A Spring Hurricane Ridge Hiking Adventure Elopement

Wow, this elopement was a special one! Bradley and Shawn decided to fly from Texas to Washington for their elopement and honeymoon. I actually met them both in Seattle two days before their elopement for an engagement session in downtown Seattle! Shawn is the more of the outdoors lover and Bradley likes the city, so they wanted photos of both! It was a great compromise and an awesome way for us all to get to know each other before their elopement day.

S&B decided that they wanted to elope in a national park as they got engaged in Big Bend National Park and they have a goal as a couple to visit every national park. Bradley has to go overseas for over a year starting in June, so they decided it made the most sense to have their elopement in May. If you know much about Washington, then you probably know that most trails with mountain views in the National Parks are still very unaccessible in May. Because of this, I suggested that we look in Olympic National Park for a location! I was hopeful that by May there might be an accessible trail at Hurricane Ridge! And I was right! The week before their elopement, I drove out to Hurricane Ridge and location scouted to find them the perfect trail that offered mountain views as well as some hiking for a sense of adventure!

The day before their elopement, Bradley used his meteorologist skills to predict the weather and shift their elopement to earlier in the day. We’re so glad we did, because we had the trail to ourselves for their entire ceremony and it snowed later in the afternoon! Had we stuck to the original schedule we probably wouldn’t have been able to see the mountains and likely would have had to use a backup location.

Cherise from Another One Ties the Knot met us at the Hurricane Ridge Parking lot and we all headed towards the trailhead at 7am. We had about 2 miles of hiking to get to the ceremony location. Bradley and Shawn got ready together once we reached the top. Cherise officiated S & B’s ceremony then we shared a champagne toast! We took some quick portraits as the wind chill was pretty intense up there! Spring elopements in the mountains are no joke! You never know what weather you might get and it can get super cold very quickly! After we got back to the cars, we said goodbye to Cherise and headed to a lower elevation area on Hurricane Ridge that offers beautiful views without the intense wind!

Bradley and Shawn’s elopement was also featured on Equally Wed! You can see that feature here!

Rialto Beach Elopement

Bradley and Shawn decided they wanted to get the most out of their time in Washington and their elopement day, so we headed to the coast for the afternoon! We had to wait out the rain for a bit, but then the skies opened up and we even got a bit of sun! S & B explored the rugged Rialto Beach, read letters from their family, exchanged gifts, and shared cake and fancy champagne! It was the perfect end to a beautiful day!

If you want to see more Olympic National Park Beach elopements, check out this Ruby Beach elopement for inspo!