the journal

Ah! This Grand Tetons Elopement was the best! Cassie & Justin were the sweetest and really just wanted to do something unique for their wedding! They are actually from Illinois and were so excited to come to the Tetons! Cassie & Justin met online the summer of 2021. I LOVE what Cassie said, ‘We were both using the Bumble app where the girl has to message first. I was immediately drawn to how sweet his eyes were. It was fate because he was in the area visiting his aunt but lived about four hours away from me. We met up for an in person date a few weeks later. He was so easy to talk to, and we exchanged numbers when he walked me out to my car after lunch. A couple months later I tried to put him in the friend zone but we still kept in touch. When my dog Cooper passed away I reached out to him for advice and we became much closer. We celebrated his birthday together, enjoyed a concert, and did lots of “couple” things. We made it official in December and felt so strongly that our relationship was significant and once in a lifetime. He proposed in April of 2023 and here we are.’ How CUTE is that!? I absolutely LOVE hearing love stories and I had to include Cassie & Justin’s! Justin also setup a sunrise photoshoot in Mexico where he proposed to Cassie!

When we finally met up to photograph Cassie & Justin’s elopement, it was so fun and sweet! They actually got married about a week before in a county over from where they lived because they wanted to keep it a surprise for their families! They were planning an ‘Engagement Party‘ and that’s where they actually announced that they eloped! This was a second marriage for both of them and they really wanted to do something for them, which I LOVE! As an Idaho Wedding Photographer, I am all about couples doing what THEY want for their wedding! After all it is THEIR DAY! So, Cassie & Justin didn’t actually even have an officiant. It was just me, them and their videographer MATTIE! We started inside GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK and made our way to a few other spots outside the park! We ended at SCHWABACHER’S LANDING where Cassie & Justin exchanged vows with the breathtaking Grand Tetons behind them! Cassie & Justin were SO sweet and their vows definitely made all of us tear up! In Cassie’s vows, she said, ‘I thought it would be impossible to find someone who could ever love me when I’m often scattered and in disarray. It’s like trying to complete a puzzle and not knowing if all the right pieces are there. You have shown me that every piece doesn’t have to be in place to create something beautiful, that love CAN exist in the most imperfect, lost and broken people.’ … As a perfectionist, I resonated with what Cassie said SO MUCH! And it was so touching to hear how she felt about Justin. In Justin’s vows, he said, ‘I don’t know why the man upstairs took so long to make our paths cross but I will take late rather than never. … I promise to make your dreams mine, to support you, to cherish you, and to devote my life to your happiness. … I could thank you for loving me, but instead I want to thank you for showing me that I deserve to be loved. And I could thank you for fixing me but instead I want to thank you for showing me that I was never broken.’ … Cue the tears, am I right!? Cassie & Justin’s Grand Tetons Elopement was such a fairytale and I’m SO grateful they chose me to be their elopement photographer!