Romantic Maui Elopement at Ironwoods Beach
It might be an unpopular opinion, but I’m just going to say it: One hour is not enough time to tell the story of your wedding day. Period.
I understand that one hour of wedding photography is in high demand for Maui destination weddings, and all of the other Maui photographers are offering it. And I understand why clients desire it— let’s face it, high quality photography is expensive, and many clients planning a destination elopement or intimate wedding want to save money. I get it. But photography services is not where you want to save money when it comes to your wedding day. The photos are the legacy of your wedding day. And if you want to tell the story of your special day, one hour is not enough time. Even for elopements!
Most ceremonies take approximately 30 minutes from the start to signing of the marriage certificate. If you only book an hour of photography, that leaves 30 minutes to capture couples portraits (and if you are having friends and family in attendance, group portraits as well). Generally, a well-rounded wedding gallery should contain a variety of close-up images, wide angle shots, different poses, images of the details that are important to you (for example, florals or jewelry) and individual portraits of the wedding couple. It’s pretty much impossible to capture a well-rounded gallery in 30 minutes. This is why my minimum wedding coverage starts at 1.5 hours.
As you’ll see with S+F’s stunning, romantic elopement at Ironwoods Beach, more photography time for an elopement translates to a much more well-rounded gallery that paints a story and offers a greater variety of images. S+F booked multiple hours of photography for their elopement on Maui’s Northwest Shore. The couple are both front-line health care providers, and they had put their elopement on hold due to Covid. The original plan had been to start the day off with a couples portrait session at Honolua Forest. Unfortunately, it has been an unusually wet spring, and I called the couple the day prior to the elopement to discuss an alternative plan as the Forest was quite muddy from the frequent rain. One option was for the bride to secure a second dress/wedding outfit and then change into her ceremony wedding dress once we arrived at Ironwoods Beach. Ultimately, the couple opted to skip Honolua Forest and instead explore the multiple locations at Ironwoods Beach that allow for a variety of different backdrops.
We started off by capturing some traditional wedding portraits near the entrance of Ironwoods Beach. I call these legacy portraits, because these are the photos that Grandma will print to hang on her mantle. As much as I love candids and guided portraits, posed images are important!
From there, we made our way down the boardwalk to the far end of the cliffs at Ironwoods. These cliffs, and the way that the light hits them, is one of the reasons why Ironwoods is one of my favorite locations for beach weddings on Maui.
After capturing some epic portraits on the cliffs, it was time to head down to the beach for the ceremony. S+F’s ceremony was quite touching, and included personalized, handwritten vows.
Following the ceremony, we rounded out the evening by continuing with portraits on the beach.
Ho'omaika'i ana (Congratulations) on your marriage, S + F! It was an honor to be your Maui elopement photographer! And mahalo nui loa to both of you for your hard work on the front lines throughout the pandemic!
Kind words from the couple:
We sincerely want to thank you for being part of our elopement. You helped calm our nerves and helped make the entire ceremony special. The photos turned out amazing and beautiful and we cannot thank you enough for capturing this special moment in our lives!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!
