Yosemite National Park

the hearnes » adventure elopement photographers

April + Kyle’s Adventurous Wedding Portraits in Yosemite National Park

April and Kyle have a pretty wild story — they met and started dating once they were adults, but they actually had a much longer history that they didn’t connect until later in their relationship! Their grandparents lived around the corner from each other, their fathers both went to the same high school (a couple of years apart), and then April and Kyle went to the same highschool for a year, and even briefly overlapped at University together as well! When they finally “met,” they somewhat knew each other, but deciding to “catch up” ended up finding their soul mate! It’s always wild to me hearing these stories of how our couples met and what it was like when they first started dating. These two have been through a lot together since then, and it was such an honor to meet up with them and take some elopement portraits in Yosemite.

This winter season in Yosemite was much more snowy than usual, so even in June the trail was really snowy and quite muddy as the snow melted off! Thankfully, we are very familiar with the trail and were able to keep on track and make it out safely. One benefit of the muddy/snowy trail is it deterred most other hikers, so we had more privacy than typical out here! We had so much fun hiking out with April and Kyle, chatting about everything, getting to know them better, and stopping along the way for photos! A lot of photographers will reccomend brides change into their dresses out at the destination, but when possible, we love when our brides are down to hike in their dress because there are so many great photo spots along the way! The trees in Yosemite are huge, and up here in the high country a lot of them are covered in beautiful green moss. After the snow melts, the forest floor is completely covered in green ferns that turn golden in the fall. We would love this hike even if it didn’t end at an epic overlook!

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The Hearnes Adventure Photography is run by Abbi and Callen Hearne, a husband & wife wedding photography team with an emphasis on adventure. They live on the road as full-time nomads, allowing them to serve a large portion of the western US. You can typically find them in Moab, Utah or Yosemite National Park, California, with side-quests to Patagonia and Alaska. They believe love is the greatest adventure and strive to create photos that are epic, romantic, true, and timeless.

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