May 22nd, 2016. Yosemite National Park.
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The 2nd time around for Teri and Steve, and they wanted to tie the knot.. just they two.. in Teri’s beloved Yosemite National Park for their elopement. She hikes there often, and really wanted to share this magical place with her new husband on their wedding day. He’d been once, but via Hwy 120 entrance and back out. So he had not yet seen the famed Tunnel View. We were very happy to hear this, as it was on their custom photo tour list!
Teri is a Planner; putting even me to shame..lol. She had all kinds of questions about what location to choose, what to wear, what to bring…. We had a great time planning her Yosemite Elopement. She went shopping for a dress that made her feel like a million bucks, and couldn’t decide between three veils; so she brought all of them. So much fun to play with 🙂
One of our favorite officiants, Rev. Autrey Nassar of Yosemite Weddings was an easy recommendation. Aside from that, Teri made her own bouquet and Steve’s boutonniere, and a beautiful heartfelt scrapbook of her vows to Steve. Neither we, nor Rev. Autrey had ever seen anything like it. So sweet.
We had a lovely afternoon with them. We picked the couple up at The Majestic Yosemite Hotel (aka The Ahwahnee), took them to their chosen meadow location where they could see Half Dome in the background, and met up with Rev. Autrey. I found a big Monarch butterfly feeding just next to the site, and took it as a good luck omen. After a short, very sweet and emotional ceremony, they opened the champers and we all shared lunch.
Teri & Steve also followed another one of my favorite tips: for a Yosemite Elopement, bring a pretty picnic basket filled with lunch from the hotel, your favorite snacks & fruit, and a bottle of champagne. Great photo ops in the shade of beautiful Black Oak and Jeffrey Pine trees, and, well… lunch!
Fortified for our Yosemite Elopement photo tour, we headed out to where the light took us… ending with Teri’s request for a “castle photo” back at the hotel before they went in to an intimate wedding night dinner for two.
