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What a Full-Day Elopement Looks Like

Elopement Inspo, Elopement Planning Tips

August 18, 2020

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I have three elopement packages currently. They start at four hours of coverage and go up to eight. My most popular package is six hours. Which for some people sounds absolutely crazy. What do you DO for an eight-hour elopement?? The short answer is “Whatever you want!” Here’s the thing — for most of my couples, their elopement IS their wedding day. And your wedding day deserves so much more than “just a ceremony and a few photos.”

You deserve it to be special, memorable, stress-free, and an experience the two of you will enjoy not only while it’s going on, but to look back on forever.

So when I’m shooting elopements, I cover from getting ready to ceremony to portraits to celebration, with all the adventures in between.

Take Kelly and Jim. Kelly originally contacted me to shoot their wedding at a really cool new venue in Charlottesville. At the time, they were looking at a September date, but my fall fills up fast and we had a hard time finding a date that worked for both of us.

Then COVID hit. And they decided they didn’t want to postpone their wedding until the pandemic was over, so they decided to elope in Washington D.C. instead.

Table of Contents

Kelly and Jim’s Wedding Day Story

I met them at their DC home.

When I got there, the Paperboys, a local to Washington videography company, had already started filming. I set up detail shots while they interviewed Kelly. Kelly owns a design company called The Interior Edit in which she helps clients simplify their space and add back in intentional, beautiful pieces that reflect them and their personality.

So the decorations she had at home were all thoughtfully curated and I incorporated them into the detail shots of her dress and shoes and jewelry a little bit.

Kelly did her own hair and makeup. For those of you who are good at it, this is a good choice. You want to look like yourself on your wedding day! The most beautiful version of yourself, but yourself.

A bit more on being yourself… When I got married, I had the HARDEST time finding a wedding dress because everything I tried on at the local bridal boutique was big and ornate. They were beautiful dresses, but I didn’t recognize the person staring back at me in the mirror and was inherently uncomfortable because of it.

So with things like hair and makeup, if you do want someone else to do it, find an artist who enhances your natural look rather than making you somewhat unrecognizable. If you need recommendations, let me know, I’m happy to help =).

Most men don’t wear makeup, including Jim. So he got ready relatively quickly in their bedroom and then came out to the living room to help zip up Kelly’s dress. One of the great things about eloping is that you can help one another get ready if you choose. It can be really special and intimate.

Side note: Kelly wore a dress from ASOS, which is one of the most popular places my couples choose for their dresses because they are beautiful, relatively inexpensive, and have free returns if you don’t like how it fits. For more information on the best dresses for your elopement, check out this blog post.

After they were ready, they packed up a picnic and headed over to Theodore Roosevelt Island for their ceremony, with me tagging along. Rain had threatened all day, but held off until….we got to their ceremony location. They had scouted a little beach by the Potomac River and that’s where they chose to exchange their vows. Fun fact: DC is a self-solemnizing state. Which means you do not need an officiant! You can marry yourselves and craft your ceremony however you choose. (The only other state in the mid-Atlantic where you can self-solemnize is Pennsylvania.)

Kelly and Jim read a passage from the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, read personal vows to one another, and exchanged rings, all while rain gently fell. Because they were under trees, the foliage protected them from most of the water, and Jim held a clear umbrella over them for the rest. I actually own eight clear umbrellas that I always bring with me to elopements and weddings! That way, if it does rain, we simply grab the umbrellas and keep on keeping on until the rain breaks. So rain on your wedding day is NOT a tragedy –it can be really beautiful as it was for Kelly and Jim. In fact, if it HADN’T rained on their wedding day it would have been really bright and their photos wouldn’t have evoked the same romantic intimacy! In the original elopement plan, they were going to have a picnic by the river after their ceremony, but then the light rain turned to hard rain, and we all ended up taking shelter under a bridge instead.

They set out a blanket, pulled out a mini-pie a local baker had made for them instead of cake and noshed on a picnic basket full of cheese and crackers and other delicious charcuterie-type goodies, all complemented by a bottle of champagne. Both sets of parents had written letters, so while they ate, they took turns reading the letters to one another and even snuck in a quick FaceTime call.

After about ten minutes, the videographers and I stepped away to give them a chance to enjoy their picnic in private. One of the gifts of elopements, is taking TIME to yourselves to just enjoy it. I’ll step away and will usually take a few shots from a distance but really leave you to just BE together. You do not get that at a traditional wedding…it’s go, go, go!

We then booked it over to a local park where friends and family and a live band were waiting to congratulate Kelly and Jim and celebrate them doing their first dance. The band played from the shelter of a dry cleaners’ awning and their music drifted across the street. At that point, they were pretty soaked, so they ditched the umbrellas and danced in the rain. Family and friends stood under a ceiling of colorful umbrellas and then joined them for a few group dances, while onlookers shouted well wishes as they passed. A “guest” brought champagne and tiny paper cups and passed it around for any who wanted to partake. Then the newlyweds headed home and changed into dry clothes, eating Mexican food from their favorite local restaurant to end the day.

Now that’s a memorable marriage experience!

What Can a Full-Day Elopement Look Like?

But what if you aren’t eloping in a city?

You can:

Pick several different locations — a waterfall, a hike, a meadow and explore them all
Hire a private chef to make a dinner for you back in your Airbnb or VRBO
Do a sunrise/sunset hot air balloon ride
Pack a brunch picnic and mimosas and watch the sun come up from the back of your pickup truck from one of the many stunning overlooks on Skyline Drive or the Blue Ridge Parkway
Explore some of the local breweries and vineyards
Book a guided bike/canoe/climbing/caving/horseback riding trip
Climb the Via Ferrata or go ziplining
Float down the river in tubes
Pick up takeout and eat it in bed
Set up hammocks by the river and watch the clouds go by
Go to a concert or hear outdoor live music
Take portraits in the Virginia Museum of Fine Art
Go for a swim in a local swimming hole or lake
Rent a pontoon boat, drink beer and listen to music
Go tubing or jet-skiing on one of Virginia’s large lakes
Eat at a fancy restaurant and stroll along downtown afterward

When it gets colder, think fireside gatherings (inside or outside), hot tubs, snowboarding, and even snowshoeing. Canaan Valley just across the border in West Virginia, Snowshoe, Massanutten and Wintergreen are all great local options for snow-based adventure weddings.

Basically — the sky is the limit for what you do. When you elope, there are no rules. So sit down together and figure out: What do we love to do together? Then build your day around that.