The Prairie Round Top, TX Wedding | Ryan Price Photography

Alright people… it’s official… I’m now convinced that elopements are the coolest! I know, I know… it’s not for everyone. Having a big wedding with all the people you love and cherish is also wonderful and priceless. However, over the years I’ve seen how giant weddings with agendas and timelines and opinions can sometimes drive a couple close to insanity by the time they make it to the getaway car at the end of the night.

Now, obviously I’m a wedding photographer… I make my living by documenting all sorts of events (the majority are big weddings). I’m in no way saying that those are horrible and every bride is crying at the end of the night… far from it! But, every once in a while a super great couple simply wants to get married without all of the fuss… no family drama… no $30K bill when it’s all said and done… just a quaint ceremony with a few people they love and can be themselves around. And I’m pretty sure that most couples think this type of thing is a myth.. that they might as well also plan on riding away on a unicorn, because there’s no way it could happen.

When I told people that I was “shooting an elopement this Thursday”, people gave me very puzzled expressions and said things like, “I thought that eloping was all about deciding one random day that you want to just get married… I don’t understand why you would actually plan that months in advance.” I think that most people don’t even know this is an option outside of buying a ticket to Vegas and making a drunken weekend out of it.

So, because I had such an amazing time photographing this elopement (and I really want to do more of them in the future), I’ve asked Jackie to share a little about what led them to elope, and how they felt about the whole experience.

From Jackie //

When Hugh and I talked about our future together, we were more focused on forever than a large day of bells and whistles. So, after a little thinking, it made since that we would consider an elopement. While we were planning, we asked ourselves again and again, “Why are we doing this particular thing?” If we were doing it because it was a tradition with no sentimental value to us, we chose whether it was important to us. We didn’t do anything because it was what we had always seen in weddings.

We wanted a beautiful, quiet day that would allow us to remember all of the details. We wanted to get ready separately and share a “First Look,” which really added to the excitement of the day. We decided to choose our two closest friends to share the day with us because we wanted to share it with people we loved and shared the same values with. It was important for us to hire our photographer and videographer, because we wanted people we could trust to capture a beautiful story of the day to share with all of our family and friends who were not there with us.

At the end of the day, Hugh and I were married. We shared a beautiful, stress-free day with our two best friends. We were able to relax and dance to celebrate our special day… and we weren’t crazy exhausted! It felt as though the entire day was a shared experience between the two of us.