This Elopement at Cannon beach was a backup plan to a backup plan. Kathryn and Joel originally planned to have a traditional wedding at a venue, this was then canceled due to Covid-19. They decided they had no interest in waiting to be married, they set up a more intimate wedding to take place in the rose gardens of Portland. However, Covid got worse and their family couldn’t attend at all. We then made another change of plans and they decided to Elope on the Oregon coast, just them. Albeit, that’s when the wildfires hit Oregon. The smoke was thick and dense, however, we decided to move forward with the Elopement anyway. To get to the Coast, I had to drive around three separate wildfires and as a result, turn a three-hour drive into a six-hour drive. When I arrived, the smoke had cleared at the coast.

The elopement at Cannon Beach

I went up to Kathryn and Joel’s hotel room as they finished getting ready and set Joel up for the first look on the deck overlooking the famous Haystack Rock. Everything seemed to be perfect as Kathryn walked down the stairs and tapped her fingers on her groom’s shoulder, he turned around, saw her, smiled ear to ear, and gave her the biggest bear hug I’d ever seen. The ceremony started and it began to rain. Barring that, Kathryn and Joel lovingly read their vows to each other and ignored the bad weather as it started to rain harder. By the time they kissed, I and my camera were drenched. We ran upstairs to sign the marriage licenses attempting to see if the rain would die down.

The ceremony

Kathryn and Joel couldn’t be bothered by the rain, they were far too excited about finally being married and didn’t stop smiling for a second. We decided to brave the bad weather and go have a photo adventure on the beach. We took our time walking towards the sea stacks and danced our whole way to the ocean. Out of nowhere, the clouds parted and there was a huge ray of light beaming down on us. After everything that happened with the pandemic, wildfires, and bad weather, we were stupidly excited to see some sunshine. It was right about then that Kathryn and Joel grabbed each other’s hands and ran into the ocean. They hugged, kissed, splashed, and carried each other around in the freezing water. Sometimes things not going as expected is even better than the original plan.