Sunrise Yosemite Elopement

rachelle + sean promised their forevers to each other, as the sun peaked above the hazy slate filled horizon in Yosemite.

A 3 am wake up call didn’t stop these two from having a magical sunrise hike to the ceremony location. We spent the night with Rachelle + Sean the evening before their wedding, and we woke up to Rachelle doing her own hair and makeup. We drove to the ceremony location to meet with the videographers and the officiant, with flashlights in hand we took off on the hike down. We hiked about 30-40 minutes, when we started it was pitch dark, and by the time we got down the blue sky was starting to peak out. Rachelle got changed into her dress behind a boulder, and Sean put on his suit behind a tree, we were all getting giddy and excited! After deciding on a location for the first look we set Sean up, and had Rachelle take the hike over. Giving them space as Rachelle walked up to Sean from behind and hugged him, was such a powerful thing to witness. When Sean turned around it’s safe to say no one had a dry eye. First looks never get less exciting for us to witness, the nerves melt away, and the reality sets in.

These two spent the time before the ceremony giggling and probably laughing at a few inside jokes. We were so fortunate that we were the only hikers out on the trail that morning, something we worried about originally. But because of the wildfires and such an early wakeup call they were able to say their vows with no one except us, the videographers, and the officiant present. These two are some of the goofiest, kindest people, and one of the most adventurous couples we’ve gotten to hang out with. We’re eternally grateful for this couple + for the opportunity to experience Yosemite together. 2020 has been filled with a lot, but there has still been good and sweet moments to come from it. This is one of them.