The Ultimate Elopement Planning Guide: Tips, Tricks, and Advice
Choosing to have an adventure elopement is a brave choice for sure. Once you’ve made up your mind, it can be really exciting and even feel a bit overwhelming at times. If you’re new to the idea of adventure elopements, you’re going to find that they come with so many things you wouldn’t encounter in a traditional wedding. Permits, poor road conditions or closures, waivers and contracts for guided trips, accessibility of running water… you get the picture. But don’t get it wrong, planning an adventure elopement is far less emotionally and mentally taxing than planning a traditional wedding by far. It’s just that elopements are like unexplored territory: they’re so far from what you’re used to thinking of as a typical wedding, that you’re going to encounter things you haven’t even thought to plan for. For some, this is just part of the excitement that planning an adventure elopement brings. Besides, adventuring is all about tackling the unknown.
Every elopement is completely unique, which means that elopement planning will be completely unique from elopement to elopement too. This guide is meant to help you on your adventure elopement journey. It’s not here to tell you how to have your elopement, or that you have to do certain things for your dreams to come true. Look at it as a tool to help you get a framework for a day that you can make completely yours.
Making the Choice to Elope
Making the decision to have an elopement is generally the first step you have to take in planning your elopement. It may seem obvious, but it's important that you and your partner are completely on board with the idea of having an adventure elopement. If you’re struggling to make the choice or just feel uneasy about the whole thing, that’s totally ok. A lot of people who have had amazing elopements felt just like you when they had to make the choice for themselves. If you are on the fence about it, start by thinking about the reasons you might want to have an elopement. This is going to be different for everybody. Maybe it’s because there’s an adventure you’ve always wanted to go on with your partner— it could be as big as a full day rafting trip or as simple as taking a dreamy sunrise hike. Even if you have no idea what you want to do during your elopement, making the choice to elope is also about the values you share with your partner. It could be the simplicity of a small intimate moment, a love of the outdoors, or even the excitement of trying something new.
If you’ve thought about eloping, there’s probably a reason that you can see yourself having one. When you’re deciding whether or not you should elope, focus on those reasons that led you to consider having an elopement in the first place. Those values and dream adventures are what your whole day is going to be about. Really, the most important question to ask yourself when deciding to elope is: what does having an elopement mean to me and my partner? If you can answer that question honestly, you’re going to find yourself one step closer to having your dream day come true.
First Steps: Dreaming Up Your Dream Day
Congrats, you’ve decided that you want to have an adventure elopement! This is a super exciting time for you and your partner, and the biggest question on your mind is probably, “how do I plan one?”. Well, It’s all about taking an idea that you’re in love with and figuring out how to turn that into a full-day experience you will cherish forever.That’s a lot easier said than done, but a great place to start would be to go back to those values and dreamy adventures that led you here in the first place. Keep these things in mind while you’re dreaming up your elopement, or write them down if you have to. It’s always great to come back to them and see if your elopement is in line with the values or ideas you started out with.
With those things in mind, you’ll really start to get a bigger picture of how you want your elopement to go. This is where you can think about how the things you do with your partner during your elopement reflect those values you’ve been thinking so much about. If having an elopement is about simplicity for you and your partner, then having a day full of different adrenaline pumping adventures probably won’t mean as much to you as smaller things like a quiet sunset together with drinks or a day hike and picnic. On the other hand, if your elopement is all about the excitement you get from trying something new, go for the adrenaline pumping adventures for sure.
Don’t worry if you’re having trouble dreaming up things that you’d want to do or if taking those values and coming up with adventures that would fit with them feels awkward. There are plenty of things that you can do to help get your creative juices flowing. A super easy one is to just go through the things that you and your partner would consider bucket list items for your lives. Chances are, a lot of them already line up with your values and looking at those things can help you figure out what would be most important for the two of you. Your elopement should be a once in a lifetime experience, so it's a great opportunity to try and knock out some of your bucket list. Another great way to get some ideas is to think back on the best times you’ve ever had with your partner. What were you doing together? You can use your elopement day to relive some of the best moments from your relationship. You and your partner may even have some things that you love to do together already. It could be hiking, biking, or even just having drinks. Whatever it is that brings you and your partner closer together, your elopement should be spent doing just that. The most important thing is that what you want to do during your elopement feels just right for you and your partner.
Location, Location, Location
Finding a location can be the trickiest part of planning an elopement for sure. It’s not too hard to think of the reasons you love your partner or even the things you’d love to do together, but finding a beautiful place that has all of those things available to you could potentially be a challenge. Starting with the day that you’ve dreamed up for you and your partner is great because you can decide your location based on that, rather than deciding what you will do based on the location. Keep in mind, though, that if your location is what is most important to you, then it’s totally fine to do it the other way around.
Start by doing some searches for the things you want to do with your partner. You might already have a general idea of where you want to go— if you do, do some research on that area and see what is available to you. This is where you might find yourself making some compromises. Maybe you love the location, but you might not be able to do a few of the things you want to do on your day. This is why it’s so important to know what matters most to you about your elopement. It’s going to make these tough decisions feel a lot easier when you can look back and ask yourself, “what does this mean to me?”.
