It’s very trendy right now to be an “adventurous elopement photographer” especially in the southwest like Arizona, home to all sorts of stunningly beautiful places and near some very famous national parks. I see all of these photos in admittedly beautiful but touristy places- Yosemite, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, etc. Now, I’d LOVE to shoot at any of those places, but I also like going against the grain a bit and going really off the beaten path. Taylor & Cory contacted me to plan an elopement, but they planned a REAL adventure elopement where probably very, very few people had gotten married in the Prescott National Forest. This elopement required driving 56 miles on a dirt road off the I10 near Sunset Point to an old mining town near the top of a mountain- population 133 in 2000. Driving into town was very interesting- one minute you’re looking desert scrubland and lots of granite boulders, then the instant you get into town, you’re greeted by pine trees everywhere. After meeting up in Crown King, their loved ones & them plus me took four wheel drive trucks out to the special spot, another 6 miles. There was someone there when we arrived, but I think we scared them off.

What I love about Arizona is the sheer diversity of landscapes. A lot of people don’t realize you can go from saguaro cacti and lowland desert to high desert scrubland in just an hour or less, then again to pine trees in an hour and a half to two hours from Phoenix. We have alpine areas on some of our peaks even and aspen trees in Flagstaff on Mt. Humphrey and patches along the White Mountains in eastern Arizona. That’s one thing I really love and what makes eloping in Arizona amazing- you can have access to just about any sort of gorgeous outdoor landscape you want. Look at the lush greens everywhere! I was in heaven between the green and the amazingly awesome dam.

Also, is Taylor & Cory’s dog not the CUTEST DOG EVER? I’m just an obnoxiously dog obsessed person. I think dogs need to be in every wedding honestly. We have 3 dogs and they were in both our engagement photos & wedding, if that tells you anything. Give me ALL THE DOGS PLEASE! Apparently Cory had to leave behind a few more because they wouldn’t have behaved, so they were definitely my kind of people.

Thank you so much Taylor & Cory for taking me along for one of the coolest adventure elopements I’ve done. I hope this inspires more people to get out there and explore and find their own unique little corner of Arizona to get married in.

Dress: Lulu’s
Flower crown: Love Sparkle Pretty