Winter Elopement in November at Sunset on Hawksbill Summit in Shenandoah National Park
Bethany and Devon | November Sunset Elopement on Stony Man Summit | Shenandoah National Park
One of our Short & Sweet elopement days -
in two hours we met up, hiked to an incredible view, Bethany changed into her beautiful white boots, and held onto her beautiful bouquet by Flourish Root. They held a ceremony where they exchanged their own vows, had a handfasting ceremony, and received the eucharist.
Afterwards, they shared champagne, bourbon, and apple cider donuts (from The Apple House!) while reading letters from their family and watching the sunset before hiking back down to our cars.
Bethany and Devon traveled all the way from Oklahoma with their best friend, and pastor, Jonathan, so he could officiate their ceremony.
Because they traveled in to Virginia, they wanted to include specialties from the area. In the days leading up to their elopement they visited local distilleries and breweries, and for a picnic after their ceremony they had local Apple Cider Donuts.
From Bethany :
“Each moment was ours from the promises we each made to the handfasting to the letters from family to the apple cider donuts and bourbon/wine in celebration. I could probably write pages about this experience but instead I will just say this was my most favorite day to date!”
From Jonathan, their officiant :
“One of the most stunning, spectacular, moving weddings I’ve ever officiated. Obviously the setting—we hiked another 40 minutes after already driving into nowhere. There’s surely something to be said for a wedding that is only about the thing. Bride, groom, photographer, officiant. 1,000 colors at sunset, but only the primary colors of love, otherwise.
Bride & groom read their vows only to one another. Bride & groom cried. Officiant also cried. Shared some words that were just for them, the cows, & the Holy Ghost, if cows or Holy Ghost were paying attention—I couldn’t blame any of them for just enjoying the view; sermons are weightless up here.
Serving the Eucharist to them on top of the mountain is an experience I will never forget.”
Beautiful flowers by Flourish Root
Donuts from The Apple House
November Sunrise Elopement | Adventurous Wedding with Family in Shenandoah National Park | Brewhouse Reception in Harrisonburg, Virginia
Marion & Stephen’s wedding weekend started in the evening the night before - people traveled in from all over the States to spend the weekend with them. They rented out a ton of rooms at Skyland and had a rehearsal campfire where they gave out blankets to all their guests so they were warm for the chilly ceremony and gave them all the details for the 4am hike the next morning.
In the weeks leading up to their wedding weekend, they sent out emails to everyone with information and plans for the weekend - they also asked that everyone send flowers instead of gifts, so they used flowers from all over the United States (including Hawaii!) as their flowers for bouquets, flower crowns, leis, and to decorate the brewery for their reception.
For the hike, there were two ways to get to the ceremony location - all their friends and family and Stephen took the shorter hike while Marion, her parents, sister, and myself took the longer hike. When we reached the summit, everyone was there waiting. They had their ceremony RIGHT as the sun was rising. Marion walked up the “aisle” with her dad to bagpipes! After the ceremony, they had hot coffee with Irish Cream, bagels and cream cheese, and took tons of group photos. We hiked back down, took a small siesta, and then went to Restless Moons Brewery in Harrisonburg for a live band, delicious food, and brews.
Up on the mountain it was the absolute coldest I have ever been in my life - but by the time we went down to the brewery, the day had warmed up and it was perfectly delightful.
