destination elopement // kauai, hawaii

“We are seas mingling—we are two of those cheerful waves, rolling over each other, and interwetting each other…”
-Walt Whitman

This wedding, omg!

When they asked me to photograph their small wedding, they also told me that they would be hiking the Na Pali Coast via the Kalalau Trail to Kalalau Beach in the days leading up to their wedding, and of course I said I would come along with that & could I bring Michael?! I’m going to blog a little bit about our time on the trail (one of the 20 most dangerous hikes in the world!), but for now I will say that it was the hardest but most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life, after giving birth & raising a child. And I dare say that it was almost harder than giving birth, or it was at least equivalent. Immediately upon coming off of our time on the Kalalau trail on that Monday morning, exhausted, we went straight to the rental house where their best friends were staying, where we were greeted with a huge hot meal (the best meal EVER, I’m sure) and lots of beers… and after showers & some minor preparations, we were ready for a wedding.

We all woke up on November 17th, still recovering from our grueling hike, and then went about the day. It was a beautiful morning, and Jordan, her best friend Carmen, and I did a little local foraging for flowers before we headed to the beach for a swim… and then decided that that would be the beach where the wedding would happen. We then went back to the house, everyone got ready, and literally we walked back to the beach a couple of hours later & they were married on the beach. As their witnesses were their dear friends Carmen & Scott, Jordan’s brother Sam, their best friend Sean who married them, Michael, and me. As soon as they were married, we lounged on the beach with beers & champagne to wait out the sunset, and then headed back to the rental for a late night of food, drinks, and music.

It was incredible.

There are a lot of things that I could say… but really all I want to do at this time and in this post, is that I want to say thanks again to to my husband Michael, who was with me during the peaks & valleys of our long hike together, like a metaphor for our life. I had never loved him more. You can read about our time on Kauai here.