Why You Should Plan a Full-Day Elopement, including a sample of a full-day elopement timeline from Zion National Park, so that you can plan something truly special for your intimate wedding.
When you start planning your elopement, it can be easy to think it should just be a few hours. An elopement is smaller by nature, right? It’s important to remember that your elopement is still your wedding day, though! And that’s definitely something worth celebrating (which is much easier to do if you have more than just a couple of hours planned).
Rachel & Tyler’s beautiful Fall Elopement at Zion National Park is a beautiful example of Why You Should Plan a Full-Day Elopement. By booking a full-day of coverage, they were able to make the most of the best parts of the day, with a break in the middle to take some time to rest and just be with each other.
WHY YOU SHOULD PLAN A FULL-DAY ELOPEMENT
What Does a Full-Day Elopement Look Like?
There are never any hard and fast rules to what your elopement should look like! It can be whatever you choose it to be. You could spend the whole day hiking and exploring as much of your dream location as you can, or you could take a break in the middle of the day to rest and recuperate before sunset photos and an evening celebration. This is exactly what Rachel & Tyler did, and I think it’s a super sweet way to make the most of the best parts of the day. Sunset and sunrise not only have the most beautiful light for photos, they’re also the best time to be hiking and exploring. The middle of the day often has harsh light that can make being outside a little harder to handle.
Breaking your full-day elopement into two parts is also a great idea if you plan to invite a few of your favorite people along to your wedding. Rachel & Tyler wanted to celebrate their day with their immediate family, but they were also super excited to explore Zion National Park just the two of them. They were able to do both things, by having a private sunrise session at Canyon Overlook (which Rachel amazingly did despite tearing her ACL a few days before!), an intimate ceremony straight after, and a reception later that evening at Zion Lodge.
Sample Timeline of an Adventure Elopement
In case you’re wondering exactly how this might look, I’ve put together a sample timeline of a Full-Day Adventure Elopement for you, based on Rachel & Tyler’s beautiful Zion elopement.
6.30 am: Begin hiking to your sunrise portrait location
7.30 am: Arrive and get ready at the location
8.00 am: First look & private vows
8.15 am: Portraits in and around the location
9.30 am: Head back to the ceremony location
10.00 am: Intimate wedding ceremony with guests
10.30am: Congratulations & Family Photos
10.45am: Brunch
12 noon: Break for the afternoon
5.00 pm: Meet for dinner reception, starting with cocktail hour
6.00 pm: Dinner starts, informal speeches and words of love throughout dinner
8.00 pm: Cut the cake (if you’re having one) and enjoy dessert
8.30 pm: First dance and dancing, relaxing, enjoying time with your people
Benefits of a Full-Day Elopement
As you can see, there are so many reasons to Plan a Full-Day Elopement! If you book me to be your photographer, my full-day elopement package includes unlimited coverage so that you can really make the most of your day. Other benefits of a full-day elopement include:
Make the most of the best parts of the day
No time pressure to enjoy your chosen locations
Enjoy time just the two of you, and with your loved ones
Freedom to take a break in the middle of the day
An opportunity to really make the most of your elopement day (it is your wedding, after all!)
What do you think? Are you ready to plan your own Full-Day Elopement? I’d love to help you plan something epic and photograph your day for you to look back on in years to come. Just get in touch to start planning!
Have you got questions about Why You Should Plan a Full-Day Elopement? Or do you just love Rachel & Tyler’s beautiful Zion elopement photography? Let us know in the comments below.