I think one of my favorite places to explore and photograph people is Mt. Baker Wilderness. There are incredible mountainous areas all over Washington State for elopements- but Kulshan holds just a little extra delight for me. I know the light well, multiple different locations where privacy can be found, and also generally can anticipate the weather patterns.
When E&A reached out, and asked for guidance finding locations with alpine lakes for their elopement, I was SO excited to get to show them around some of my favorite areas. I created a few different ideas for them to highlight various areas in the region with incredible lakes- but was a little extra stoked when they picked Mt. Baker Wilderness area for their elopement.
Elopements are always incredibly special, but queer celebrations as a whole always become fast favorites- especially when equal rights for marriage were only nationally granted on June 26th, 2015. Documenting weddings and elopements always feels like I’m a personal historian, but with queer couples, the preciousness, joy, and historic nature feels present in a way that is unique to the couples that less than 10 years ago, wouldn’t be nationally recognized and allowed to be legally married.
We met earlier in the morning at our first location, scouting it out for the best spot for their ceremony. Once we found the spot (with Mt. Baker/Kulshan in the background) A&E got ready together. How cool is A’s green suit, and E’s custom rainbow wedding skirt? E is a professional MUA, so obviously did an incredible job on their own makeup. Then, it was time for their custom vows. After that, we headed to a brewery for a lunch break, a murder mystery game, and little downtime.
Then, it was time for Golden Hour! We began the journey back up to Artists’ Point area for sunset. It is such an incredible area to explore, with so many hikes and view points that are very accessible for adventure elopements, weddings, and portraits in general. We had an INCREDIBLE evening with beautiful light!
This whole day was definitely one of my highlights of the season- not only because it was such a stunning day, but finally being able to meet and spend time with these two was incredibly special.
