Loving Out Loud: Why I'll Always Believe in Elopements
The sun setting on Mount Hood during Kris and Cole’s Trillium Lake elopement.
Kris and Cole's Trillium Lake destination elopement was intimate, healing, and completely their own. Read on to find out how we designed a ceremony just for them— and learn about why elopements (to me) are so very special.
If I were eloping, here's what I'd do.
I'd go to the Oregon coast or Mount Hood National Forest — wherever made me feel most alive. And I'd hire two vendors: a photographer and an officiant. These two people work as a team to create the perfect flow for your day. The photographer shapes the overall timeline; the officiant narrows in on the ceremony itself. That's it. That's the whole vendor list.
Because when you elope, you get to set the pace and the tone. There's nothing to rush off to. Nothing that has to happen. Just you, the person you love, and the landscape holding you both.
This is exactly why I love officiating elopements.
As I get to know my couples, their hobbies, their histories, and the ways they've grown together all come into focus. I use that to design ceremonies rooted in rituals, activities, and spoken words that are deeply, specifically them. Not a template or a script– a ceremony that could only belong to them.
Here's what that looks like in practice.
Hiking boots, signature scents, and a beautiful pin honoring a family member. Mountain Meandering Photography
When I was getting to know Kris and Cole, they told me about the rocks — how some of their most treasured belongings are notes they wrote to each other on stones in the early days of their relationship. They also shared something that lives at the heart of their story: the way their love has made it safe for the younger, more vulnerable versions of themselves to come out and play. A kind of healing that's hard to put into words. If you know, you know.
Their elopement became an embodied celebration of exactly that.
Their photographer, Julia, found a secluded spot in the mountains with Mount Hood standing watch in the distance. We opened the ceremony quietly. Kris and Cole sat back-to-back on a log — so they wouldn't see each other before the first look — and I invited them to write wedding day love notes to the younger versions of the person they were about to marry. We breathed space into that moment. There was no rush.
Then, grounded and ready, they turned to face each other.
The love on their faces was immense. They read their notes, cried, held each other. When they were ready, I began to speak their story back to them — honoring their growth, their uniqueness, the healing they'd brought into each other's lives. We cried a lot. We shivered a lot (it was freezing, and Julia arrived with an entire box of hand warmers — a true hero). We hugged a ton.
After signing the license, we drove down to Trillium Lake to catch the sunset. And this is where the magic really arrived. Mount Hood lit up pink, as if it were celebrating their marriage just as hard as we were. We blew bubbles, laughed, shivered, and felt — there's no other word for it — free. Strangers stopped to clap. People called out their best wishes.
And that's the other thing I love about elopements: they pull people in.
Loving out loud is one of the most beautiful things we can do. I have no doubt that every person who witnessed Kris and Cole's love that day went home feeling a little more connected to the people they love best.
What a gift to give the world, just by showing up and being exactly who you are.
Even the mountain came out to celebrate!
Kris and Cole’s Trillium Lake Elopement Vendor Team:
Officiant: Anna of Soco & Co
Photographer: Julia of Mountain Meandering Photography
Trillium Lake Elopement / Oregon Destination Elopement / Queer Weddings
