How To Plan An Elopement

How to Plan a 2-Day Elopement

Wondering what all goes into planning an elopement? Sweet, this little guide goes over a few of the key details in doing just that!

Overview of what this whole planning your elopement article is about:

1. Planning a stress free day that allows you to fully experience your wedding

2. How not to compromise adventure with guests

3. Choosing your elopement adventures

4. Example 2-day elopement timelines

WHY PLANNING AN ELOPEMENT OVER MULTIPLE DAYS IS SO AWESOME

Fully immersing yourself in the whole experience.

When you choose to plan a multi-day elopement you have a much better chance of fully experiencing the place you are eloping in. If you have a long list of things you want to do and places you want to see on your wedding day, traveling from place to place takes time, whether you are on foot or in a vehicle which can eat up your time very quickly. Not to mention if you want really epic images to go with your truly badass day you are going to want to plan all your “important stuff” (ie, ceremony, couple portraits, favorite activities) for either sunrise or sunset to leverage the best light. While I can easily photograph anytime of the day and produce high quality images, there really is no comparison to good quality lighting, it sets the mood of an image. If it’s a super clear sunrise with huge rays of light backlighting you, it will feel warm, romantic and bright in the images. SO, having 2 days to plan around can make doing all the things in the best lighting much more plausible without having to literally get up before the sun rises and end your coverage after the sun sets. 

You get to have a totally chill experience, with time to slow down, soak it all in and truly enjoy your day.

Plus do all the cool shit you wanna do! Trust me, you are going to want to give yourselves time to process and feel every moment instead of cramming all the things into one huge itinerary- I mean, you decided to elope so you didn’t have to stress or follow a specific timeline, right?! Breaking it all up over 2 days is the perfect solution.

Bad weather backup plan.

Anyone who plans an outdoor event knows one of the biggest questions is, “what will we do if it rains?” or worse yet, storms and we cannot safely be outdoors. If the original plan was day 1 ceremony and day 2 climbing adventure and there is a safety warning for day 1, we can flip flop them and do day 2 ceremony with day 1 being the adventure and switch gears to either indoor climbing instead of outdoor or something completely different like a stormy sightseeing adventure.

What do you do all day?

Okay, you are ditching the traditional wedding for a plethora of reasons, (stress likely being one of the big ones) in lieu of an epic wedding day experience that feels more YOU. But, what the heck do you do all day without the caterers, the big guest lists and all the traditional hoopla that comes with a typical wedding day? Well, let me tell you with all the excitement my little fingers can type, YOU CAN DO IT ALL FRIEND! No, seriously you can!

You don’t have to compromise adventure.

Say you want to have some family and friends support you while you say your vows to each other… Maybe you need something easily accessible for your grandparents, but you also really want to hike somewhere secluded with 360 degree views of mountains, OH and you really want to kayak in your wedding clothes on an alpine lake. Welp, this is all absolutely possible! You can do day 1 with your fam in a beautiful setting that’s accessible to everyone, then day 2 is all about the two of you on your first big adventure as a married couple! There’s no need to give up the adventure when you have two days.

You get to choose your adventure.

What if you are having no guests, what do you do then? Now the true adventure planning begins. You could do a full 2 day glacier trek/climbing adventure with a guide, camping out on the ice. Or a 2-day backpacking adventure somewhere deep in the wilderness to a spot that feels completely yours. Or even day 1 is your wedding celebration and day 2 is your honeymoon venture!

The possibilities are truly endless. At some point you may even find yourself scaling back some of the activities you want to do because 2 days still isn't enough time for everything. Pro tip: you can save some of those ideas for your honeymoon and kick off marriage extra adventurously! ;) 

INSPO FOR PLANNING YOUR ELOPEMENT ADVENTURES

Check out the list below for some of the activities you could do to level up your wedding day experience!

• Hiking

• Backpacking

• Kayaking/ canoeing/ SUP/ pack raft/ white water raft

• climbing/ice climbing

• Glacier trekking

• Snowshoeing/ skiing/ snowboarding 

• Heli hike/ heli tour

• Jeep tour/ ATV/ UTV

• Hot springs 

• Road trip/ sightseeing

• Cliff jumping/ swimming

• Fishing

• Train/ tram/ chair lift

• Boat excursion

• Hammock hang

• Star gaze

• Horse ride

• Picnic

• Hire a local guide to explore
  off the beaten path locations

• Biking

• Camping/ bonfire

• Hot air balloon

EXAMPLE 2-DAY ELOPEMENT TIMELINES

Planning without guests:

DAY 1

Sunset Ceremony with small Jeep adventure (7hrs)

4:00pm – Meet at Airbnb

5:00pm – Drive to Park (1hr)

6:15pm – Hand-fasting ceremony 

6:30pm – Drive to Jeep rental (30mins)

7:00pm – Prepare for guided jeep excursion 

9:00pm – Arrive to picnic site

9:15pm – Prepare meal

9:38pm – Nautical Sunset

10:30pm – Star photos

11:00pm – Wrap for the day - coverage ends

DAY 2

Sunrise Overlook Hike & Pack Raft Adventure (8hrs)

5:30am – Meet at trailhead

5:45am – Get into wedding attire on location

6:00am – Begin hike, taking photos along the way (1.5miles)

7:30am – Arrive at Overlook 

9:30am – Wrap up, hike back (1.5miles)

11:00am – Arrive back at trailhead

11:15am – Drive to lake (30mins)

11:45am – Arrive at lake - prepare for pack raft adventure

12:00pm – Put in at boat launch 

1:15pm – Wrap up and paddle back

1:30pm – Photo coverage ends

Planning with guests:

DAY 1

Sunset Ceremony with small dinner celebration (5hrs)

4:30pm – Meet at Airbnb

5:00pm – Drive to ceremony site (45mins)

5:45pm – Arrive at ceremony site

6:00pm – Ceremony

6:30pm – Family photos

7:00pm – Wrap up and head to dinner

8:00pm – Dinner at TBD location

9:30pm – Dinner ends - coverage ends

Day 2

Glacier Trek and Ice Climbing Adventure (10hrs)

7:30am  – Meet at Airbnb

8:00am – Head to Glacier

8:30am – Prepare for trek and check in with guide

9:00am – Head out on trekking/ice climbing adventure

11:30am – Arrive at ice climbing location

• rappelling shots of you both climbing (if having 2 guides)

• Snacks at some point

3:00pm – Wrap up climbing and hike out

5:30pm – Coverage ends

So, if you are interested in planning a multi day elopement and wanna chat through some ideas, feel free to reach out to us- we will assist with all the logistics and figure out what works best with your vision. We are here to support you through this whole process and help you plan the most kick ass experience ever!

PS- if you are already booked with us for a single day and feel this might be an epic add-on to your whole experience, hit us up!! We would love to spend even more time with y’all doing rad things!

More Elopement Planning Resources

Elopements + Weddings We Photographed in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado and beyond