If an outdoor elopement is the plan, so much of your day’s success depends upon having the proper gear. Arriving prepared allows you to stay warm or cool and hike to whichever adventurous spot we choose. That is when your footwear comes into play! Keep reading for my guide to the best shoes and gear I recommend for an adventure wedding.
Finding Wedding Shoes For Your Adventure Wedding
Finding wedding shoes that are comfortable is key when eloping in a wild landscape. It might feel odd to focus on shoes first, but they shape how fully you experience your elopement. Beyond the weather, your elopement experience relies on shoes that keep you comfortable and capable.
I have found that when couples aren’t properly prepared for their elopement, it can so easily hold us back. Improper footwear can make moving difficult and reduce the photos we can get on your adventure wedding.
I won’t tell you exactly what to wear, but I offer recommendations based on your elopement activities. We will ensure that you’re comfortable, prepared for the weather, and ultimately able to enjoy your entire elopement day!
For example, cowboy boots can fit your style, but we recommend rubber soles over leather for practicality. This will enable you to enjoy your chosen look while still being capable on your feet. It is possible to choose shoes that are both meaningful and functional!
How Adventure Wedding Photography Works With Your Shoes
I speak from experience that often the shoes that look the cutest with a dress are not necessarily the most functional. For starters, tiny heels so easily get stuck in the cracks and crevices of the natural landscape. Wedding bridal heels are also hard to move quickly in or can otherwise need to be changed in and out of constantly. These shoes are not the most practical choice even though they can look the best with the dress.
In more recent times, I’ve done a lot more prompting than posing for couples portraits. This means that I provide general directions for my couples to run with in a natural way. These prompts may include instructing my couples to sway back and forth, walk like they’re drunk, or do a spin or twist together.
We’ll go even sillier and I’ll tell them to stand back to back then walk 10 paces away from each other. On the count of three, I have the couple run towards each other as if they had been separated by war. With heels or other less practical footwear, these types of fun shots are non-existent.
Couples can often end up posing stiffly or simply feel uncomfortable standing for a long time in the footwear they chose. When you wear the right adventure wedding shoes, this is something we can successfully avoid!
Couples Who Know What To Wear To An Adventure Elopement
These are some couples who found outdoor wedding shoes that fit their day as well as their personalities!
For Megan and Rich’s Sedona wedding, we had their large group of guests walk down a rugged and rocky path. Megan chose a pair of pearl-studden Birkenstocks while Rich wore a coordinating pair in black.
For Amanda and Darian’s Death Valley elopement, the girls really wanted to wear a pair of high-heeled black shoes. We weren’t sure if the salt flats would be wet and sticky, so they chose to wear their hiking shoes instead to their elopement location. It turns out that this footwear was equally as meaningful to their relationship! For Courtney and Jake’s wedding, their footwear solution was having the bride arrive in hiking boots and later changing into cowboy boots.
Sometimes, the fun look for footwear can also include the wedding party, family and friends. For Keely and Brian’s wedding, the groom and his son wore some white sneakers and fun socks with the family cat’s face printed on them.
Amanda and Amber got married in the Painted Desert and wore their favorite shoes. They each chose a pair of Dr. Martens pulled from an existing large collection of Docs. These acted perfectly as hiking elopement shoes within the landscape and for the steep hike into the Painted Desert for their adventure wedding ceremony.
Brianna and Sean had the cutest shoes! It was black Keds for him and hers were a white hightop with an intricate desert scene embroidered on the outside. The design was complete with a sunset and an iconic saguaro cactus.
No matter your adventure elopement destination, we’ll have your feet covered in whatever works best, looks best, and feels like it best represents the two of you!
Vendors
Adventure Elopement Photographer | Terri Attridge Photography
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