Here is a story of Kaisa and Laur who had a full-day elopement at lake Garda in June 2025. This blog post will cover their story, all locations and activities, timeline, their full gallery and their review of my service.

Introduction

Kaisa and Laur are a very fun loving couple. When we started planning their elopement, I could see right away that all these too romantic photos and activities are not their thing. They need something fun. Something goofy. Something way more adventurous. So, this is exactly what we did!

Their wish was to have a real adventure. They asked me to take them to a trail where I have not been before myself. So that I do not go there before their elopement, too! This means that the elopement hike would be a real adventure. None of us would know where exactly we end up. A lot of unknown and a lot of excitement! 🤩

My usual practice is that I set my boots on the chosen hiking trail couple of days before the elopement and go through the entire trail on my own to make sure we don’t get lost on the day of the elopement or we need to return because of trail closures or something else similar. But for this couple, I chose the trail online, did some research about the length and altitude of the trail, but I did not go there earlier.

The elopement

Sunrise hike

We started driving around 4AM and it took us almost an hour to get to the trail head. And right at the very beginning we stumbled on the reason why I always go through the trails myself before the elopement. It turned out that it wasn’t possible to get as far with the vehicle as we thought. We needed to hike a little longer than expected, but luckily thanks to the buffer time in our schedule we were prepared for this. Kaisa and Laur loved this and they kept saying how much they were loving this adventuring and not knowing of what is coming up 😅

We arrived at the peak and the view was just AMAZING! The sunrise was very orange and unusually soft and blurred. On the day of the elopement I couldn’t explain this, I had never seen anything like this. Usually at lake Garda you can easily see the mountains on the other side of the lake. This time we barely saw anything. There were no clouds, no fog. But the visibility was quite poor.

Couple of days later I found out that this was caused by the wildfires in Canada and this visibility block had travelled all the way from Canada to Europe and was captured on Kaisa’s and Laur’s elopement photos in Northern Italy. Even though the wildfires are no joke and it is a horrible thing, it did create an amazing backdrop for these elopement photos!

It was very very windy, but luckily, still nicely warm. This hike was the perfect way to wake ourselves up for the next and very important part of the day: the ceremony.

Ceremony in lake Garda

You may look at this headline and think “who says IN lake Garda, when you elope AT lake Garda…”. But this ceremony was literally IN lake Garda! 🤩 Kaisa and Laur have always been very connected to water. This is why they chose to elope at a lake. This is also why they wanted to be inside the water when saying their vows. This is a perfect example of how to make the day true to you. If you are feeling connected to water: go to a lake or sea! And if you really-really love the water – don’t hesitate to go into the water! Do whatever calls you! 🫶

After the vows, it was time to take a little break, get some breakfast and then head out to our next activity. We went on top of mountain, again. This time on the other side of the lake and with gondolas. And this is when I brought out the big “guns” 😂 Let me explain…

I asked Kaisa a while ago: If you could have any kind of a photoshoot, no financial, location, time limitations. You can do literally anything you want anywhere you want. What kind of photoshoot would you have? And her answer was fog + bubbles. Why? ‘Cause it is a fun combination. That simple. And I thought that since we are at a lake, which usually creates some fog in the mornings, I can take bubble machines with me and we can make this dream come true. There was no fog in the morning, but we did have a lot of fun with the bubble machines! 😅

And the champaign pop was also very funny, since Laur sprayed it all over Kaisa 😂

Family members and friends of Kaisa and Laur had written them “speeches” to be read at their wedding. I wrote all of them into one sweet little notebook so that the couple could have them all in one place and keep it. Reading these letters from their family was very emotional for them and included some happy-tears… Since there were so many letters written, they read half of them on the mountain and the rest in the evening after the sun had set.

