Here is a story of Sigrid and Sander who had a two-day elopement in the Dolomites in June 2025. This blog post will cover their story, reason to elope, all locations and activities, timeline, their full gallery and their review of my service.

Their story

Sigrid and Sander are a really sweet couple from Estonia. They met in 2015 at their classmate’s birthday party. After finishing school, their life brought them to Australia. On the Christmas morning of 2021 they went for a sunrise hike to the highest peak in Western Australia. They slept in car to be able to start off with the very early in the morning to catch the sunrise at the peak. During this hike Sander proposed to her and obviously Sigrid answered with a big fat YES!

They did not finish the hike since the mountain was all covered in fog and there wouldn’t have been any visibility. Now, couple of years later, they got married in Italy in the Dolomites. Just like at their engagement, their elopement also started off with hiking in the dark to catch the first rays of sunshine at the peak and the hike was in deep fog 😂

Why did they choose to elope?

Sigrid and Sander said that they are not too big into planning and they do not enjoy being in the middle of the attention. Also, dreams of a big traditional wedding are probably too big for them and they wouldn’t want to spend so much money on a big wedding. This is why they hired me to help organize them an adventure elopement in the Dolomites and capture it. Just the two of them most of the day. No stress, no big party. Their little son Sebastian came to Italy too with his aunt and they were with us for some part of the first day.

The elopement

Sigrid and Sander had a two-day elopement. They wished to be surrounded by mountains, but didn’t want to have a too long of a hike. The couple also wished to have some photos with their son by a lake. They were drawn to Lake Braies, which is the most known lake in the Dolomites. They also wanted to do a hot air balloon ride. These were their wishes that I took as basis when I started putting together the itinerary. And here is how their elopement looked.

DAY 1

Hike

Sigrid and Sander woke up 1.30AM. Sigrid’s sister did her make-up and hair. We met at 3AM at their accommodation and started our 1h drive towards the trail we had chosen. At 4AM we were at the parking lot, with backpacks, flashlights and lanterns on us, ready to go! The gike was around 1h with couple of photo breaks. It was all so foggy that we couldn’t really see much. It truly was like reliving their engagement hike in Australia with the darkness and the fog. But we had our fingers crossed that once we arrive, it will clear up with sunrise 🤞

And it did clear up a little once we arrived!!!

I helped Sigrid put on her wedding dress, she also got her make-up refreshed. Meanwhile, our videographer was setting up microphones and cameras for the ceremony and took some drone footage of the area. And then we started with the ceremony. They did their vows and rings exchange.

Once the vows were said and rings exchanged, we took a little moment to take this all in. It truly is one of the most beautiful and epic spots in the Dolomites with beautiful views in all directions! It would be a disservice if I didn’t plan time for just enjoying it.

We continued with taking portrait photos of them. We also wanted to take photos on the very famous Cadini di Misurina viewpoint but we were inside of the cloud and no peaks were visible.

And then it was time to hike back.

Lake

We drove back to our accommodation, had a little break since we woke up really early. The next location we wanted to visit was lake Braies. It is one of the most popular locations in the Dolomites and therefore it can get quite crowded during the day. If you were to visit Braies, I can only recommend the very-early-in-the-morning option. During the day there can literally be thousands of people, making it rather unpleasant for taking photos and impossible to have any privacy. Our goal was just to have lunch there, since our accommodation was just 5min away from the lake. We wanted to just see the lake and hang out with their little Sebastian for a little while.

Waterfall

After visiting lake Braies we headed out to the last location of the day which was a waterfall. When people think of the Dolomites, they usually think of mountain views, mountain meadows and alpine lakes. But people usually don’t think that if there are mountains and snow is melting in May-June, there will be waterfalls full of water, too!

Our first stop was by the river to pop champaign, read letters from family and to send away Sigrid’s maiden name. Their family members had sent me their “speeches” and 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 quite a bit of happy-tears…

In Estonia, there is a tradition that if the bride changes her last name when getting married, she sends away her maiden name. There are so many ways to do that from writing your name on a balloon and popping it or giving it back to your father and/or brother(s) who will continue using this name etc. Sigrid wrote her last name Lehtme (in Estonian it refers to leafs) on a leaf and Sander tied it around a stone and threw it into the bottom of the river, since the new last name refers to the bottom of a water.

We continued our walk towards the waterfall. Since the waterfall is full of water in June, it was quite wet around that area. I gave them a see-through umbrella to keep the water a little bit away from their faces.

