Why You Should Split Your Elopement Coverage

One of the things I love most about elopements is how flexible they can be. With a big wedding you are often limited in where you can go and what you can do because the ceremony venue, and reception demand the bulk of your time. But that’s not the case with an elopement. The only restriction is what you can do in a 24 hour period, or is it? Splitting your elopement package over two days is a fantastic idea. You can hike through the mountains for a mountaintop ceremony at sunset one day then have a more relaxing session the next morning or even the following sunset. You can even explore two different locations like this adventurous couple did! And what an adventure!

Ian and Stephanie couldn’t decide between eloping to death valley with its sand dunes and slot canyons or to the eastern Sierra for the majestic Mountain View’s with snow capped peaks. The answer was simple, both! We started our adventure with an intimate ceremony at the historic Inyo County Courthouse in Lone Pine. The awesome architecture gave them a classic backdrop for their “I do’s”. With the legal stuff out of the way we hit the road and ventured into the desert heading for Death Valley National Park. Stopping at Star Wars canyon along the way was a most, the landscape there really makes you feel like you’re on an alien planet. Our Next stop was the painted canyon in Death Valley. Slot canyons like this one always make for quite the photography playground and we got some incredible shots in the short amount of time we were there. But the real show stopper was our sunset shoot and the dunes. The rolling sand dunes with mountains towering behind lit up in the golden sunlight was jaw dropping. It really made me wish the sunset could be just a little bit longer. Even after the sun set behind the Sierra range to the west the dusky light still made for some killer photos.

But the adventure didn’t end there…

The next morning we all met up again for round two. If you’ve never seen it before, a sunrise in the Alabama hills is nothing short of spectacular. The jagged peaks of the eastern Sierra loom over the Joshua Tree like rock formations than make up the foothills here. I’ve backpacked and camped in the area over the years and quickly fell in love with the place. It’s just too easy to find incredible spots for photos here and we quickly got to work making memories and having a blast. Just look at those snow capped peaks in the background! This is what elopement experiences are all about.