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Henry Tieu Photography

Planning Resources

newlyweds kissing from the balcony of their acorn falls cottage, one of the best micro wedding venues in california.
Planning Resources

Top 11 Micro Wedding Venues in California

Bykiersten June 2, 2025June 2, 2025

With its mountains, forests, and coastline, the Golden State has no shortage of beauty. So, here are our favorite micro wedding venues in California.

Read More Top 11 Micro Wedding Venues in CaliforniaContinue

How to Make Your Elopement Special and Personalized
Planning Resources

How to Make Your Elopement Special and Personalized

ByHenry Tieu May 7, 2025May 7, 2025

Wondering how to make your elopement special? We’re sharing a few ideas that we hope will inspire you to create something totally new and different for your elopement day.

Read More How to Make Your Elopement Special and PersonalizedContinue

newlyweds sitting on a boat during their elopement.
Planning Resources

32 Epic Elopement Ideas for Couples Who Want More Than Just a Ceremony 

Bykiersten May 5, 2025May 5, 2025

Your special day is more than your ceremony and should feel 1000% yours. Here are 32 wedding and elopement ideas to make your day your own!

Read More 32 Epic Elopement Ideas for Couples Who Want More Than Just a Ceremony Continue

Guests sit at a wood table under string lights in the forest during a Washington micro wedding reception dinner.
Planning Resources

How to Plan a Micro Wedding in Washington State

Bykiersten March 31, 2025May 5, 2025

Want to include guests in your wedding, but don’t want to have a big wedding? If that’s you, click to read this blog post and learn how to plan a micro wedding in Washington state!

Read More How to Plan a Micro Wedding in Washington StateContinue

Bride and groom stand on the edge of a mountain cliff during their elopement in the Italian Dolomites
Planning Resources

How to Elope in the Dolomites [Updated for 2025]

Bykiersten March 10, 2025March 10, 2025

Planning an elopement in the Dolomites? Follow these 6 steps and learn everything you need to know about how to elope in the Dolomites in Italy!

Read More How to Elope in the Dolomites [Updated for 2025]Continue

How to Tell Family You’re Eloping
Planning Resources

How to Tell Family You’re Eloping

Bykiersten January 27, 2025January 27, 2025

Wondering how to share the news of your elopement with loved ones? Read this post to learn tips on how to tell family you’re eloping.

Read More How to Tell Family You’re ElopingContinue

Bride adn groom stand on a mountain trail during their Washington elopement at Mt Rainier
Planning Resources

Top 17 National Park Wedding Venues in the U.S.

Bykiersten January 6, 2025January 6, 2025

Looking for the best national park wedding venues for your adventure wedding? Visit the blog to see the top 17 national park locations in the U.S.

Read More Top 17 National Park Wedding Venues in the U.S.Continue

34 Best Micro Wedding Venues in the U.S. 
Planning Resources

34 Best Micro Wedding Venues in the U.S. 

Bykiersten December 30, 2024June 2, 2025

Planning a small, intimate wedding? Read this article for a list of the top 34 micro wedding venues in the U.S.

Read More 34 Best Micro Wedding Venues in the U.S. Continue

A Complete Guide to Planning Your Elopement Timeline
Planning Resources

A Complete Guide to Planning Your Elopement Timeline

Bykiersten October 28, 2024December 13, 2024

Choosing to elope is one of the most meaningful decisions you can make. Click to read all our elopement timeline tips to help you make the most of your day!

Read More A Complete Guide to Planning Your Elopement TimelineContinue

Two grooms stand at the edge of a tarn at the base of Mt Rainier
Planning Resources

34 Best Places to Elope in Washington State

Bykiersten September 23, 2024January 7, 2025

Looking for the best places to elope in Washington State? Visit the blog to learn 34 of the best Washington elopement locations!