As you can see, these two love birds had so much fun and enjoyed their day to the fullest! Nothing could have stopped them from enjoying their elopement! 🤍 And as last pictures of the day we took advantage of the beautiful forest right by the waterfall.

DAY 2

Hot air balloon ride

In the next morning, we started with getting ready at 3AM and met our hot air balloon pilot at 5:30 am. Pilot checked the wind’s direction and told us that it is just a little windy. It’s not the best condition if there is either a lot of wind or just a little. Something in between would be the best. Also, we knew we couldn’t go very high, since there were clouds. But we still decided to give it a go. We went to one end of the valley so that the wind could start carrying us to the other end of the valley.

While they were laying out the hot air balloon on the field, we took some fun photos on the field.

And then the couple helped the pilot to fill the hot air balloon with air.

And the off they went!

But once they were up, something happened. The little bit of wind we had…

It changed its direction…

Meaning that the wind was carrying them to the very end of the valley where there was a town and mountains covered in forest. Since there were also clouds, they couldn’t go much higher. They couldn’t keep flying so they needed to land in the middle of the town. The experienced pilot successfully landed on a small parking lot in the middle of the town 😀

I know it might sound sad, but these are the moments when the mindset starts to play a huge role. If you are in it for the experience (not just the photos) you’ll find this situation funny and we laughed A LOT(!) at this situation and our ability not to change anything. Weather sometimes does its things and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. If you are taking the very best out of every given situation, you can still enjoy everything 😊 Sigrid and Sander were real champs in this mindset! 🤗 I am so proud of them!

With the rest of the time we had left, we went to a little church instead, where we enjoyed this beautiful peaceful morning on a field, just hanging around, taking it all in.

When the pilot and his partner were done with packing up the hot air balloon, the pilot did a little ceremony that usually is done up in the air. And this was how this multi-day elopement ended. Very peacefully, beautifully, calmly. In the best way! Just look how happy they are! 🥹🫶

FULL GALLERY

Their full gallery can be seen HERE.

ITINERARY

DAY 1

1:30-3 am Getting ready at accommodation

3-4 am Drive to mountains

4-5 am Hiking with couple of photo breaks

5-5:30 am Getting everything ready for the ceremony: changing clother, refreshing make-up, setting up cameras and microphones for video

5:3-6 am Ceremony

6-8:45 am Photos, videos, taking it all in

8:45-9:30 am Hike back to parking lot

9:30-10:30 am Drive back

10:30-11:30 am A little break at accommodation to freshen up

11:30 am-1 pm Lunch at lake Braies, some photos, hanging out with their baby boy

1:15-2 pm Drive to waterfall

2-4.30 pm Waterfall activities: reading letters from friends and family, popping champaign, sending away her maiden name, taking photos and video footage, playing with their son

DAY 2

3:30-4:45 am Getting ready

5:30-8:30 am Hot air balloon activities: filling balloon with air, going up, flying a little bit, landing in a town earlier than expected, went to a little church, had their hot air balloon baptism ceremony there, hanged out on a field

REVIEW

Here is the 5* review Sigrid and Sander wrote:

“It’s hard to find the right words to describe what our elopement with Eva gave us.
If you feel like you don’t have any ideas about what to do or where to go, but the thought of eloping speaks to you — don’t hesitate, Eva will help you. We placed our full trust in her, and she did not disappoint.
Our entire day was thoughtfully planned, yet flexible enough to adapt to changes that the weather or other unexpected factors might bring. Eva had considered everything that might be needed at the photo locations and even helped us in advance with packing.

She supported us throughout the entire planning process — from flight and accommodation suggestions all the way to the actual day of shooting.
Eva also helped us involve our family, even though they couldn’t be there with us in person. On top of that, she has a wonderful connection with children — both the photos and the activities with our little one were truly delightful.

There were also surprise moments during the day that Eva had planned for us, things we didn’t expect at all, but that added so much meaning to the experience.
She even helped with dress, hair, and all the little things throughout the day to make sure we still looked great by the end.

While spending the day with us, Eva mentioned she can’t believe this is actually her job. It’s clear that she truly loves what she does — you can feel it when working with her and you can definitely see it in the results.
Eva is a warm and caring person who genuinely wants your day to be the most special one — and that shows in everything she does.”

Conclusion

Sigrid and Sander wanted mountains, a little hike, lake side and a hot air balloon ride. They got them 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:

Kaisa and Laur full day elopement at lake Garda
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