Grand Canyon Elopement
It wasn’t long after we moved into our first home when I carted the kids down the street to display ‘Thank you for your service’ posters on all of our service members doors. That was really the first time we had met “Mr. Jake“, as my kiddos call him. Jake and Mary-Kate accepted us ‘old married people’ as friends pretty quickly and loved playing with our babies; though I’m sure they love our dog Lexi wayyyyy more.
Skip a few years and Jake returns from serving our country overseas and proposes to Mary-Kate just weeks after returning home. She begins the wedding planning and books venues and all that jazz and then Mary-Kate calls me one day to tell me ‘I think we’re going to cancel the wedding.” Being that I stopped taking on weddings, I was like ‘wahoooo’, but then like, ‘wait what?!” That’s when she told me of her ‘epic idea’ and I basically begged my way on board her plans.
Jump ahead to Spring Break 2020, and me holding onto this secret for too long, we were all pumped and ready to go…. Then Coronavirus literally stopped and canceled everything. We were hearing so many things on the news and we just weren’t sure what to do. Jake and Mary-Kate were in Las Vegas taking their Spring break vacation when Mk called me the day before my flight to AZ to tell me they were headed home because the Mirage was having to kick them out of the hotel. Places were closing left and right, and Mary-Kate was so worried the State Parks would close too… or worse, ‘what if we can’t get home?”
13 weeks later, we decided it was go time and THIS . WAS . HAPPENING. Jake joked the whole time saying ‘third times the charm’ when things would pop up or when we had ‘doom and gloom’ thoughts, but in the end we had the perfect trip!
Tuesday morning on the 16th of June, Mary-Kate got her hair and make-up done by a local girl named Kristi while Jake picked up flowers.
Mary-Kate is named after her late Great-Grandmother, Mary-Kathryn, whom made this wedding veil for her daughter; Mary-Kate’s late Nana. It was a beautiful moment capturing such a beautiful and timeless heirloom. The couple got dressed in their Airbnb in Flagstaff, AZ, where Mary-Kate walked the front porch to Jake for their ‘first look’.
Jake and Mary-kate and both called their loved ones to tell them the news, then signed papers to make this marriage official, cheered to new beginnings and off we went.
We started with some photos in Walnut Ridge, where we thought our ‘doom and gloom’ thoughts again because the wind was sooooo intense! We laughed and snapped a few shots before trekking our way towards the Grand Canyon.
A local photographer I had been chatting with on Instagram, Chelsea, decided to join in our epic surprise elopement. Isn’t social media cool?!? We grabbed a margherita pizza from We Cook Pizza and started our hike through the Canyon. The views were breathtaking, the weather was phenomenal and the couple, well, you tell me what you think, because I kinda think they’re #goals.
We truly couldn’t have come at a better time… Thanks Corona, I guess.
Jake and Mary-Kate, I’m so honored to have gotten to know you both over the years and incredibly speechless you invited me to capture these photos for you. This was an elopement of a lifetime. A trip of a lifetime. A trip I will never forget. Love you both!!!
One last note- LOOK AT THAT NIGHT SKYYYYYY!! Jake and I nerded-out when we sat outside of their Airbnb looking at the stars. I’ve never seen so many stars in the sky before, I was so hyped about it. I shot a few photos using the lowest shutter speed and legit jumped and screamed at Jake when I saw what my camera captured. I ran inside to Mk and shouted about how pumped I was over it, haha. I said, “I'm in love with all the photos from your elopement, but this photo totally ended the day perfectly!!”
Ps- Can you see Jake sitting in the rocking chair on the porch? I told him to move that’s why you only see the ghost of him, haha!! What a day!!