We took the gondolas back down and it was time for a surprise. Kaisa and Laur knew there was going to be a surprise that lasts for 2 hours. But they had no idea what it was. Kaisa’s best friends had organized them a private boat ride on lake Garda! 🤭🥹🫶

It was so cute, they just couldn’t stop smiling when they understood what is happening 🥹 They were quite speechless for a while. And when they finally got some words out, they expressed their endless gratitude and how happy they are! They truly enjoyed the boat ride on lake Garda. You can really see it in their faces!

After the boat ride we went to our accommodation to sleep a little. We had a very early morning and we also knew we want to stay out after the sunset. So a power nap was much needed!

We went back out around sunset time, found ourselves a spot on a dock where they continued reading the speeches from their friends and family.

I had brought my lanterns and LED-candles with me. We took photos with these and Laur of course was goofin around a little again 🤪

And what better way to end the day than to sit down, listen to the sound of waves, have candles and bubbles surrounding you and have your first dance in this kind of a setting… 🥹 As Kaisa said: this was the perfect end to a perfect day. So chill and relaxed and the first dance with these beautiful lights by the lake is just a dream come true!

FULL GALLERY

Their full gallery can be seen HERE.

ITINERARY

3-4 am Getting ready at AirBnB

4-5 am Drive to trail head

5-6 am Hiking to the peak

6-6:30 am Photos on top of the mountains, taking it all in

6:30-7:30 am Hiking back to our car

7:30-8 am Drive to ceremony location

8-8:45 am Ceremony and portraits by the lake

8:45-9 am Drive to accommodation

9-11 am Breakfast and taking a little break

11 am-3 pm Gondola rides up and down, hiking a little, drinking champaign, bubble machine fun, reading letters from family and friends, photos, taking it all in.

3-5 pm Boat ride

5-8 pm Power nap, dinner at AirBnB and getting ready again

8-10 pm Hanging on the docs, reading letters from family and friends, lantern photos, first dance

REVIEW

Here is the 5* review Kaisa and Laur wrote:

“Our elopement was full of surprises, emotions, and beautiful moments – and a huge part of that experience was thanks to Eva. There were several moments where we thought, “Maybe we shouldn’t go there after all,” because things felt overwhelming or uncertain, but Eva always gently guided us back with calm support, the right questions, and enough space to make our own decisions. It helped us move through those tricky moments with confidence.

My husband had no idea at first how much gear Eva would carry up into the mountains to capture the kind of emotions and actions you can see in our photos – the effort she put in was incredible.

What touched me deeply was Eva’s personal contribution – she handwrote all the letters from our loved ones into our little, beautiful notebook. Some of them came in quite late at night, as not everyone realized how early we were heading into the mountains the next day. Yet Eva never once complained, even though it meant she only got a few hours of sleep before the big day. That kind of dedication is truly admirable.

The photos were absolutely stunning and arrived unbelievably fast. Honestly, we didn’t even have time to think, “When will we see them?” – they were already in our inbox before we had even recovered from the trip.

One of our special requests was that neither we nor Eva would know exactly where we would end up – and that gave the whole day this perfect sense of adventure and a little thrill of the unknown. My husband said he loved that feeling – being in a completely new place, not knowing what would happen next. But that was our personal choice – usually, Eva scouts all her locations in advance.

When people ask us whether we’d recommend this kind of experience, the answer is: 100% yes – especially if you’re a little adventurous, maybe a bit introverted, and want your day to feel truly like your own. Effortless, yet full of meaning. Eva creates that feeling.”

Conclusion

Kaisa and Laur wanted to be surrounded by water, unknowing adventure and a lot of fun. They got this all and much more! They enjoyed all those locations, all the activities we had planned. They never felt rushed and had time to actually enjoy it and take it all in. This is what an elopement is all about!

Quality time with your loved one! 🤍

Other blog posts you might be interested in:

Sigrid and Sander multi-day elopement in the Dolomites
Helena and Keio winter vow renewal
How to include family in your elopement
5 reasons to elope in the Dolomites
How I help couples make their elopement day true to them
How your photographer’s approach defines your entire experience