One of the biggest decisions to be made when planning a wedding celebration is the timeline. An elopement timeline is a crucial part of creating the wedding experience that is best for you.
There is one major secret I have in creating the ultimate elopement (or even traditional wedding) timeline! If you’re needing experienced insight, keep reading!!
Eloping is for everyone.
Meet Brandon (he, him, his) and Josh (he, him, his)! Our time together was a spontaneous and light-hearted engagement-style adventure session, up in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. And being fresh off their engagement, their beautiful energy together created some magic. ❤️
Brandon and Josh were game for whatever I threw their way, despite us not having much of a plan. This flexibility, access to time, a desire to just go explore, and a willingness to be light-hearted allowed us to create really special images.
It reiterated my trusted and true secrets to the perfect elopement timeline…
Ready for the secret to a successful elopement?
Create breathing room in your elopement timeline.
This session truly showed the power of “breathing room” (or, “extra time”) within a photo shoot. Regardless of if it’s an engagement shoot or an elopement or even just family pictures…if you don’t leave breathing room within your itinerary, you’re going to miss out.
Why this adventure elopement trick matters…
In a traditional wedding, every moment is accounted for. You’re rushing from hair to makeup, quickly pull on your dress, and rush out to your portraits. From the ceremony, you rush to do more portraits and arrive at your rehearsal late…there is just never enough time.
But an elopement timeline is all about what you want.
In the middle of this session, we stumbled upon a random bathtub against this wooden building. It was unexpected, extremely quirky, and turned out to be everyone’s very favorite part of our time together.
Because the schedule of our time together included wiggle room (and a flexible plan), we were able to follow where the wind has blown. In this case, the tub!
This is exactly why elopements matter (and are so special compared to traditional weddings): elopement timelines give space for the unexpected magic that the universe wants to bring to your celebration.
An elopement timeline gives space for the champagne sips straight from the bottle.
Elopements leave room for plenty of “just us” moments like this one in a secluded rock corner that allow you to just be present in each moment❤️️.
An elopement timeline creates moments to lean into, laugh through, and experience the love within.
The foolproof method to create space in your elopement timeline:
It’s simple: book extra time with your photographer.
Let’s say you have 6 hours of wedding celebration activity, if you book an 8-hour shoot day, it gives you space to find that breathing room. It might seem like “too much,” but I promise it isn’t! We will use the time and you won’t regret having time to slow down, be present, and experience the day.
Trust me, don’t overcrowd your elopement timeline.
An elopement gets to be whatever you want it to be. And I think we can both agree that you don’t want the day to be rushed from thing to thing, or to miss out on yummy moments with loved ones just because the timeline says you should be somewhere else.
Make time to immerse yourself in the love within your wedding experience.
If you’re ready to plan your special day and would like an experienced adventure elopement photographer and elopement concierge on your side, set a time for a free intro chat with me here!
If you want to see some other juicy moments because time was on our side, check out this winter rock climbing elopement. Or this mountain-side family elopement!
The answer is booking extra time to give wiggle room for the unexpected adventures!
You want to make sure you book more time than you think. I promise the time will fly by. You won’t regret giving yourself an extra two hours of photos!
Elopement Vendor Partners:
Planner: Kathryn Rose Event Co.
Venue: Brown Mountain Beach Resort
Picnic Styling: Asheville Luxury Picnic
Food/Graze: @urban_graze_co
HMUA: Just Wing It Artistry
Stationery: Linen and Pine Designs
Rings: Hidden Space Jewelry
