Nathalie & Danielle: Eloped! 06.07.11 | Portsmouth, NH Elopement Photographer

On or about the first of June, I’m dri­ving home and get a call from Danie­lle asking if I’d be avai­la­ble to shoot their elo­pe­ment — on Tues­day. Um, YES!

I was so exci­ted to meet these two and shoot my first elo­pe­ment. What I didn’t rea­lize is that it would be such an ama­zing experience.

From the moment I arri­ved at the boat launch at Odiorne Point there was per­fec­tion every where I loo­ked, and when Danie­lle and Natha­lie arri­ved, and hea­ded off all nymph like into the forest, only to arrive at the most serene beach, at sun­set well — it was like our own pri­vate utopia.

The beach was not kind to their ado­ra­ble shoes though; so they were quickly tos­sed to the side, a most exce­llent deci­sion if I do say so myself.

Once they pic­ked the spot it was time to begin -

The cere­mony was so per­so­nal and emo­tio­nal. It was impos­si­ble not to get caught up in the moment with them.

In a beau­ti­ful tra­di­tion they each pic­ked 3 rocks repre­sen­ting their past, pre­sent & future and built them into a small stone wall together to repre­sent the foun­da­tion of their union.

The sun beha­ved perfectly -

Then the marriage was sea­led with a kiss!

Mazel­tov!

We stole the last few moments as the sun hove­red over the hori­zon to take a few por­traits, but really they were just com­ple­tely in love with each other and I was pri­vi­le­ged to watch and capture it.

As we were hea­ding back to the cars (the park clo­ses at dusk!) a kind hear­ted woman approached. She’d seen the whole cere­mony from afar and wan­ted to wish her bles­sings on these two well deser­ving women. It turns out they’re all hea­lers — it couldn’t have been more kismet!

More kis­met? No, just a lone shoe we spot­ted on the walk back.

A few more shots as the sun flit­ted away from us lea­ving the most ama­zing glow.

Or maybe that was just Danie­lle & Nathalie’s love. (I don’t care how cheesy that sounds, it’s enti­rely true.)

As I edi­ted these pho­tos; a song we once per­for­med in high school pop­ped into my head and sort of overwhel­med me. It was the most ama­zing sound­track for these two in their moment and in their lives.

Now I Walk in Beauty, tra­di­tio­nal Hopi Pra­yer - Now I Walk in Beauty. Beauty is Above me. Beauty is behind me. Above and below me.

They’re truly fan­tas­tic JP, Jeanne, was a won­der­ful offi­ciant — if you’re in need of a Jus­tice of the Peace you can find her at Willowyn JP. Her hus­band Richard snap­ped some pho­tos also and snag­ged, and kindly sha­red, a few of me in action!

If only I could shoot all my wed­dings bare­foot on the beach!

I had so much fun at this pri­vate affair — I can’t wait to do more elo­pe­ments! Thank you all so much for such an awe-​inspiring expe­rience. It was an abso­lute pri­vi­lege to be a part of it!