Read More 34 Best Places to Elope in Washington StateContinue

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About Henry Tieu Photography: A team of story-focused destination elopement photographers based out of Seattle, WA who specialize in preserving love stories in breathtaking landscapes. Awarded Best Wedding Photography 2019-2023 and a recipient of Rising Star in Wedding Photography by Rangefinder Magazine. We're proud to be an Asian and LGBTQ-owned business that values diversity and inclusivity.

LGBTQ-friendly

BIPOC Inclusive

All skin colors & body sizes are welcomed

Let's tell your story. Together. All of it.

CONTACT US

Elopement Planning Resources

best places to elope in the world

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@henrysdiary

Journey entry from June 2024: Fatherhood It’s Journey entry from June 2024:

Fatherhood

It’s only been four days since we got to hold you both…fully…wholly…immersively
 
And yet, somehow, it feels like we were never strangers at all.

Four days and I can already see how much you’ve grown. You are growing into your tiny hands, them tiny feet, your big yawns, and those marvelous cries whenever you are hungry, uncomfortable, or trying to discover your voice.

You had your heel prick appointment this week. 
Daddy Viet took Alpine in and all could hear was your cry. I wasn’t in the room.I couldn’t see you but I know distinctively that it is your cry. It hurt to hear you and not be able to hold or comfort you.

Then it was my turn. I took Glacier in. You slept soundly in my arms…until it happened…and you let out the loudest cry of pain. 

It was that continuous cry while I was holding you that made my stomach drop 

It hurt even more seeing your frown brows and curled lips all soaked with your tears and not being able to do anything to help. 

It almost felt like a betrayal of trust…like you were asking “hey dad, I thought I was safe here when I’m with you…why am I in pain?” 

At first, I felt like I failed you.
But then I realized that this is what fatherhood is…
…it’s dad and I being there with you
…going through life with you, even during the most painful times…not to fix everything for you but to hold you through it
…today
…tomorrow
…from your very first breath until our very last
…whenever you need us most”

———

And now I finally understand:
Fatherhood is not just about protecting, guiding, or nurturing. 
It’s also about showing up. To be there just so you know you’re not alone.
Not today, not ever

Happy Father’s Day to my best friend. 
I thought I had loved every version of you.
But then I fell in love all over again when I met the dad version of you

Happy Father’s Day to our dads, and to every father out there!

———
Photographed on @sonyalpha and edited with @hdpresets 

#fathersday  #gaydads #rainbowfamily  #loveislove
✨Their Love Story is now featured on The New Yor ✨Their Love Story is now featured on The New York Times✨

I had the privilege of documenting K and B for 3 unforgettable days at Camp Mendocino and I walked away with not just a new friendship but also the profound joy of witnessing something I’ve never quite felt before.

You see….when you’re gay, sometimes you have to make hard choices and unfathomable amount of sacrifices in order to protect your peace and be with The 1 you know you can’t live without.

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll have a friend or two who will stand by you. For K and B, they had an army.

The phrase “chosen family” is known All Too Well for queer people like us. Not all of us get to have our parents walk us down the aisle or share a first dance with. 

Love in this chosen family shows up in a quieter ways
…in the art of showing up
…in the fact that sometimes you don’t need much, just a hug to a friend, a co-worker, an aunt
…in simple gestures that tells us that there’s nothing wrong with us and that we are deeply loved.

To think that just a year ago, I stood at a wedding where gay slurs were tossed around…and now, here I am, surrounded by all kind of  love: gays with kids, lesbians slow dancing, older couples breaking it down on the dance floor, younger ones embracing each other in warm hugs, etc… 

I was Enchanted

I know that I am “just a vendor”, and maybe my feelings don’t always matter on someone else’s wedding day but when it’s all said and done, K & B and all my couples aren’t just statistics in my yearly booking numbers, they become the permanent pages in the book that is my life and forever shape the way I am as a human, a husband, a dad, a friend, a photographer. 

You, my couples, are my Wildest Dreams.

K & B, thank you for coloring this page in my book of life with the warmest colors in the rainbow. 

Congratulations on your beautiful 3-day wedding weekend and an even more beautiful marriage!

