A collection of West Virginia, Destination Wedding, and Elopement galleries

Portfolio of local Elopements and Rad Weddings in West Virginia

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Wedding and Elopement Galleries

A courthouse microwedding in West Virginia

We captured Charlee and Zach’s microwedding (minimony?) at the courthouse in Fairmont, WV, inside the courtroom named after her late father and former judge. It was sweet, full of tears, and honestly such a privilege to be the ones to document this day.

After the courthouse cleared out, Charlee had one goal- kick her heels up and eat a croissant. So we did just that.

An intimate wedding in Canaan Valley, WV

Olivia and Ben planned their intimate wedding in Canaan Valley, WV in less than 3 weeks. They booked an Airbnb that has private access to a section of Dolly Sods, so naturally their ceremony location was easy choice.

10/10 highly recommend just going for it and getting married however the hell you want.

A jazzed-up wedding at Gaines Estate in Fayetteville, WV

Christina is my favorite #scorpioqueen and the Gaines Estate is one of my favorite wedding venues in West Virginia. Hailing from New Orleans, but with West Virginia roots, Christina and John wanted to incorporate some jazzy traditions into their wedding day, and a 2nd line parade following the ceremony was the perfect way to do so.

A wedding venue showcase at Heigh Garden in Charleston, West Virginia

If you’re on the hunt for a stylish new venue in Charleston, WV, check out Heigh Garden. I collaborated with some amazing vendors last summer and put together this venue showcase. Check out some modern inspiration below!

A rainy Airbnb wedding in Fayetteville, WV

This wedding will forever go down as one of the CHILLEST weddings we’ve ever worked. Hurricane Ian did a doozy on anyone’s weekend, wedding, event plans on the east coast this early weekend in October. It rained, rained some more, and then kept raining. Insert Forrest Gump accent here. But this couple, and all their people, make the most of it, adapted for comfort, and celebrated Emma and Brayden all evening long.

A private and cold elopement at Dolly Sods in October.

A quick fun story before their beautiful fall elopement gallery at Dolly Sods. When L+J made it to our neck of the woods, a wild cold front had moved in. Their elopement day called for 28 degrees and a wind chill like you wouldn’t believe. This one one of the coldest, if not THE coldest elopements we have ever worked. It was a shorter day, only 2 hours, but in those 2 hours we had to go warm up in the car three times. Our hands were numb, the wind was not kind, but man was it unforgettable.

An intimate morning elopement in Cooper's Rock, WV (with bonus hotel room elopement shoot!)

If this sweet morning elopement wasn’t enough on it’s own, check out pt. 2 of this gallery inside. After Samantha and Josh’a elopement at Cooper’s Rock, we headed to a nearby hotel room to get some fun and creative, post-elopement photos.

A modern and classic farm wedding with two grooms | Charleston, West Virginia Wedding

If you need some inspiration for your modern farm wedding, take a peek at Shaun and Ethan’s super classic wedding in Charleston, WV.

A modern and fun wedding at Hartwood Acres in Pittsburgh, PA

Kara and Josh’s June wedding at Hartwood Acres was the perfect venue in Pittsburgh to bring Kara’s “upscale boho chic festival” vibes to life. A pizza truck, a coffee cart, photo booth, and festival tattoos/stickers were some party elements that definitely kept everyone entertained, happy, and living their best life for K+J’s wedding.

A woodland, boho wedding in the forest at Blue Moon Rising in Deep Creek.

What we loved about this wedding is how much thought K + T put into their day. Kara and her dad grew flowers together that would decorate the already magical space at Blue Moon Rising. Tyler, who is a really talented skateboard artist, crafted all of the centerpieces out of recycled skateboards. I remember talking with these two long before their wedding and they had mentioned how they both enjoy working with their hands and we loved how much effort went into their DIY decor.

An intimate elopement at Dolly Sods, West Virginia in October

Eloping in Dolly Sods is not for the faint of heart. With the most unpredictable weather patterns in West Virginia, most of our couples take a gamble when they choose Dolly Sods for their elopement location. October brings a variety of challenges including an influx of tourists to the area, thunderstorms, high winds, and low temperatures. Although every single time we’ve shot an elopement at Dolly Sods, the weather has been perfect. Jeahna and Isaias’ special day in October was no different. Mild temperatures, moody skies, and having the place practically to ourselves (because they eloped on a Wednesday!) made for the most special day.

