Bryan and Maria | Our Mountain Top Elopement
It's crazy that I'm just now getting to this post... my intention was to create it much sooner then 11 months into marriage! But time flies when you are having a good time + pursuing big things so here we are, embracing the better late then never route. :)
The Planning Process
When we first started discussing how we wanted to do our wedding it was clear that there wouldn't be a whole lot of tradition involved. Not because we think traditions are bad, but because most of them just weren't us and we wanted to make our day reflect who we are and what we value. Neither one of us really liked the large + long ceremony format and we both wanted to be able to spend quality time with our families celebrating this exciting step in our lives.
After being engaged for a few months and thinking we'd have to wait until the following year to get married, God opened some doors and we decided to get married on a date that was 54 days away. We planned it in between commitments we already had (a karate camp I was heading up the first weekend of August and a friend's wedding I was photographing at the end of August) and before Bryan's brother Knute, had to go back to college in FL. We already knew that an intimate ceremony was something we wanted and having a good photographer who's work I loved was important to me. Being that it was already summer I knew it would be impossible to find a photographer who wasn't booked every weekend; so we decided to get married on a week day. The day we choose was August 8th (8/8/18 makes for an easy to remember anniversary date) which was a Wednesday. After picking out a ceremony spot in McCroskey state park, a place we had spent many Sunday afternoons, we decided to have a sunrise ceremony. Which worked really well with keeping the ceremony intimate.
Our Reception
We ended up having a big party/celebration the weekend before our wedding date which we invited all our friends and extended family to. It was a casual picnic style affair with tacos, an ice cream bar and people playing volley ball + dancing later in the evening. We held it on the tree dotted lawn of Camp Sanders, which is located minutes from where my family lives. I regret now not having someone take pictures at it, even if it was just giving my camera to a friend or family member who has a good eye. We honestly don't have any pictures from that night except for a couple cell phone snaps with friends.
Many people were interested by the fact that we choose to do our reception before we got married. Part of our reasoning for doing it before was because there were already going to be people in town that weekend from OK and TX who I wanted to be present. The other reason we decided to do it before was Bryan says he feels like when receptions are held sometime after a couple has gotten married, that some of the excitement is just lost.
The 2 days in-between our celebration and wedding were filled with going to pick flowers for my bouquet, and finishing up my wedding dress. It was a crazy busy two days, which I had hoped to be a bit slower and more relaxed but so it goes I guess. I'm thankful that for the most part our planning process was laid back and pretty much entirely stress free.
Our Wedding Day
The day of, I was awake at 1:30am (an hour before I had intended to get up) and after unsuccessfully laying in bed for an hour trying to go back to sleep I finally got up at 2:30 to start getting ready. I wrote my vows down in my little vow book, made a change to my veil, and then my mom and sisters woke up and did my hair and makeup as the rest of my family started to wake up and get ready to go.
Both our families, our pastor, and our wonderful photographer all met up outside of McCroskey and then caravanned the several miles back to where our ceremony spot was located. My mother in law had crafted a beautiful bouquet and headpiece for me using a combination of flowers and cedar boughs that I had picked and some roses + greenery she bought at a store. After parking, I fastened my headpiece and veil on and then we all walked down to our chosen ceremony spot which was on the east side of the mountaintop with layered mountain range views.
The sun was painting the sky the prettiest shade of pink as we exchanged vows + rings in a simple ceremony officiated by our pastor.
And then came all the hugs! :)
That "just married high"
Then we moved into getting some family photos! I put together a color palate for our family to dress inside of so it would make family photos nice and cohesive without everyone wearing the exact same colors. I was super impressed with how quickly our photographer Jennifer got through all of the family photo combinations I wanted.
My Grandparents from Ohio were able to make the trip out which was very special!
My Side
Bryan's side
After we finished family photos, everyone except for us and Jennifer left and we spent some time exploring the park + taking pictures.
This was my dream bouquet! I love pink and orange so much and wanted something vibrant + chocked full of flowers. My mother-in-law did such an amazing job putting the flowers together for me!
Absolutely loved the boutonniere Bryan's mom made for him! It was unique, matched my flowers, but wasn't too feminine.
Driving to a different spot in the park....
Our boots were so dusty after walking around a little bit.
By about 8:30 the sun was high in the sky and it was starting to get rather warm out.... even though I had a sleeveless dress on I was sweating so badly! 🙈 we headed back to my family's property where I had asked my brother Chris to get my horse Shiloh for me so he'd be ready for us to get some pictures with him.
We spent some time walking to some of my favorite spots on my parent's 120 acres.
We parted ways with Jennifer and then loaded up my stuff into Bryan's truck before heading down to a small lake cabin which our families had already left for. I remember being so hungry and couldn't wait to get to the cabin and eat some food!
Brunch And Toasts On The Lake
Our moms and sisters planned a really nice brunch which we all ate eagerly followed by opening some gifts people had brought to our party the weekend before. After toasts and some time visiting we hugged everyone goodbye and left at about noon. Our family's spent most of the rest of the day at the lake swimming and relaxing (and my mom would probably add crying). We headed back to Bryan's house to pick up his luggage for our honeymoon and get changed before driving to our stop for the night, which we never actually made it to... but that's a story for another time!
And that about covers the story of our wedding and how + why we choose to get married in an intimate sunrise ceremony (or elopement). As we have attended weddings since then, over and over again we say to each other how glad we are that we chose to go the route we did... absolutely no regrets here!
If as you were reading this something stirred inside of you, or you had a lightbulb moment realizing you don't have to follow all the wedding traditions that the wedding industry says you have to, I'd like to encourage you to definitely explore your options. Because quite truly the possibilities are endless for creating a unique celebration tailored to you as a couple and the circumstances you find yourself in. It's YOUR wedding, don't let the expectations of others or cultural traditions hold you back from planning your dream day!
All pictures taken by our wonderful photographer Jennifer Debarros