Best of 2023 // Elopements + Adventure Sessions // Utah & Alaska Adventure Wedding Photographer

I really look forward to this blog post at the end (or, in this case…the start) of every year. I’ll be honest and say I don’t necessarily look forward to the amount of time and effort it takes to put together, but I really enjoy having a summary of our year all in one place. It’s a glimpse into our annual portfolio and the opportunity to reflect on the couples we’ve worked with, to see the images we’re most proud of, and to dream up our hopes for the upcoming year.

This is my 8th “Year in Review” blog post, meaning we’re going into our 10th year of this photography business (I regretfully didn’t create a summary blog post of 2015, our first year). It’s certainly shocking to me that we’ve already been in it this long, and at the same time, I feel like 2015 was ages ago. We’ve grown up so much since that first year, our life has changed drastically, and yet, our dreams have only become bigger and more daring versions of the ones we first considered when we started. We could have never imagined that almost a decade in, we’d be more comfortable hopping in a helicopter to fly out to a glacier with a couple than we ever were operating an external flash for a ballroom reception. I wish I could show these images, many of which were created in what are now our own local hiking trails and personal adventure spots, to the version of myself desperately searching the golf course for a patch of trees that looked more wild for some portraits at the many country club weddings we shot that first year.

That being said, despite how epic the images are and how thrilling the adventures feel, by and far my favorite thing about this job is the connection and experience we have with our couples. We spend so much time talking and planning ahead of their trip that by the time we meet up, we’re often immediately hugging and jumping right into real conversation, having covered the niceties in emails or phone calls months prior. We spend the day with them, often sunrise to sunset, experiencing incredible things in wildly beautiful places. More often than not, we’re doing something that Callen and I are comfortable with and have done many times, but is a new experience for our couples. Things like pack-rafting with icebergs, Jeeping down remote desert roads, flying in a private helicopter to a glacier or private plane to a backcountry airstrip. These things aren’t arbitrary, they require bravery and an openness to trusting yourself, your pilot, or us. It’s an incredible experience to do this with our couples, alongside one of the most significant days of their life. To be able to also be taking photographs the entire time? Truly a dream come true.

A prominent word for me this year has been creativity. Such a simple, yet very significant word. After a few years of shooting in familiar places like Utah and Alaska, places that are now our homes instead of just destinations we travel to, it could be easy to “rinse and repeat” experiences (although, no two days are ever the same because no two couples are the same!). Instead, having the familiarity and comfort within these locations allows our minds to expand creatively. We already know the “best shots,” we know the moments people will be in the most awe, we know the best places for a quiet break where they can soak it all in. Because we’re not having to spend much energy thinking on these things, we have room to discover the new moments of each day. We have room to observe our couples closely and learn their quirks and the way they reach for each other when they’re excited or nervous.

I was afraid that narrowing down our locations and creating a certain consistency in our elopement experiences would limit our creativity, but it’s been quite the opposite. That is what I see when looking through this year’s photos. I hope you experience the same.

From Instagram :: August 15, 2023

It’s no secret that weddings are a huge deal, and a wedding day is a big turning point in a couples’ life. But one of the things that I love about the adventure elopement experiences we give our couples is how it often inspires them to lead a more adventurous life. We’ve had multiple couples end up traveling much more after their experience traveling to a new place for their elopement. Couples who get more into backpacking and hiking after spending their day in a National Park with us. Couples who buy packrafts as soon as they can after borrowing ours. We even have two Hearnes couples who have moved to Alaska since their trip to elope with us up here (and one more coming up in a few months)!!

The thing is, I truly believe these places call to people more than they expect. I think that while choosing a location for your destination elopement might be a decision mostly based on photos and online descriptions, nothing can prepare you for how it will actually feel. Even for couples who have spent a lot of time traveling, or a lot of time outdoors before working with us, I have found that the day is unforgettable for reasons they can’t possibly expect. Sometimes we call it positive peer pressure, but the truth is, once you get a taste of a life beyond the expectations and standards of “normal,” you start to question everything else too. Once you toss out the traditional wedding plans for something like this, you realize how many other parts of life are worth re-evaluating as well.

