When you have the perfect setting, it just inspires romance. Eloping in the mountains is perfect for an intimate ceremony or a mini-destination wedding (following all COVID safety rules, of course). Taylor Oseen, the brains behind this shoot, walks us through the day.
“The vision was to create a really simple styled elopement shoot with boho themes that would be easy for any couple to execute, wouldn’t break the bank and wouldn’t sacrifice style points either.
We woke up at 3 a.m., quickly got ready, tucked the dress and suit in a backpack and hiked up to a mountain pass in the Kananaskis region for sunrise and to catch golden hour.
We made sure to bring a big blanket up the mountain with us so that Joelle and Brad would have something to change behind, and wrap themselves in if they got cold. Once we got to the pass they quickly changed while the sun was coming up over the horizon. We thought it would be fun to still have them do a first look, and even though it wasn’t their real wedding day. B’s reaction to seeing his future bride in a white dress was still priceless.
We were pretty thorough about all the details that went into planning the hiking elopement – we had lightweight dried florals that were a bit more durable for the wind and cold temperatures often experienced on a mountain pass. The menswear and dress was also chosen for comfort and the ability for both couples to be able to move easily so that they could have fun and not feel restricted by the clothing they wore during the shoot. The dress was thick enough that Joelle could wear her hiking boots, warm socks and a pair of leggings underneath so she could keep warm in the chilly morning hours, too!
We even packed a small portable stove and blanket so that J+B could take a break to get bundled up, make some morning coffee and warm up. We got the measurements wrong, and the coffee was terrible, but we still had some laughs and the mugs were nice and hot.
After we spent a bit more time playing around on the mountain before we hiked down for a picnic lunch next to Spray Lakes Reservoir.
We also wanted to keep these details super simple – everything we brought fit into one vehicle and it only took us about 45 minutes to set it all up. The arch was easily packable, and we chose a location that wasn’t too far from where we could park so that it wouldn’t be too difficult to set it up.
We even had the place mostly to ourselves too, as many people were just starting their hikes by the time we finished.
All in all we spent about 9 hours together from the start of our hike to the end of our time taking portraits together in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains.
It was the perfect way to play around with some different elopement concepts and planning strategies to better help couples in the future!
Photography: Taylor Oseen
Planning & styling: Taylor Oseen and Born In Mud Bay
Couple: Joelle + Brad
Dress: Lovenote
Circle Arch: Avenue Accents YYC
Florals: Confetti Florist
Stationery: Loft Designs
Necklace: Sage and Stone Collection
Cake: Chartier YYC
Picnic board: YYC Morning Wood
Ring boxes: Birch & Bloom
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