If you have absolutely no idea about what location you’d want to have for your elopement, don’t worry, here are some tips to help you along the way. There are plenty of inspirational images you can find online. Check Pinterest or Instagram to find scenery that you can see yourself in or that really stands out to you as beautiful. If it's a desert landscape that you love, start looking for those things you want to do in the southwestern states like Utah, Arizona, or New Mexico. If you love a mountainous region look in Colorado, Utah, or northwestern states like Oregon, Washington, or even Idaho. If you want the beach, check places along the coasts. Don’t forget that it’s totally possible to have an elopement in your own region, and if there are places you love near where you live, those might be excellent locations for your elopement as well. It’s super easy to start narrowing down locations once you find scenery that you can imagine you and your partner in.
Choosing a Photographer
Now that you’ve figured out the things you want to do and where you want to do it, it’s time to start looking for someone who can document it all. For the same reasons we recommend starting with your dream adventures before your dream location, we recommend starting with your big picture of adventures and locations before looking into a photographer. This is important because once you know where you want to go and what you want to do, you can find the absolute best photographer for your particular elopement experience. What does that mean? Well, like each elopement experience, each elopement photographer is completely unique and brings something different to the table.
Once you know the locations you’re interested in, you’ll want to find a photographer whose style and photography you love. You also want to make sure that the photographer has experience and knowledge about photographing elopements in the area you want to elope. This is so important because a photographer with experience in a specific area will be able to tell you all about the different locations in that area and help you narrow down the perfect locations for your elopement. An experienced elopement photographer would be able to tell you about any permits you’d need in a specific area, or they may already be familiar with certain guiding services or other vendors in an area. Having an elopement photographer with knowledge and experience in the area you want to elope is going to be so helpful for making your logistical planning go that much smoother.
So, how do you find the perfect elopement photographer for you? A great place to start looking is on Instagram. Search for hashtags with the name of your location and the word elopement (like #utahelopement or #zionelopement). Once you find a photographer with experience photographing your dream locations, take a look at their page and check out their images. It’s often best to go to their individual websites to see more of their work because the image quality will be much better there. Find a few photographers that you think will be a good fit and fill out the contact forms on their websites. Try to give as much detail as you can. After you fill out contact forms, the photographers will reach out to you for a consultation call. During that call you’ll talk about your elopement ideas, dreams for your day, and get to know each other a bit more. One helpful thing to think about before your consultation calls is how much coverage you’re looking for. If you’re not sure how much you need, check out our blog post about that here (coming soon). After you talk with a few photographers, pick whoever feels like the best fit for you in terms of personality, style of photography, and overall experience.
Last Steps: Bringing it All Together
When it comes to planning your elopement, you’re probably going to find that a lot of these steps just kind of blend together. Some may even come before the others. You might start out planning your elopement and already know exactly what you want to do or where you want to go. You may even be in love with a certain photographer and work with them to figure out your entire day from the beginning. It’s important to start with whatever is most important to you and then fit the other pieces around that.
At this point in your elopement planning, you’ll have a pretty solid idea of what you’re going to be doing and where you’ll be going. All that will be left are tying up any loose ends and doing what you might find to be the most tedious part of elopement planning… sorting out the logistics. You’ll need to work with your photographer to settle on a date and work out a timeline. This is important to figure out as early as possible because you’ll want to start getting the permits you need and reaching out to vendors. This is also the time you’ll start to look for lodging for you and your partner. If you want to have guests on your elopement, this is also the time when you’ll help them make arrangements and decide how involved you want them to be. If you’re unsure about including guests at your elopement, check out our blog post about that here (coming soon). If you have pets, you’ll need to start thinking about whether or not you will be able to bring them along. Some locations won’t allow pets, so it’s best to figure that out early on so you can plan ahead to have someone watch your pets, if needed. Your photographer will be able to help you with any problems you run into. More than likely they will have experience working out the logistics of different elopement experiences.
Your Big Day
After months of planning, you’re finally eloping! Start off the day well rested and get yourself pumped up to start your adventure elopement experience. As you go through your day, try to remember that this day is all about you. Yes, there will be someone with a camera following you around for the whole day, but it’s not a day long photoshoot, and it’s not about the photographer getting that one perfect shot. Don’t feel pressured to strike a certain pose or always be picture perfect, just be yourself and enjoy every moment of your big day that you can. There will be plenty of opportunities to capture genuine moments that you will look back on for the rest of your life, so make sure you soak it all in. The memories will mean so much more in the long run, so make the most of your day.
Hey friend! We photograph adventure elopements and small weddings, and our ultimate goal is to create experiences that allow you and your partner to find peace in nature on your wedding day, in a way that works best for you and your unique story. We love the idea of making the best day of your life into the day that you want to have, and we do that by helping you design a powerful, intentional, emotional elopement experience that’s just as special as your relationship. We use our skills, knowledge, and passion to help you plan your dream day and we’re there to help you every step along the way. We’re so stoked to help you plan yours!