Plus, selfishly, we just really love having more friends nearby, so we’re always psyched when our couples can’t keep themselves away from these places after their elopements out here :)

From Instagram :: June 29, 2023

In a way, glaciers are breathing in & out, really slowly. As they’re forming, snow falls and compacts into deep blue ice but it often holds little pockets of air from the time it formed (breathe in). These pockets travel with the ice overtime, like a very very slow river. As the glacier melts, the air is released (breathe out). Many glacier-adjacent cultures believe there is healing power in being near the ice, some even credit the glaciers as ancient sentient beings.

I can’t say for sure what I believe, but I do know there is something magical about them, something healing about breathing in their ancient air, drinking the water that had been frozen longer than I can fathom.

These are the experiences we’re aiming for when we plan elopements. It’s really not about the cool photos (although, there are plenty…and they’re very cool :)), but more about a feeling you’ll never forget. A connection to the place you’ll carry with you forever. An experience with each other that inspires the rest of your life together. Personally, these experiences have shifted the course of our lives…it’s why we hope to give you the same.

From Instagram :: January 22, 2023

One surprising aspect that I really love about our job lately is visiting certain locations over & over with different couples. I used to think we needed to do something different every single time, to keep going to new places in order to feel creatively inspired by our job, but I’ve found that in some ways, the opposite is true. Going to a few places we really love multiple times in one season really seems to open the door for creativity in ways I couldn’t have anticipated.

Even doing the same hike 5 times in a season, every time is different. Every couple experiences the place in their own way, showing us new lenses to love this place through. The weather is always changing, wind is blowing the sand into new places, the direction of the sun might shift just a few degrees but with the dynamic fins & canyons out here, that shift can fully change how a place looks, photographs, and feels. We’ve watched entire sand dunes shift in a weeks’ time due to windstorms, seen rocks fall & form new boundaries, watched creeks shift with floods and flow to new corners. It’s fascinating to know a place like this so intimately, to watch over days, weeks, and years as the landscape changes before our eyes.

This has truly become one of my favorite unexpected pieces of our work…having documented a place over years and experiencing it with hundreds of different people, each in their own intimately immersed way. It is such a gift to know the desert so closely.

From Instagram :: January 20, 2023

We spend a lot of time laughing with our couples, some time crying (especially during ceremonies and first looks, those big moments always get me), and quite a bit of time just straight up hanging out like buddies on a hike together. Our big goal every time a couple is in front of our lens is to create photos that bring them back to that moment, that place, the feeling they have for each other and for life that day. We want to create photos that a couple will love the moment they see them, and every time after that for the rest of their lives. The goal isn’t just creating great photos in 2023, but creating photos that will be great to them in 2065. One way we do this is getting to know our couples before, and spending quality time with them throughout their session. It feels more like a double date than a photo shoot, and we do our best to make everyone super comfortable so they feel like they can give us their true selves.

We structure our booking options to always be more than enough hours together so we aren’t rushed, and so we have time to get really comfortable and have everything be really low pressure. We know how to get the “essential” shots efficiently so the rest of the time can be spent taking real photos that have real meaning and capture real memories; like the way they make each other laugh, or the places their hands go when they embrace, or the way it felt to stand on the edge of a cliff in a wildly gorgeous dress.

Because in 50 years, we want these photos to bring them back to who they were then, and bring them back to this exact day together. We want them to remember their love and their experience. And we really hope no matter how many times they look through their photos, they’ll laugh (and cry) again just like we all did that day together.

2024 GOALS:

Over the years, we’ve noticed our goals are always quite similar, with the same “blanket terms” and a few small adjustments. I love to look back over them at the end of each year and see how we did, as well as consider how we can improve and do even better in the new year. I love reading through these at the end of each year and reflecting on how we did with our goals, and dreaming of ways we can work toward them in the coming year.