A wedding at JQ Dickinson Salt-Works | Charleston, West Virginia Wedding

We had the honor of documenting this wedding at JQ Dickinson Salt Works for two documentary photographers and filmmakers whose work spans across the globe (talk about an honor!) If you’re on the hunt for a wedding venue in Charleston, WV, check out this wedding gallery.

A fall wedding at the new wedding venue in West Virginia, The Wilderness Lodge.

These two got married on a Tuesday and if you know me, you know that that’s one of my favorite things in the world. The new venue in WV (which is not a barn!) held the nuptials and celebration of Kelsey and Jake on this wickedly warm weekday in September.

A waterfall elopement at Hocking Hills

A full-day elopement story at Hocking Hills in Logan, Ohio. Slow coffee and crossword puzzles in the morning followed by an intimate vow exchange in front of a waterfall inside the park. A fireside reception with an out-of-this-world camping style charcuterie board rounded out this intimate wedding to create one of our favorite projects to date.

A Spruce Knob Elopement in West Virginia

Laura and Paul celebrated their marriage in my most favorite way: with a private elopement followed by a reception party later in the year.

We trekked up to Spruce Knob in late April, taking a gamble with the weather since that elevation is highly unpredictable in the spring season. It wasn’t terrible, but high 50 temps combined with gusty winds reminded us that summer was still a ways away.

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Feast your eyes on some of our favorite travel love stories from Destination Weddings to Elopements all over the US.

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Wedding and Elopement Galleries

A rainy Brooklyn wedding at 26 Bridges.

I love the wide variety of ways our couples find us.

The groom, Adam, owns a global travel program that my bestie Anna has worked on his programs in the past. She actually connected Tom (my husband/biz partner/videographer if you’re new here!) to the Atlas programs to get trained on leading some programs in the future. Fast forward to the training- Tom finds out that Adam is engaged and pitched him our photo/video services. Double fast forward and we’re shooting Adam and Tracy’s wedding in Brooklyn, NY.

An eclectic wedding in Eastern Shores, Maryland

Alaina and Kaitlyn are two of the raddest humans I’ve ever met. So easy and natural to be around, it felt like we working with old friends (I know I’ve said that before but it’s true!)

They held their 75-person wedding at the Avalon Theatre in Easton MD. While they did put a lot of thought and effort into the ambience and experience of the day, A+K moved through their wedding together in a way that was so present and happy that it felt like they weren’t worried about the “stuff”. We love working with folks who know how to move through the day with intention and making memories, rather than just posing for photos.

If you’re planning a wedding, ask yourself this question. Are you planning a wedding or planning a photoshoot? If it’s the former, here’s our best advice, inspired by Alaina and Kaitlyn:

Relax
Focus on each other
Stay present
Be yourself

The most epic and moody AF Iceland elopement

This was actually a two-part elopement back in late November. The night before the scheduled elopement, I texted the couple to check in and they replied “um Michelle, it looks like 45 mph winds, should we reschedule?” Ultimately, I left the decision up to them because I’m bold and I’ll shoot in anything. I also think the universe has a fun way of working and wild elements in Iceland was your elopement destiny, than so be it. So we met the officiant in the parking lot of a lesser-famous waterfall on the south coast of Iceland (about 2 hours from Reykjavik) and attempted what we thought would be their all-day elopement. The winds, overspray from the waterfall, and cold temps were too much for our couple who didn’t have the luxury of fleece layers, a winter coat, gloves, and a hat- so they decided to call it and try again the next day.

Under the Tuscan Moon- A magical destination wedding at Mastrojanni Winery in Tuscany, Italy

2022 was the year of manifestation. When we put an Italy Destination Wedding on our vision board earlier this year, deep down I knew it would happen.

Amanda and Joey reached out to us earlier this year about documenting their destination wedding at a winery in Tuscany in September. They vetted a lot of photographers and after a super vibey zoom call, they chose us as their photographer and videographer and we were beyond honored to travel to the land of pasta, wine, and architecture for a job of our lifetime.

