I want to paint you a picture. Or two pictures, actually. One is the elopement day all my couples experience, and the other is what that same day could look like if I wasn’t doing everything I do behind the scenes. This is not meant to “scare” you, but I think it’s the clearest way to show you what you’re actually getting when you book a full-service elopement with me. 😊
The Morning: Getting Ready
Without me: Your alarm goes off early. You’re excited, a little nervous, and you’re trying to hold onto that feeling. But before you’ve even had your first coffee, your phone buzzes. It’s your hair and makeup artist asking which room you’re in and how to find you. You’re staying in a big hotel, so you type out directions as best you can, hope she understands, and then wait near the door in your pyjamas listening for a knock.
With me: I’ve already been in touch with your hair and makeup artist days before. I know exactly where you’re staying, I know the hotel layout, and on the morning of your elopement I go and meet her at the entrance and bring her straight to your room. You don’t send a single message. You just sit with your morning coffee, music playing softly in the background, and let the morning feel chill and exciting the way it should.
One of my recent couples was staying in a HUGE hotel with several buildings that genuinely felt like a maze. I made sure I knew exactly where their room was, greeted the HMUA at the reception, and walked her there myself. The couple didn’t even know any of that happened. They were just enjoying their slow morning, completely unbothered. That’s exactly how it should be. 🥰
The Vendors: Payments and Coordination
Without me: You’re overseas. You’ve got vendors booked like a florist, a boat hire, a cake baker, but you’ve been emailing back and forth for weeks trying to coordinate everything from a different timezone in a different language. Now payments are due. You’re filling in international bank transfer forms with IBANs, registry numbers, and address fields you’re not sure about, converting currencies, hoping it all lands correctly. On the day itself, you’re wondering if everyone has actually been paid. You’re wondering if the florist is going to show up. You brought cash just in case, and there’s a little part of your brain that’s keeping tabs. 🥺
With me: Every vendor has been booked, briefed, and has been or will be paid by me. I handle every transfer, every confirmation, every follow-up message. If a vendor ghosts or gives me a feeling they might not be fully reliable, I replace them on the back-end before you even know there was an issue. You don’t even need to bring a wallet! You don’t need to think about money once. For my couples coming from the US or Canada especially, international bank transfers are a big headache — full addresses, registry numbers, all sorts of codes. From my side in the EU it’s simple, so it just makes sense for me to handle all of it. ❤️
Finding Your Way: Locations and Logistics
Without me: You’re in a rental car in an unfamiliar country trying to find a specific dock in a big marina. The GPS gives you a general area but there are boats everywhere and you’re not sure which company is yours. You send a WhatsApp to the vendor and wait. You walk around a bit, your partner is scrolling through the booking confirmation, and you’re both in your wedding attire getting a little stressed. The romantic morning energy is starting to fade.
Or maybe you’re trying to find a trailhead at 4AM in the dark. Or navigating mountain roads you’ve never driven before. Every “where are we going?” moment pulls you out of the feeling you flew all this way for.
With me: I’ve already been to the marina. I walked it the day before, and I know exactly which dock, which boat, and where to stand. When we arrive, we walk straight there, and there is no confusion for you at all. I not only have the vendor’s email address, but also his phone number in case we need to contact him with unexpectedly. The same goes for every location we visit. I’ve either scouted it in advance or I’ve been there with other couples before, so I know where to park, which path to take, and what time we need to leave to arrive in the right light. You just follow along and take it all in. 😊
When Things Don’t Go to Plan
Without me: The weather changes, a vendor is running late, a location turns out to be more crowded than expected. You don’t have a backup plan because you didn’t know you needed one. You try to figure it out in real time, in your wedding dress, on one of the most important days of your life. Even if everything works out fine in the end, part of you was anxious for a while, and that kind of low-level stress is hard to fully shake off, even when things are going well again, and that anxiety tends to show up in the photos too.
With me: I’ve already thought through every version of this day. Weather backups, alternative locations, flexible timelines with built-in breathing room. When something changes (and sometimes it does, because we’re in the mountains or life happens) I handle it and we keep going. You might not even know anything changed! I make the call, we pivot and the day just keeps flowing.
During the Day: The Stuff You Never See Me Doing
This is probably the least visible thing I do, but it is quite important. When you have other service providers involved in your day like tour guides, boat captains, snowmobile operators, they are so good at what they do! But their instinct is often to do more. And without someone gently managing that, your elopement can start to tip from feeling intimate and relaxed into feeling like a production.
For example, I had a snowmobiling day where our guide was enthusiastically recommending ten to fifteen different photo stops. He had the best intentions, because he wanted the couple to get a lot of stunning photos in a variety of places. I had a conversation with him away from the couple, explained that this day is about the experience first, 2-3 photo stops are more than enough and I can get plenty of stunning photos while we are driving too. This is not about the photos. It is about the experience. If we make 10 stops, it feels like they are posing more than they are experiencing. My couple never knew that conversation happened. They just felt like the day flowed and never got overwhelming. 😊
That’s the kind of thing I’m doing throughout the day. Reading the energy, making smaller and bigger decisions, and making sure the day feels like your elopement rather than a photoshoot.
After the Day: The Vendors
Without me: Your vendors are doing a beautiful job. Your florist, cake baker, and HMUA showed up and made your day even more beautiful. They want to showcase this work on their portfolio, so they bring their own cameras or even someone else to help them capture the behind-the-scenes moments. And this is where your day may start to feel crowded and more of a production because of the extra cameras on you or the extra people around.
With me: Once the gallery is ready, I personally share photos with every vendor who was part of your day, with a note about how their work made a difference. I already capture behind-the-scenes on the go without you noticing, so it is easy for me to share it with the others later. This means they do not need to pull out their phones or hire a content creator to create some marketing materials for themselves. I never want your day to feel like production. And it genuinely matters to me that people who did a great job know that they did. I want them to feel valued and want to stay excellent for all the other couples that will come after!
Ready to Have a Stress Free Elopement Experience?
If there’s one thing I hope you take away from this, it’s that you don’t have to figure any of this out on your own. The vendor emails, the location scouting, any last-minute pivots… that’s all me! All you have to do is show up, be present with each other, and enjoy every single second of your day.
If you’re ready to hand it all over and just enjoy your elopement, I’m ready to make it happen 😊❤️
Other blog posts you might be interested in:
What I Actually Do Behind the Scenes as Your Photographer (So You Don’t Have To)
Why Couples Are Choosing All-Inclusive Elopements
How your photographer’s approach defines your entire experience
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