When B + E reached out to me to photograph their beautiful winter elopement in Taos, New Mexico I knew it was going to be an amazing wedding to witness! From the second that Juliette (my sister/associate photographer) and I got to B + E’s Airbnb in the Taos mesa, we felt SO much love and the energy was incredible!
I asked B + E to share their love story for the blog and how they planned such an incredible Taos elopement. Here are words by B + E:
How We Met
“We met at a birthday pool party that happened to be on the 4th of July. Our mutual friend who was hosting the party introduced us. We ended up falling so deep into conversation that we lost track of time and another party guest asked if we already knew each other.”
How We Ended Up Together
After seeing each other at various dreamy summer gatherings and flirting for several months, E finally sent a brave text message to B expressing her attraction and interest. A few weeks later, they went on their first date for tacos where they both ironically bonded over how they weren't looking for anything serious and enjoying the single life. After their second date, they were head over heels and inseparable.
The Proposal
“Early in their relationship, B told E she had all but given up on her secret dream of an elaborate surprise proposal, particularly because she was a hard person to surprise. Repeating the phrase, “I would marry you tomorrow,” they often half-seriously joked about going to the courthouse to get legally married. A month before B's dissertation defense, E began planning a week of celebrations and realized this was the perfect time to propose because B would never expect it in the midst of so many events. On the Friday after defending her dissertation, just five months into their relationship, on a beautiful April afternoon the two went on a date to the United States Botanic Gardens in Washington DC. E had researched a scavenger hunt created by the Botanic Gardens to go on a guided exploration. The day was magical and B, ever the Virgo, was absorbed in the scavenger hunt, taking detailed notes on the various plants and lots of pictures. Around closing, E took B up to the Canopy Walk in the Tropical section of the conservatory. Sitting on a bench high up above with the palm leaves and the sun beaming in through the all-glass window enclosure, B turned to peek at E’s scavenger hunt where she spotted the words, "Will you marry me?" written out on the top of the last page. E then presented her with two rings, one for each of them, and B, stunned and in love said yes.”
The Elopement
“The end of November would mark E's 30th birthday and our one year anniversary. To celebrate so much goodness, we planned a vacation to go see the stars in Taos, New Mexico. In planning, it struck us that this vacation would be a beautiful and ideal place to elope, just the two of us. Our horoscopes warned us that a Virgo + Scorpio relationship could easily create their own universe and forget about the rest of the world. We took that as a sign and a blessing for our elopement. There was something magical about the idea of every single decision being one we made only amongst ourselves and very intentionally. With the little money we had already begun saving for a larger wedding, we looked for a photographer in Taos who had a natural style and had experience photographing queer folks and folks of color. Our outfits were a hodgepodge of things we already owned, homemade accessories, vintage hand me downs, and contemporary pieces we bought just for the day. We wanted our marriage to be bold and our colors reflected that. We bought flowers, champagne, and a tiny cake at the Trader Joe’s in Santa Fe on our way up to Taos. We wanted everything about our elopement ceremony to be sensible and full of ease and magic, much like our relationship. The morning of we caught the sunrise and prepared a lovely breakfast. After breakfast we hand wrote our vows, and went into town to get the marriage license and buy surprise gems for each other. We made it back to our Airbnb where we made lunch and got dressed with time to spare. Then with the sacred mountain, a field of sagebrush, our officiant, and our two photographers as witnesses, we got married.”
Now feast your eyeballs on all of the amazingness that was B + E’s gorgeous winter-y elopement photos in beautiful Taos, New Mexico.
I asked B + E if they would be willing to share some advice with other engaged couples that are planning their own special day and I wanted to share some of the rad advice and inspiration they shared.
Advice:
1. Give yourselves time to make plans. Eloping does mean A LOT less planning and fewer logistics to worry about, but that doesn't mean it should be entirely impulsive. What made our day especially perfect was having made plans (and contingency plans) for everything we could control- from clearing it with our AirBnB hosts to have a ceremony at their home to calling City Hall. Having a back-up plan for the location was really important-it snowed two days before our big day!
2. We give this advice after kicking ourselves in the butt for not doing it - make sure you get a video recording of the ceremony! We wish we had a video to look back on.
3. Make sure your vendors are extra supportive of queer couples well before booking. Make sure they have done this in the past. Do a lot of research on your options before making any final decisions.
Winter Elopement LGBT Wedding Photos by Jasper K Photography
