At Home Elopement | Charleston, WV Photographer | Samantha & Scott

Jan 29

The Elopement

When I had first talked to Sam & Scott, they knew they wanted to get married but with all the uncertainty with COVID-19, they were unsure how to go about it. After talking about if they wanted to wait to have a bigger wedding or just get married now, these two decided to tie the knot sooner rather that later. Sam & Scott planned an at home elopement at their home in Charleston, West Virginia surrounded by their three close friends. They live streamed their wedding ceremony so that their family and friends from all over the United States and other countries could tune in and celebrate with them.

After getting ready in separate rooms at their home, the ceremony began. Sam & Scott started their ceremony with a slideshow from the two of them growing up to when they began their relationship to the present day. It was a great way to make everyone on the zoom call feel connected to the wedding and the couple. Next, Sam & Scott exchanged loving vows that they wrote themselves. Lots of laughs and smiles were present. After the vows came the ring exchange where Scott had sneaked in a toy ring that he won for Samantha when they first started dating. Back then he made a comment, “This ring will be your wedding ring.” and he kept it all this time just so he could surprise Samantha as her wedding band during the ceremony. It was such a sweet gesture! Sam & Scott were pronounced husband and wife by their close friend, Dan, who got ordained in West Virginia just for the occasion. Next came heartfelt toasts and speeches over zoom, the cake cutting ceremony (which did get messy!) and very sweet speech from the newlyweds.

Following the wedding ceremony were the portraits! Sam & Scott wanted to make their wedding day fun and exciting so we planned to take their wedding party and bride & groom portraits at one of my favorite overlooks at the New River Gorge: Beauty Mountain. This was an hour and a half drive from Charleston but we made the trip and began the hike to Beauty Mountain’s Ram’s Head Overlook in Fayetteville, West Virginia. The hike was cold, wet, and slippery but we took it slow and laughed about the conditions the whole way to the overlook! What troopers! Once at Ram’s Head, it was about 10 degrees colder then it was on the trail due to being in the open at the edge of the cliff so we tried our best to get some awesome photos, and I say we succeeded! This was definitely such a memorable and fun elopement and a great way for me to start off my 2021 weddings and elopements! I couldn’t be happier for these two newlyweds. Congrats Samantha & Scott!!