Your elopement photos will tell the story of one of the most meaningful days of your life. Unlike traditional wedding photography, where the photographer is capturing a production, elopement photography is all about real moments, raw emotion, and the stunning setting you've chosen. Here are our top tips—straight from the professionals on our team—for getting photos you'll treasure forever.
Chase the Golden Hour
The single most impactful thing you can do for your elopement photos is time your ceremony around golden hour—the hour after sunrise or before sunset. The light is warm, soft, and incredibly flattering. This is especially true at locations like Foothills Parkway in Gatlinburg, where the Smoky Mountain ridges glow in amber light, or Yavapai Vista in Sedona, where the red rocks ignite at sunset.
Choose a Photogenic Location
Your venue is your biggest prop. Locations with natural depth, texture, and variety give your photographer more to work with. Cypress Gardens in Charleston offers reflective water, ancient trees, and winding paths that create visual storytelling in every frame. Crescent Moon Ranch in Sedona provides creek-side intimacy with Cathedral Rock as a natural monument behind you. When you browse our destinations, pay attention to the gallery images—they'll give you a strong sense of what your own photos could look like.
Be Present, Not Perfect
The most beautiful elopement photos aren't posed—they're felt. Instead of worrying about your best angle, focus on your partner. Look at each other. Laugh together. Whisper something that makes you both smile. Our photographers are experts at capturing authentic moments, and the more present you are, the more powerful your images will be.
Wear Something That Moves
Fabrics that catch wind and light photograph beautifully. A flowing veil, a cape, a dress with movement—these elements add drama and romance to your images without you having to do anything except stand in the breeze. Check out our guide to elopement outfits for more styling tips that translate beautifully to photos.
Build in Time for Portraits
One of the advantages of an elopement over a traditional wedding is that you have more time for portraits. There's no cocktail hour to rush to, no reception timeline breathing down your neck. We recommend setting aside at least 30–45 minutes after your ceremony for couple's portraits. Your photographer will guide you to the best light and settings, so all you have to do is enjoy each other.
Trust Your Photographer
Every Elopements Inc. package includes a professional photographer who knows your venue intimately. They've shot there in every season and every light condition. They know the hidden angles, the best backdrops, and the moments worth waiting for. Trust their guidance—it's one of the reasons our couples consistently say their photos exceeded every expectation.
Don't Forget the Details
Beyond the big moments, the small details tell your story: your rings on a mossy stone, your handwritten vows, flowers against weathered wood, the shoes you chose. Lay out these items before the ceremony and let your photographer capture them. These detail shots add richness and variety to your gallery.
Ready to Book Your Elopement?
Every one of our all-inclusive elopement packages includes professional photography, because we believe stunning images are non-negotiable. Browse our destinations, choose the setting that moves you, and let us handle the rest. Your story deserves to be captured beautifully.
How Much Coverage You Actually Get
A professional photographer is included in every Elopements Inc. package — you never hire one separately — but the amount of coverage scales with the tier, and that is what determines how many photos you end up with.
The shortest package covers a 15-minute ceremony and yields roughly 25 to 50 edited images. The largest runs up to three hours and yields 200 or more. Everything in between scales proportionally. Edited high-resolution images are delivered in a private online gallery you can share and download from, and print ordering is included.
RAW files are available as an add-on on every package, priced $100 to $300 by tier. Most couples do not need them — the edited gallery is the deliverable — but if you have your own editor or want the negatives archived, they are there. Cinematic videography is available on Getaway Plus and larger packages at $675 to $1,475 by tier.
Light, by Destination
Sedona. The red rock does most of the work, but only at the ends of the day. Midday sun flattens the formations and makes squinting unavoidable. Sunrise and the last hour before sunset are dramatically better, and the rock genuinely glows in the latter.
Foothills Parkway, Gatlinburg.The overlook faces east into the Smokies, so sunrise is the signature shot — roughly 6:00 to 7:30am from April through September, with no crowds. Sunset works too and is far easier to schedule. Mid-October is peak foliage and books out furthest ahead.
Belmont Mansion, Nashville. The Grand Salon has floor-to-ceiling west-facing windows, which makes late afternoon the strongest interior light of the day. The gardens peak in April; October gives you the tree color plus that same golden window light.
Charleston and Savannah.Both are canopy locations — live oaks and Spanish moss diffuse harsh light all day, which makes them the most forgiving of our destinations for a midday ceremony. Cypress Gardens is the outlier: the blackwater reflections are the entire point, and they read best with the sun low.
Two Things That Improve Every Gallery
First, build in ten unhurried minutes after the ceremony. Almost every couple's favorite frame comes from the stretch right after the vows, when the performing stops and you are simply relieved and happy. A schedule with no gap in it removes the possibility of that photograph.
Second, tell your photographer the two or three images that actually matter to you before the day — a specific location, a particular family member, the shot your grandparents have on their wall. Photographers are good at reading a moment and bad at guessing sentiment. Naming it in advance is the whole difference.
Sample galleries from real ceremonies at all fifteen venues are on our galleries page, organized by venue so you can see how each location actually photographs.