Intimate Fall Wedding at Mount Rainier National Park | Alisa and Shawn

Mt Rainier Intimate Wedding with Gorgeous Fall Wedding Colors

Bride and groom kiss at intimate fall wedding in mount rainier national park

The Couple and Their Decision to Have an Intimate Fall Wedding at Mount Rainier National Park

Alisa and Shawn are true adventurers. This couple loves to travel and has been all over the world together to beautiful places like Alaska, Isle of Skye Scotland, and South Africa!

They had originally dreamed of eloping in New Zealand, but with all the uncertainty in the world, they decided on an equally beautiful location right in our own backyard: Mount Rainier National Park! This park has everything Alisa and Shawn love: mountains, water, adventure, nature, and fishing so it was the perfect place to start their married life together.

They wanted to keep their day intimate and simple so they invited 3 friends to come along - 1 to officiate and the other two to act as witnesses.

Learn more about How to Elope at Mt Rainier National Park here!

Bride and groom jumping in front of mount rainier after intimate fall wedding ceremony

From the First Look with Magical Fall Wedding Colors To Exchanging Vows During Alpenglow, this Is How To Elope In Mount Rainier National Park Adventurously

The morning of their elopement, Shawn and Alisa started getting ready at their gorgeous Airbnb cabin. They wanted to do a first look in the park so we saved their wedding outfits for later and started the hike in regular hiking outfits.

Pro Tip - Oftentimes, couples planning their elopement will ask us whether they should hike in their outfits or change at the top. Like many things when it comes to eloping, it truly comes down to what you want and what you are comfortable with. Some couples hike in their hiking outfits and change when they get there and others hike in their wedding attires while others do a mix of both.

The trail we hiked for Alisa and Shawn’s elopement holds a very special place in my heart and it brought back lots of memories. It was the first trail I ever hiked when life was quite dark with the hospital work. I simply wanted to get out and see more than just hospital beds. I wanted to see life. I have only taken 2 couples to this location so far and every time it feels like the first time.

We hiked for two hours and the whole time I remember hearing “oohs” and “ahhs” not just from the couple, but also from the loved ones they brought along.

We arrived at the spot for their first look and let me say that Rainier was ready for Fall! The thing about this mountain is that if we wait too late in the season we risk dealing with visibility issues but if it's too early then the colors won't show. We were there at the exact time we needed to and the colors of the trees and the mountain were just perfect!

After their first look, we hiked a bit farther to their ceremony location overlooking Mt Rainier. The sunset here was the cherry on top and Rainier looked beautiful as ever. Alisa and Shawn exchanged vows during alpenglow with 3 of their closest friends as witnesses.

After the ceremony, in traditional Henry Tieu Photography fashion, the lanterns came out and we continued creating magic together before hiking back in the dark.

Thanks, Alisa and Shawn for such an amazing day. Your elopement day was beautiful just like your love! Come back and visit anytime :)

Kind words from the couple:

Henry is above and beyond anything we could have ever imagined in an elopement photographer. We knew we wanted to work with him when we first came across his work because he posses the rare ability to capture the intimacy of a moment as well as the grandeur of any landscape. He is an incredible human being and an absolute joy to work with throughout the entire process. His creativity, artistry, is on a whole other level, and we are in love with every single image he captured. Henry is both professional and fun in his communications, and his ability to help us navigate every nuance during the planning process was invaluable. Every detail is important to him, and we were so glad that we trusted him with our special day. We originally wanted to elope to New Zealand in January 2021, but we realized in fall of 2020 that our dream just wasn't going to happen the way we had hoped. We decided that if we couldn't go to the other side of the world, we would go to the other side of the country. Since we were eloping, we knew we really wanted to invest in the right photographer, so when we discovered Henry's work, we knew we had to see if he had any availability. I think we ended up booking one of his last dates in 2021, and we are so glad we did – absolutely worth the wait. From our first phone call together, Henry was able to answer any questions we had and provide great recommendations based on his experiences. We had never visited Mt. Rainier National Park, so he helped us choose and plan for our particular hike and location. Henry made the entire planning process FUN. What normally is a daunting, stressful experience turned out to be one of the most fun adventures to plan. When we got to the big day, we really struggled to find anything to worry about. When Henry arrived to begin capturing our elopement, he jumped right in. He knew what questions to ask and was able to be incredibly creative while on the fly. When he envisions something in his imagination, he knows how to bring it to life. He coached us through each part of the process that day and everyone felt comfortable and relaxed. You can see the evidence of this in the photos he took. Speaking of his photos, we loved every single one that he took and shared with us in the sneak peaks. Henry knows how to "paint with light," and his photos are absolutely breathtaking. We couldn't be happier.