list you have written down, we don’t like being the center of attention. I totally feel that! Its one of the reasons my husband and I eloped! With such an important day and meaningful moments, we didn’t want prying eyes and judgements of guests to deal with. If you follow the date night brainstorming session, find an elopement photographer your jive with, and craft your day around what you two love doing, then you will never worry about feeling awkward! Having activities and plans for your day will naturally give you two something to focus on and your elopement photographer ways to capture amazing candids.
Above, I mentioned finding a photographer that you jive with. This is so darn important and one of the first things you should be doing when starting your elopement planning! Your photographer is with you the whole day so having calls before signing contracts is important to gauge that you have similar interests/personalities and that their shooting style sounds appealing, not frightening! And don't worry about feeling awkward in front of the camera – a good photographer will help make you feel comfortable and natural, and will work with you to capture the shots you want.
On your day, your photographer is going to help guide you through the timeline that was set up. By crafting a timeline that now only allows for all the pieces of the day to come together but also time for your photographer to get creative with their shots! For example, carving out ~2hrs for details and getting ready is what I find the sweet spot to be. I can create enticing flat lay detail shots and get creative images of you two getting ready. Plus, that little bit of extra time just helps the day feel relaxed. Throughout the day, your photographer will be grabbing images up close but with time allotting, they can also get those huge sweeping landscape shots too! One of my favorite parts during ceremonies and other emotionally heavy moments is to grab not only scene setting shots (think wide shots with the entire wedding in it) but also smaller detail shots, like a tear rolling down a face or that really annoying bird that is chirping loudly. The end goal of all of this is to craft a story through your images!
Intentional weddings and elopements are built with choosing to show up authentically during the planning process. When you craft a day that makes you beyond excited, you know that there will be no room for awkwardness. Only room for love and magic! And come the big day, your photographer will have all the tools ready to tell your love story through stunning imagery!