How to Plan Your Adventure Elopement

What is an Adventure Elopement?

An adventure elopement breaks away from the traditional wedding day. Let’s say that being the center of attention in a big fancy ballroom isn’t your thing, but you love being outdoors., An adventure elopement may be right for you. Elopements are all about having a wedding day that is small, intimate, and meaningful. You can elope just the two of you, or include a group of ten people or less. Elopements are more about the experience you have than the way you decorate your venue. In fact, you may not have a venue at all. Your wedding may be witnessed by El Cap in the Tuolumne Meadow, or by the Pacific Ocean on a secluded beach on the coast.

Now add adventure to your intimate day and you have an adventure elopement! Your adventure elopement can include whatever passion you have in the outdoors. Go paddle boarding with your partner, summit a mountain, or backpack to your favorite lake. The most important thing about an adventure elopement is that you make it your own.

How to Plan Your Adventure Elopement:

Make the Day About You

Your elopement should be about you and your love. After all, an elopement is a celebration of the love that you share, the adventures you have been on, and the adventures that will follow. Fill your elopement with what you both enjoy. Invite the people who matter most, or spend the day just the two of you. Create an experience that you will never want to change with an adventure that you will never forget.

Choose Your Adventures

Adventure elopements are all about experience. That means filling them with your favorite types of adventure, or choosing one that is completely new. You can go on your dream hike, climb a desert tower, or helicopter to your ceremony location.

Find a Location

What landscape speaks to you? Do you envision yourself getting married on a mountain top, or in the woods near your home? Location is key as it may lead you to the adventures you have during your elopement, and can lead you to pick a certain date to tie the knot.

Pick a Season to Set Your Date

If you don’t have a specific date in mind, you may choose to get married based on the season. Pick a season you love, the season that allows your favorite outdoor activity, or the season that best allows you to explore your dream location..

Find Your Vendor Dream Team

Your dream team of vendors should be full of people who share your values, empower you to have the elopement you want to have, and help take the stress out of the planning process. Your team can include a photographer, a videographer, an officiant, a hair and makeup artist and a florist. You may also want to consider hiring an elopement planner, musicians, a caterer or a private chef.

Try On Your Wedding Attire

Find the outfit that makes you feel like yourself while keeping the location and season of your elopement in mind. You may want a nice wool suit for a winter wedding in the mountains. You may need a light, flowy skirt that won’t get weighed down when wet after a day of running around on the beach. Your attire must be ready for the adventure it gets to go on.

Book Your Accommodations

Book your flights if you need them and find the airbnb, hotel, or campsite that suits your style. Depending on your adventure you may also need to book your helicopter ride, boat tour, sled dog experience, or guided canyoneering session.

Is your elopement location not too far from home? Add to the adventure and road trip to your destination!

Lace Up Your Hiking Boots and Get Stoked!

You now have everything you need to create your own adventure elopement! Grab the guide books, your pack, and your best pair of boots. Get stoked for your adventure with the one you love most.

Photos taken by Halie West Photography