Morning elopement at Acadia beach and Elk Flats (with way more adventure than I bargained for)
Liz and Erik came down from North Dakota for their Oregon coast elopement. They even brought friends and family with them and booked side by side rental houses for the week in Rockaway Beach. I met them in the morning at their airbnb, where everyone was busy putting together florals in beautiful shades of rust and coral. As soon as they were dressed and ready, we left everyone behind to get some pre-ceremony photos at a nearby beach before the tide came in.
Liz and Erik had to get married on a weekend day, so the beach was pretty crowded. But seeing all of the families react to a stunning couple in wedding clothes was its own moment of magic for me. I love the hope and happiness that it brings complete strangers when they see us out on an elopement day. Especially children.. oh my... the light in their eyes when a couple of little girls saw Llz on the beach that morning.
After some time on the beach, we met the couples guests and officiant at the Elk Flats trailhead for their ceremony. We hiked down together through the meadow, to the cliffside. These cliffs are one of my favorite places along the northern Oregon coast. It's one of the places where you just really need to stop, sit and hold some silence for the moment.
Anyway, moment of silence for another time.. we gathered everybody around for the ceremony. Liz and Erik had flower girls, the cutest little ring bearer, and even bridesmaids and groomsmen who were all dressed in matching rust/burnt orange and looked really beautiful against the green grassy bluffs.
What happened after their ceremony is a story that still makes me cringe to tell. I'll give you the short version of the story.. (and I should probably start with, "I'm fine now." :)
Basically, my "photographer brain" completely took over for my "hiker brain".. and I hurried down from the top of the bluff to grab another angle of the end of the ceremony. It was sort of an absent-minded "muscle memory" moment from all of those years of traditional weddings when I would dart like a ninja across dance floors, behind chapel pulpits, and all kinds of other places where the ground is flat and you don't really have to look where you're going. *sigh*
Anyway, this photographer (looking at me over here..) who has never had a serious injury in her life, managed to lose her footing (a few feet from the cliff's edge no less). Thankfully I fell straight down onto the ground, and not off that beautiful cliff, because I'd hate to have had my family and friends ruin the beauty of that place with a memorial marker. 😂 The fall didnt kill me, but it did break everything that you could possibly break or tear in your ankle. All 3 bones. The tendons. All of it.
I have to say that what happened over the next hour was one of those moments that will always remind me of the goodness that still exists in the world even when it feels like most of it is gone.
All I could think about... sitting there on that trail with my foot completely detached from the rest of my body's skeletal structure... was making sure I could finish the ceremony photos and take group shots of the family. (Yes.. from the ground. I'm pretty sure I looked completely ridiculous.. and probably very VERY determined.) Because the minute I stopped working, I felt so uncomfortable being the one who needed help. I would have insisted on crawling back up the trail on all fours if I could have turned over onto my hands and knees at all. But I couldn't do anything beyond wrap up the photos, and then I witnessed the most incredible kindness from Liz, Erik and their families. Between that group and the paramedics who came down the trail, stabilized my ankle the best they could, and then got me back up to the trailhead on a stretcher (ack!).. it was incredibly overwhelming in every possible way.
There's so much more to this story, but I just wanted to take a second to emphasize how lucky I am that I have a job where I meet people like these two and their families. It was a looong winter, and it wasn't easy or fun, but if there's one thing I cant complain about in this experience, it's the timing. The off-season gave me plenty of time for rest and recovery. I'm back and so so excited for 2026!
Liz and Erik - you guys were incredibly kind, helpful and all around amazing. I will never, EVER forget you guys or that day on the cliffs of Elk Flats. ;)