Amanda’s eye for style and laid-back attitude was honestly the perfect combo for pulling off such an effortless and vibrant wedding day. Her Pinterest board was full of modern wedding imagery and her style leaned heavy on the film-inspired grainy look. I was happy to oblige and stretch my creativity and totally thrived with creative freedom.

An Oregon MicroWedding at a Vineyard in Wine Country

In late August, we were able to fly back to Oregon to document this sweet (and three times rescheduled) micro wedding at a vineyard just outside of Portland. An amazing vendor team including the always rad florist, Wildflower Portland, and the on-top-of-her-game planner, A Little Lace A Little Grace made this day an incredible wedding to document.

An intimate elopement in Florence, Italy

If you’ve ever thought about an eloping in Italy, or specially in Florence, Italy, this gallery is the perfect source of inspiration (my humble opinion)

We started this sweet Italian elopement inspired session with some quick getting ready photos at an historic Airbnb in downtown Florence Italy. From there, we adventured downtown to grab some city shots with the famous Duomo di Firenze by Brunelleschi. We adventured our way up into the hills with the perfect city scapes at Piazza Michelangelo and ended our evening with chants of “Auguri” surrounded by strangers at sunset. It was beautiful, magical, and perfect all in the same breath.

An adventurous hiking elopement at a waterfall in North Carolina

If you’re looking for a place to elope in North Carolina that includes a waterfall and scenic views, look no further. This adventurous elopement near Asheville, NC was a doozy and is not recommended for folks who are not used to hiking. This hiking elopement totaled over 4-miles between two locations and it was totally worth it.

A last-minute luxury elopement in Joshua Tree

Haley and Nathan reached out to us about 6 weeks prior to their elopement and told us they wanted to elope on their 10-year anniversary and they didn’t care where. I pitched them the idea of going out west where the temps are warm and the skies are sunny. Lucky for us all, they picked the luxury elopement package in Joshua Tree, and our adventure to California was around the corner.

A destination wedding weekend at Hawkesdene in Andrews, North Carolina

If you're looking for an all-inclusive wedding venue on the east coast that oozes luxury, look no further than Hawkesdene. This 54-acre private estate in the mountain country of Western North Carolina is the perfect place to host your destination wedding.

A Destination Wedding in Sayulita, Mexico

If you’ve followed us for awhile, you may know that we fully believe in getting married however the hell you want (it’s sorta our tagline.) Escaping the cold of winter and heading south to Mexico for a one-of-a-kind destination wedding is high on our list of ways to say EF tradition and do things exactly how you want to do them.

Sayulita, Mexico is one of the most perfect places for a destination wedding, and I’ll tell you why.

A destination wedding at the Old Mill in Rose Valley

Working for other creatives in the wedding industry is a bit overwhelming. This was the second photographer/videographer’s wedding we shot and the nerves just don’t go away, even after documenting over 100 weddings. The groom, Chris, is a mega talented videographer whose works spans across Pittsburgh and big brands like American Eagle. No pressure right?

It’s safe to say we nailed it. Chris and Jackie were the MOST laid back couple we have worked with in a long time. Their focus? To have fun at their wedding.

A backyard Oregon micro-wedding

We flew to our second home in Oregon to capture this sweet and stylish micro-wedding at a family friends’ farm. The bride is an incredible designer and stylist and completely styled her own wedding with the help of family and friends on the day of. If you’re interested to see how 5 hours of coverage can capture the essence of the day, check out these stunning images.

An urban wedding with two grooms

It's safe to say I do lot of my wedding photography work outside. So when I get the opportunity to work at an indoor venue in downtown Portland, trust me when I say, I was stoked. Getting to be by Daniel and Brad's side all day long was honestly an honor.

A surprise destination wedding in Denver, Colorado

Cheyenne and Amanda were in the beginning of wedding planning, had a venue locked down and everything, and then the pandemic happened and they quickly were over wedding planning. When Amanda told Chey “I wish you’d just plan a wedding for me”, Chey took that literally and planned a whole ass surprise wedding.

A Modern, Indoor Wedding in Downtown Portland

Snag all the modern wedding inspiration with this indoor winter wedding in Portland, Oregon. Featuring a pre-ceremony trip to the bar.

This wedding in particular was so fun for me because it a) a challenge and b) a bit non-traditional. Which if you know me or read anything about me, you may know that I love anything that fights tradition...