FAQ
If your questions aren't addressed below, please be in touch.
Where is the best location for our Yosemite or Eastern Sierra elopement, adventure session, or wedding Ceremony?
Well that is the big question, isn’t it. And it’s my favorite one to help you with as you weigh all the options for wedding venues & elopement locations that Yosemite & The Eastern Sierra has to offer.
In Yosemite, if you have 10 people or less, you can go basically anywhere that the public is allowed in the park. There’s even more leeway in the National Forest of the Eastern Sierra. I’ve created a page with some of my favorite wedding & elopement locations in Yosemite that you can see here. The options are limitless for the Eastern & High Sierra, so if you want to explore the possibilities, please be in touch so we can discuss your vision and come up with a dream location. In Yosemite, please know that all weddings require a special use permit that is $150 and you can find our more about here.
If you have more than 10 people the locations become limited, but the great news is that basically all of the locations in Yosemite & the Eastern Sierra are absolutely stunning. You can see here the locations approved in Yosemite and what size groups they accommodate. You can find out more information about the special use permit process in Yosemite here, which is required for all weddings.
The neighboring communities of the park also provide some great wedding venues for larger groups. Mammoth Lakes & the Eastern Sierra have some of the most picturesque wedding venues outside of Yosemite. You can find a list of Eastern Sierra wedding venues here. The west side of the Sierra outside of Yosemite also has some stunning locations such as Tenaya Lodge, Rush Creek Lodge, & Evergreen Lodge. For more info about other wedding venue options in Mariposa county, see here.
ARE there any times we should try to avoid?
Actually, yes, there are. Yosemite National Park has become so popular that overcrowding and even hours long waits in lines and traffic has become common during holidays and summer weekends. Weekends are always going to be much busier, but during the summer expect hours long lines to get into the park, severe congestion in the Valley, and limited parking.
So what's the solution? If you can, come during the week. It makes a big difference most of the year, but in the summer it's almost necessary to have an enjoyable experience. Also consider a dawn ceremony or shoot. Being up before dawn is the quietest & easiest to move around time of day, year round. Not only is the light gorgeous and the energy calm, but even at most popular locations we can often find some privacy for a more personal experience.
While summer can be hot and crowded in Yosemite Valley, the Tioga road is the gateway to some of the park's most beautiful and easily accessible high country. Olmsted Point, Tenaya Lake, Tuolumne Meadows, Cathedral Lakes, & Tioga Pass are just some of the gorgeous locations available to us with cooler temps, way less crowds, and craggy mountain landscapes with huge open skies perfect for shooting under the stars. With the Glacier Point & Taft Point road being closed for 2022 and possibly 2023, the Tioga Road is going to be the place to be.
What time of day & year is best?
I always suggest that planning the timing around the best light is absolutely worth it. While different locations will have different exact timing on the best light, it's almost always either early morning light around dawn or the last couple of hours leading up to sunset, not to mentions staying out past dark to shoot under the stars. And it greatly depends on which location if it's better to choose morning or evening. For example, Glacier Point is best at sunrise while Taft Point is best at sunset. Many people are also choosing both to be able to maximize different locations and get the most out of their wedding day by splitting their coverage between morning and evening. I love doing this!
As far as what is the best time of year, Yosemite is magical any time of year, but different times of year are better for different reasons. Spring is my favorite time in Yosemite Valley with April & May being two of my favorite months in the Valley. The waterfalls are booming and everything is coming to life, and the summer crowds haven't arrived quite yet.
Summer & early autumn is time for the high country in my opinion, with the Tioga road & Glacier Point road (Glacier Point road is closed for 2022/23) giving access to some of my favorite areas of the park. Fall & winter are both stunning in Yosemite Valley. While it doesn't always snow down to the Valley floor every winter, Yosemite is still a winter wonderland with snow lining the rim most winters.
What happens if there's fires
or Smoky Conditions?
While smoky conditions are possible any time of year from wildfire or prescribed burns, smoky conditions are most common in August and September, when one to three weeks of unhealthy or worse air quality occurs most years. After witnessing such a dramatic increase in regularity of smoky conditions over the last 5-10 years, I now consider mid July through mid October to be “Smoke Season”. It’s not always smoky, and sometimes it can be atmospheric, but this window has the greatest likelihood for there to be smoky conditions and it’s smart to set your expectations accordingly. If the smoke is unbearable to where you want to reschedule, I always try my best to reschedule free of charge based on availability.
Do you shoot outside of YOsemite?
To see "new to me" lands, to experience other cultures, to meet new people, and capture visions of beauty, travel has long called to my soul. I love to shoot outside of Yosemite and The Eastern Sierra, where I have long been fortunate to call home. As grateful as I am to live among some of the most beautiful mountains, stars, sunrises and sunsets on earth, travel will always call to me. Adventure and photography have always been my primary motivators for travel, and after 25 years of exploring the American West, a few places really stick out as perfect locations for your adventure session, elopement, or intimate wedding.
First has to be the Eastern Sierra, which I consider every bit as magical as Yosemite itself. Locations like Mammoth Lakes, June & Convict Lake, and the High Sierra out of Bishop & Rock Creek are stunning and can offer more freedom and flexibility than in the national park. Of all the places I traveled, this is where I have chosen to call home. I also love the northern Sierra around Lake Tahoe, Nevada City, & Grass Valley, which have many options from beautiful nature for something small & great venues for weddings.
If the ocean calls to you, my favorite meetings of land & ocean have to be the fairytale forests and endless sea stacks on the southern Oregon coast and the dramatic mountains and redwoods of the Big Sur coast. The area around Brookings has towering bluffs over the ocean, intimate beaches, and gorgeous coastal rainforest, with many locations in close proximity for a stunning photo shoot.
If the vastness and huge open skies of the desert call to you, there's no where on earth like the American Southwest. From the ever changing dunes of Death Valley to the canyons and red rock desert of southern Utah and northern Arizona, the southwest delivers with stunning vistas and an other worldly vibe perfect for your adventure session, elopement, or intimate wedding.
How does the Booking Process work
and When & what do we receive?
Once you decide to book, I'll send you an online proposal which will list the services requested, an electronic contract, and payment plan. While the standard payment plan is 50% to book and 50% due two weeks before the shoot date, I can be flexible here if it can help you.
After the wedding I will send some digital teasers within just a couple of days. The final deliverables will consist of a beautiful highlights gallery of my favorite images from the day designed to tell the story of the day and a digital download with all the edited high res files. I also send a recommendation for a professional lab that works with consumers so you can have a solid idea of where to get prints, wall art and other products made if you don't already have a lab that you work with and trust.
In the digital download, I also include a separate folder with the same favorite images from the highlights gallery, that are easy for you to share with friends and family. They are sized for the web and ready to easily share through email and on social media.
Please allow for up to 6-8 weeks to receive all of your deliverables.
