Grandfather Mountain Sunrise Elopement
The pandemic may have postponed their elopement but it certainly didn’t ruin it. Once Victoria and Chris’s elopement finally happened on a crisp fall morning at Grandfather Mountain State Park there wasn’t anything left to stress about. After planning, waiting, deploying, waiting, rescheduling, planning, and traveling, they had finally made it to their wedding day. There was only joy.
Victoria and Chris got special permission to enter Grandfather Mountain at sunrise before any visitors or employees were in the park. A ranger had to come just to let us in the gate. The only other creature we saw was a deer lazily grazing in the absolute quiet. They truly had the park to themselves. We slowly watched the sun change the sky all sorts of colors as their guests slowly arrived. We made our way across the iconic Mile High Swinging Bridge, talk about a processional aisle! Surround by a handful of family, their ceremony began as the sun soaked everyone in a golden hue.
Did I mention their officiant was one of the park’s rangers? In hat and uniform, he arrived at the early hour to officiate their wedding! I had never seen that done before! Victoria had told me she saw it in another wedding photograph online at Grandfather State Park. All ninja like, they zoomed in on the name badge and reached out to the state park to get in contact with the ordained ranger.
Post ceremony we explored the rocky outcrop in the park. Family headed to breakfast and the first guests started to trickle in as the sun finally warmed us. After a few portraits there, we jumped in our cars and headed to a second location so they could continue to enjoy their day as husband and wife. We met up at one of my all time favorite trails and started the hike. After a good time hiking in the woods and getting to know each other more, we made it to the stunning summit.
Stopping for a break, Chris pulled out his jet boil and made us all coffee. (Always a good idea when eloping at sunrise and convenient while you’re on the trail!) It was finally warm enough that we no longer needed jackets as the coffee and sun warmed us. We had plenty of time for Victoria and Chris to roam around and explore and even catch a unique glimpse of fighter jets flying through the gorge for practice.
While things definitely didn’t go as planned for Victoria and Chris, they still enjoyed every bit of their day and got to celebrate together as husband and wife with one heck of a backdrop in the Blue Ridge Mountains.