Sunrise First Look at El Capitan meadows

This one is an oldie but goodie. While Daisy and Kyle have been proudly featured on my website for years their lovely wedding has been missing a blog post for far too long. But hey there’s only another hundred or so weddings left in the blog backlog so we are getting there. But back to the amazing elopement at hand.

We started our day bright and early parked alongside the El Capitan meadow. I knew it was going to be an interesting day when Daisy stepped out of the car and brushed against their freshly detailed car receiving a big black smear of tire cleaner on her wedding dress. I stared in shock thinking she would be devastated but she shrugged it off and let me know she was hoping to get the dress dirty and we were just getting things started early. And honestly it ended up being almost unnoticeable in the photos.

From there we went on to meet up with their family for a ceremony at Cathedral beach. They said their vows as the sun rose casting a golden light El Capitan in the background. You can’t get a better wedding cathedral than that. After a lot of hugs, and a few toasts we set off to continue are adventure. And are next stop was a tough one.

Onwards to the Mist Trail and Taft Point

We made the steep climb up the Mist trail to see Vernal Falls. With some elevation gain under are belt we continued on to a few of my favorite locations in the valley. First stopping at the Pohono Bridge and then onwards to Bridalveil falls. There we headed across the street and down to the Merced River. The water level was pretty low this time of year so most of the river rocks were exposed. We got some killer shots out in the river and it only cost me a swollen knee from bashing it on a rock. Next time I’ll be checking for moss before I jump. Slippery. After a quick stop at Tunnel View and Glacier Point, we continued to the Taft Point trailhead for our sunset session. Sunsets at Taft point are always great, but they can be absolutely mind blowing. If the horizon is clear of clouds or fog and the alignment of the sun is just right you can get some deep pink or red tones that are absolutely mind blowing. And the stars aligned for us on this evening. Even years later it is still one the best sunsets I’ve seen on the point. Pure Yosemite magic.