One thing I love about my job is being able to surround myself with other creative humans in pursuit of an image. When I decided I wanted to plan this elopement I had no idea how many hours of planning and scrambling would go into it. But through all the efforts and long hours I could not have been happier with both the experience and the end result.
My initial idea was to do a minimalist modern elopement editorial in a raw colorful landscape. The scenery would lend to a bohemian vibe so I wanted the rest of the shoot to lean more modern and fresh. I wanted the shoot to be unlike any other elopement out there. I wanted to stay away from tired wedding trends and lend a more fashion forward vibe to it.
What exactly is an elopement editorial you ask? It is a pretend elopement wedding photoshoot with models and several vendors lending items, services and skills to the overall end result. I’ve been in Washington over 4 years now and have been fortunate to meet some amazing vendors that I was happy to gather for this shoot.
Why put forth this effort for a pretend wedding you may wonder? This shoot gave me several things; content I was excited to share, total control over the entire vision, an ability to showcase amazing vendors & something to show potential elopement clients.
When starting to plan something like this one of the big factors is the “fake” bride. Everything hinges on her fitting into a dress, shoes and overall aesthetic comes from the bride in these types of shoots. So with that being said the first challenge was the bride model. The first model I booked backed out a few months before. Then my second bride backed out just two weeks or so before the shoot! Needless to say it was a stressful thing trying to find someone the right dress size. I had to replace the dress twice! I am so happy I found Chauncey because she was a gem of a human and super professional. Here’s how I met all the vendors.
The wonderful videography team of Glitch Films is the husband wife team of Krishna and Allie. I met them at a wedding editorial hosted at the photo studio Lightroom PDX in Portland Oregon. I chatted with them and got to take their portrait during the event. I saw them again at another event at the same venue and immediately thought of them for this project. They travelled from Portland to the shoot with their toddler Phoenix who also was an amazing sport the entire trip!
I met the groom model Tommy at my local favorite coffee shop Honey. He was working as a barista there for a while and I knew I wanted to shoot something with him but I wasn't sure what. Once I started planning this I reached out and he was so down and excited about it. He brought along his sister and their roommate and made a fun road trip out of the experience.
I found Chauncey through a hashtag and reached out to her on Instagram. I couldn’t believe my luck when she was available! She does modeling, acting and singing and dancing. Basically she is an epically talented human!
The wedding dress I bought off TJ Maxx online (Yes they have wedding dresses for cheap! ) and the shoes from Target. The groom had the shoes and pants and belt. I borrowed the shirt from local vintage reseller Sassafratz Vintage and the hat from Savoy Special Vintage.
The jewelry was borrowed from Mia of OHME jewelry. I found her work at a local craft fair and loved her handcrafted pieces. The rings were made especially for the shoot. Her blend of natural elements with modern shapes was the perfect fit.
The flowers were provided by the talented Christina at Novella Theory Floral. She custom designed the dried flower bouquet and boutonniere to survive the long drive and time in the desert.
The invitation suite was created by Megan at Owl & Envelope. I met her while shooting her friends wedding and have kept up with her work ever since.
The rug was borrowed from Wildcat Textiles who sells handmade tapestry.
I created the ceremony backdrop by bringing a Savage Universal paper roll into the trail and cutting and crumpling it onsite. I propped it up using a tripod and lots of tape and stones.The wind proved tricky in it’s placement but we managed to find a spot to make it work.
This entire wedding with travel expenses ended up being under $700! When you put an emphasis on the location you can absolutely have a beautiful wedding on a budget! Even if the items were all bought and not borrowed it would still be under $1000.
The experience:
I drove with Chauncey from Tacoma down the 7 hours to Spray River Oregon. The road trip on the way down has so many beautiful sweeping views. I really fell in love with Oregon on this road trip. Krishna and Ally came in their own car from Portland and Tommy and his friends took another car down from Tacoma. We met the night before the shoot at a campground by the river. We found plenty of space at the Spray River campgrounds. We took advantage of the river and went in for some refreshment. We started shooting images while in the river like the couple was actually camping the night before their wedding. We all got to know each other over dinner and campfire and had such a great night. The main area we were in was the John Day Fossil beds national park but we shot in the Blue Basin Overlook trail or Sheep Rock area. We woke up around 3:30am to pack up the campsite and be on the road. It was another 30 mins or so drive from the campsite to the shoot location. We got to the parking lot just as the sun was starting to rise. We trekked into the Blue Basin in time to set up a spot for the ceremony. I created the backdrop and set up the props onsite. We shot in one spot and then kept exploring deeper into the canyon to find more areas. The whole place feels like a foreign planet. The mint green color of the dirt is seriously that colorful in person. We shot and danced and laughed until around lunch and then packed up and headed home. All of us felt like we could have stayed a few extra days. That whole area has so much to discover and I intend to go back one day for at least a week. I hope you enjoy this beautiful set of images!