The Perfect Shenandoah National Park Elopement Timeline

As a Shenandoah National Park elopement photographer, I’ve had a lot of experience building elopement day timelines for couples. Because here’s the thing — your elopement deserves so much more than “just a few photos of the ceremony.”

When you work with me, we craft an experience.

Think of it this way: a wedding budget of $29,000 goes a whole lot farther for 15 people than it does for 150. The same logic works for the timeline. A wedding day for 15 has a whole lot more possibilities than it does for 150.

You could:

• Go on a sunrise hike
• Have a hot air balloon ride
• Go paddle boarding or canoeing
• Go to Luray caverns
• Hire a private chef for an intimate meal

Really, the day can look like whatever you want it to.

But typically, the couples I work with have three “formats” to how they structure their time.

**Quick disclaimer. This is how my packages are structured as of March 2023, but packages can and do change without notice**

Sunrise-Sunset Shenandoah National Park Elopement Timeline

My sunrise/sunset package is my most popular elopement package. (For information on Shenandoah National Park elopement packages, click here.) It gives you eight hours of coverage, but you can split that coverage into the morning and afternoon, which allows you to take advantage of the best light on either end of the day. It also lets you “split your luck” so to speak in case you get inclement weather in either the morning or afternoon.

8 hour Sunrise-Sunset Elopement Timeline for Shenandoah National Park:

Morning

4:45am Meet at trailhead
5:00am Start hiking
5:25am Arrive at summit and change
5:45am First look
6:00am Sunrise + portraits

7:00am Ceremony
7:30am Family photos
8:00am Breakfast picnic
9:00am Clean up and hike back down
9:45am Back at cars

BREAK

Evening

6:30pm Get dressed together
7:00pm Candids and cocktails
7:30pm Dinner and toasts
8:20pm Sunset and first dances

9:00pm Campfire and star photos

9:30pm Photography coverage ends

Eight Hour Elopement Inspiration

6 Hour Shenandoah National Park Elopement Timeline

This is a continuous coverage package meaning the hours can’t be split. But it’s a great fit for couples who only want to have one hike in their day or are planning their ceremony at an overlook.

3:30pm Detail shots and getting ready at Airbnb

4:30pm Dressed (separately)
4:45pm First look
5:00pm Ceremony at Airbnb
5:30pm Family photos
6:00pm Catered dinner at Airbnb

7:00pm Couple heads to overlook for sunset photos
7:45pm Sunset portraits
8:20pm Sunset itself

8:30pm Head back to Airbnb

9:15pm First dances around campfire

9:30pm Photography coverage ends

You can see the six hour package covers quite a bit, but you definitely are going to feel a little more rushed than if you have eight + hours of coverage. Six hours can be a good fit for some people, but a lot of the magic photography happens in the in-between unrushed, unscripted moments. The less time you have, the more your day is going to feel like a photoshoot rather than an experience.

Six Hour Elopement Inspiration

Four Hour Shenandoah National Park Elopement Timeline

A four hour elopement in Shenandoah National Park is really only enough time for ceremony, portraits and picnic.

I usually do this format at sunrise and it’s almost always a two-person only elopement.

Timeline:

4:45am Meet at trailhead
5:00am Start hiking
5:25am Arrive at summit and change
5:45am First look
6:00am Sunrise + portraits

7:00am Ceremony
7:30am Breakfast picnic

8:15am Head back to cars

8:45am Photography coverage ends

Four Hour Elopement Inspiration

A four hour elopement is pretty quick. And honestly, if you can at all swing it, I truly believe your day deserves so much more than just ceremony, portraits and a quick picnic. You deserve for the full story of your day to be documented. So you can remember how you felt when you were getting ready and full of jitters or what the sky looked like when the sun was down and the stars were coming up. You deserve to soak it all in. To take your time. To give each other the gift of just being with one another on this incredible day that you say “yes — I choose you.”