I’m going to let you in on one of the biggest mistakes I see couples make when they start planning their elopement:

They choose the location before they figure out what they actually want their wedding day to feel like.

And honestly, I completely understand why.

You open Pinterest. You see a couple standing on top of a mountain at sunrise, surrounded by huge mountains, and you think, holy shit. THAT is how I want to get married.

So you save the photo.

Then you find out where it is.

Then you start building your entire wedding day around getting to that exact spot.

But somewhere in that process, I want you to pause and ask yourselves a different question:

“What do we actually want to experience together?”

Because your elopement is so much more than the place where you say your vows.

Start with the day, not the destination

Before you decide on a mountain, a beach, a waterfall, or a forest, I want you to think about the two of you.

Think about the things you already love doing together.

If your idea of a perfect Saturday is waking up early, grabbing coffee, throwing your hiking boots on, and spending the entire day outside, then let’s lean into that.

If you love hiking, I don’t want you to shy away from it just because it’s your wedding day. Let’s fucking hike.

Let’s find a trail that makes you work for the view. Let’s stop along the way when something catches your eye. Let’s get a little dirty. Let’s eat snacks out of your backpack. Let’s reach the top completely out of breath and realize we’re standing somewhere incredible.

If that’s what makes you two happy, then that belongs in your wedding day.

And if you’re the kind of people who love a good adventure but also want time to slow down, we can build that in too.

That’s the beauty of an elopement.

Your wedding day doesn’t have to fit into a predetermined formula.

We get to create it around you.

Ask yourself what you want to remember

This is something I really want couples to think about.

Years from now, when you look back on your wedding day, what do you want to remember?

Do you want to remember getting up before sunrise because you couldn’t wait to watch the mountains light up?

Do you want to remember the hike to your ceremony and all the little moments that happened along the way?

Do you want to remember sitting beside a lake in your wedding clothes eating lunch together?

Do you want to remember driving through the mountains with the windows down, stopping whenever you saw something beautiful?

Do you want to remember having your closest people there and then spending the rest of the day exploring somewhere new together?

Those details matter just as much as the ceremony itself.

Because when you look back at your photos, you’re not just going to see a mountain.

You’re going to remember how it felt to stand there.

You’re going to remember the anticipation of the morning, the nerves before saying your vows, the ridiculous amount of laughing you did throughout the day, the exhaustion after a long hike, and that moment where you looked at each other and realized, we’re actually married.

That’s the stuff I want to document.

Your location should fit your life

This is why I don’t believe there is one perfect elopement location.

There are beautiful places everywhere. But a beautiful place doesn’t automatically mean it’s the right place for you.

The best location is one that makes sense for the kind of experience you want to have.

And that’s something I think about constantly when I’m helping my couples plan.

I’m not just looking at a location and thinking, “This would make a cool photo.”

I’m thinking about the entire day.

How do we get there?

What does the journey look like?

What else is around?

Can we explore?

Where could we have your ceremony?

Where could we stop for lunch?

Is there another trail nearby?

Could we catch sunset somewhere completely different?

How can we make the day feel like one continuous adventure instead of simply driving somewhere, taking photos, and leaving?

Because the location is part of the experience.

It shouldn’t be the entire experience.

And this is why I ask so many questions

When you start working with me, I’m probably going to ask you a lot more than, “What location do you want?”

I want to know what you two are like together.

I want to know what you do for fun.

I want to know what your vacations look like.

I want to know if you’re the people who would happily hike for four hours just to see a view, or if you’d rather spend your afternoon wandering around a little coastal town.

I want to know what you’re excited about.

I want to know what you’re nervous about.

I want to know what you absolutely want included in your day and what you couldn’t care less about.

Because those answers tell me so much more than a Pinterest board ever could.

Once I know that, then we can start talking about locations.

And that’s when the planning gets really fun.

Instead of trying to force your wedding day into a location you fell in love with online, we can find a place that actually supports the experience you want to have.

Stop planning your elopement around a photo

This is probably the biggest shift I want you to make.

Instead of asking:

“Where can we get that photo?”

Ask:

“What do we want to experience together?”

The photo will come.

If we’re hiking through the mountains, there will be moments along the trail that are worth documenting.

If we’re sitting by a lake eating lunch, I’ll be there.

If you’re running down the beach barefoot because you’re so damn happy you can’t sit still, I’m photographing it.

If you’re exhausted at the end of a twelve-hour adventure and sitting in the back of the car eating whatever snacks we have left, I’m probably photographing that too.

Because those moments are your wedding day.

The goal isn’t to spend the entire day posing for beautiful photos.

The goal is to have a really fucking good day together — and have someone there to document it honestly.

Your elopement should feel like you

I think that’s ultimately what I want couples to understand.

You don’t need to recreate someone else’s elopement.

You don’t need to choose a location because it’s popular on Pinterest.

You don’t need to build your day around what you think an elopement is supposed to look like.

Take the inspiration you find online, absolutely. Save the photos. Send them to me. Let’s talk about what you love about them.

But then let’s go a little deeper.

What is it about that photo that speaks to you?

Is it the adventure?

The intimacy?

The landscape?

The feeling of being somewhere completely wild?

The slow morning?

The fact that it looks like the couple is actually having fun instead of posing for a wedding?

That’s the part I want to recreate.

Not their wedding.

The feeling.

Because your elopement should feel like an extension of your relationship.

If you two are adventurous, let’s make it an adventure.

If you love being outside, let’s spend the day outside.

If you want to hike until your legs are tired and then watch the sunset from somewhere incredible, let’s do it.

If you want a slower day with a little adventure mixed in, we can create that too.

There isn’t a right way to elope.

There is only your way.

So before you pick the mountain, the beach, the waterfall, or the forest, start with the most important part:

What do you want your wedding day to feel like?

Start there.

Then we’ll find the place that brings it to life.

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If You’re Reading This and Feeling Seen, That’s Not an Accident

Most couples who reach out to me say the same thing:
“This feels like exactly what we want.”

If you’re dreaming of an PNW elopement that feels calm, intentional, and deeply meaningful — not rushed, performative, or stressful — I would love to help you plan it.

You don’t need to have everything figured out.
That’s part of my job.