Bookings » 2023 felt really amazing. We worked with some incredible couples and met our financial goals with our booking calendar, plus some other income streams I created and worked on throughout the year. In 2024, I’d love to be around the same amount, with maybe a few more bookings in the Fall. Spring Season sure tends to be our busiest, which I’m very happy with, but this Fall I found myself thinking we could have taken on more. I’d always rather feel like I have capacity for more, than to wish we’d booked less, so I feel really great going into 2024 with our current calendar and hope to connect with a few more 2024 couples in the coming months.

Play More » This is actually the secret sauce to the work we create. The reason we’re able to put together elopements we’ve never seen before doing them; like aviation weddings in Moab, kayaking with icebergs in Alaska, Jeeping new roads, hiking new trails, and so on, is because we do those things. We spend our time off living the adventures we create for our couples. Our ideas come from our own life, our own passions, and the reason we’re always bringing new ideas to the table is because we’re seeking them ourselves! 2023 Felt like an amazing year for this and I’m really excited to see what we get into in 2024!

Have A Positive Impact » This looks a little different every single year. In 2023, we worked closely with our local Moab BLM office to improve their permitting and guidelines for wedding-specific events on BLM lands, as well as giving back a percentage of our earnings for them to protect the land and improve every visitor’s experience. It has been a grueling process at times, but I know we will have a positive long-term impact if we are patient and persistent. We also plan to donate more to organizations like Access Fund and Honnold Foundation, spend more time educating people about their impact on the lands, and be conscious of our own footprint as we travel, live, and recreate!

Be a Better Wife, Mom, Daughter, Friend, Human » This one should be obvious, but honestly I know I’m a really good photographer, businesswoman + entrepreneur, but I’ve spent the past few years growing and focusing myself on the other things that really deeply matter in my life. This year, I am hoping to dial in my routines and self-scheduling so that I am productive when it’s work time, and so I can give myself permission to truly “clock-out” when I’m not working. I absolutely believe I’ve improved greatly in this, but I still have plenty of improvements to make in balancing work with my personal life.

Keep Growing, Learning, and Improving » My hope is that every year, I look through these photos in this blog post and feel proud of our growth. That every year, I feel our couples are even more cared for, and feel even more value from their experience with us. We absolutely love this job and are so thankful (and amazed) by this past year. Next year we will aim to work smarter and make our clients even happier than ever. I never want to think I know it all and I'll never stop growing and improving. One of my favorite pieces of advice I received when I was a skydiver was to learn something new with every single jump. I believe in applying that to all that I do, so in 2024 I hope to continue learning something new with every adventure session and wedding!

Lead Our Industry In A Positive Direction » I’ve realized this year how big of an impact we have on the photography industry. In the past few years, we’ve poured a lot into the industry in the realm of sustainability, caring for the places we’re shooting in, and giving back to the communities where we work. This year, I hope to maintain that influence, and I’m dreaming of adding another detail that I’ve felt passionate about lately. I want to show photographers that our work is better when our life is better — that working all the time is not the goal. Hustle culture is so damaging, and while I know working hard and often comes with launching any business, it doesn’t have to remain that way once you reach a sustainable income and create consistent, effective systems for yourself. I want to inspire people to play, adventure, and get after the life they desire.

Maintain The Right Priorities » This one sums up most of what I’ve said above. I’m no longer worried about being the “best,” having the most followers, or seeming like we’re at the top of the industry. I’m interested in living a beautiful life, working with couples that I connect to as people, and creating work that I’m proud of.

If you made it to the bottom of this, you're an angel. Please comment on this post so I can thank you!! There is no way we could do what we're doing without the support of our online community. Every follow, comment, like, share, and late night spent browsing the website means the world to us — it literally gets us to where we are now (what a time to be alive!). We are so appreciative of you ❤️

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