An Epic PNW Elopement

The Engagement Session

Oh the adventures we’ve been on!!! My first time meeting Trisha and Lee we met up along the remote border of Utah and Arizona so we could take off on an off-roading adventure to the most epic overlook of Lake Powell for sunset! Catch their stunning engagement session here and use it to inspire your own engagement shoot! It was so cool to have them travel out of state for both their engagement session AND their elopement - that way they got to have two trips and who doesn’t love an excuse to vacation with your partner?!

For their elopement they were super open to different PNW locations. We got to go over lots of stunning options for them, but they ultimately decided on renting a treehouse on the Southern Oregon coast and wanting to exchange vows and do their portraits at several of the beautiful beaches along the Samuel H Boardman Scenic Corridor. It’s an absolute joy for me to show non-Oregonians how amazing our state is! Hidden gems of locations are my favorite. I was really stoked for all the trust they put in me for the whole process, so thank you for that T + L!

The Elopement Day

After 30 minutes on a winding mountain road, I arrived at their airbnb which was quite literally a TREEHOUSE, with the bathroom completely open-air and overlooking the river with no walls. It was basically like tree-glamping! It was off and on pouring rain and snowing. We had been watching the weather forecast like a hawk the 48 hours beforehand just trying to prepare for whatever the outcome may be and if we needed any backup plans. It ended up saying 90% chance of rain all day, so we got some clear umbrellas and prepared for the worst! The rain at the treehouse was actually kinda magical. It just felt quintessentially PNW.

We started with a short & cozy “in home” couples shoot in their comfy clothes before getting fully elopement-ready.

They had the SWEETEST first look in the driveway surrounded by luscious green ferns and tall trees dripping with rain and slush.

Then we headed south down the coast for a little over an hour to start at our first location, and we were truly SHOOK when we arrived to SUN and BLUE SKY! Talk about an elopement-day miracle!

We took advantage of the beautiful sunshine and had them exchange vows at this first location! They brought their phone, some little microphones they found online to pair with iPhones and a tripod so they could video their vows to show their friends and family later when they have a belated reception party! I thought that was such a sweet idea and a thoughtful way to be able to include family and friends in your elopement.

The sky started looking ominous so we jetted off to the next location before the rain caught up to us! As we arrived to the overlook the rain started to lightly come down on us but it wasn’t too bad. We weren’t prepared for what the next location held (as far as crazy weather goes...)

Location 4 was the only spot with a bit of a hike (due to all the recent rain Oregon has had the trail was extremely muddy and rutted out) but once we got down it was so pristine! We brought a whole picnic setup with us and their casual clothes so they could ideally sit and watch the sunset with champagne, cupcakes and charcuterie. The clouds hadn’t quite caught up to us yet and we got a few minutes with off and on sun and clouds. After about 10 minutes we decided to climb down to the beach (which again proved difficult when carrying so many bags and with Trisha in heeled boots!) Once we all safely descended the rocks and I jumped across the river and landed straight in the water knees deep we decided to laugh things off and continue down the beach. Literally the SECOND we got their picnic set up, the skies opened and unleashed a crazy beast of a rain and hailstorm on us! We had enough time for them to throw back a cupcake, then gather up all our stuff and try to get the heck out of there! We were getting absolutely SOAKED. Of course, I told them we would be remiss to not get a few photos of them dancing in the rain and I am so glad we stuck around that extra minute to make it happen!!!