Long Live! 🌈

Photographed on @sonyalpha and edited with @hdpresets

Special thanks to @alixjwall for this @nytimes article 
Planner @mendocinoweddings
Florals: @goldencoastflorals
Videography: @wildhouseweddings
Venue & Catering: @camp_mendocino
DJ @heartofgolddjs
Suit @friartux
I’m incrediblely honored to be named a 2025 Hone I’m incrediblely honored to be named a 2025 HoneyBook Award Winner: recognized for entrepreneurial leadership and impact in the world of business ownership and community advocacy. 

From photographing weddings where the word f@gg-t was throwing around to now being loved and cared for by the couples who placed all their trust in me even on one of their most precious days…

From walking away from a stable healthcare career that could provide a comfortable life to pursue art with so much unknowns…and now helping over 1,000 photographers to do the same via courses, workshops, and mentorships…

One thing I’ve learned about success is that it has everything to do with intentionality 

Underneath all the fear, anxiety, and the ways people treat us are humans trying to be seen…aching for love but armored by pain…grasping for safety in a world that often feels unkind 

We are all just stories in motion. We are all just trying to make the best out of this one life that will never happen again. 

I’m honored to have won this award, but I am even more honored that photography has become my legacy - one where I lift not only the couples I photograph, but also the fellow creatives who are building small businesses to support both their artful souls and their families 

Thanks @honeybook for such an incredible experience in San Francisco where I got to learn about the company and share feedback from my community with you 

Congrats to the 5 amazing winners I met. I’ve learned so much from you 

Check out my link in bio for the full press release
Took 34 years to have a first birthday like this. Took 34 years to have a first birthday like this.
With you, and with our son and daughter

I might not know everything about this life but I know one thing: I want more birthdays like this…
….with us as a family
…for every birthday I have left
…in this lifetime and the next.

Thank you for making my heart whole.

#rainbowfamily #loveislove #lgbtqfamily
This was my first time ever to Lake Como and I was This was my first time ever to Lake Como and I was so incredibly lucky to have earned Caitlin and Peyton’s trust for their 2-day elopement experience.

None of us had been here before and Como happened simply because C & P were brave enough to dream

Brave enough to trust in a photographer who hadn’t photographed here before.

Brave enough to believe in themselves and travel to a brand new place for one of the most important days of their lives.

Brave enough to let go of expectations, of what others might think or say—and just follow their hearts toward the wedding experience their souls craved.

The more I photograph weddings and elopements, the more I realize: it’s my clients’ bravery that allows us, as artists, to create work that’s honest and meaningful…
…the kind of art that echoes through time, not just instagram banger images
…the kind of art that will forever become someone’s family heirloom
…the kind of art that freezes not only moments in time but also the feelings of being so alive, so nervous, so excited, so ready for the next chapter, so in love 
…the kind of art that whispers and screams “we were here”, “we mattered”, “we loved”, and “we lived fully”

Photos are sacred because they hold a piece of our soul - a connection to who we were in a fleeting moment and being invited to this space is a privilege - thank you for allowing me to be there

Here are photos from Day 1 of our 2-day adventure in Lake Como—where C & P exchanged vows at the very spot where Anakin and Padmé had their wedding in Star Wars

More to come soon for their day 2

C & P, you both are beautiful inside and out. Thank you for trusting in me and congratulations :)

Photographed on @sonyalpha 28-70mm F2 GM
Edited with @hdpresets 

#lakecomowedding #lakecomoelopement #destinationelopement #luxuryweddingphotographer #villadelbalbianello 

Photography: @henrysdiary
Videography: @thekitcheners
HUMA: @blbsmanagement
Dress: @jennyyoonyc
Suit: @jwbellbrand
Venue: @villadelbalbianello
Accommodation: @villaissima
I wrote a caption and then I remember this email f I wrote a caption and then I remember this email from my clients 🥹:

“My dad has been raving about your work to my whole family. He was all like “I was skeptical when Hansen hyped Henry up so much, and I thought to myself ‘How could this one guy be that amazing without any assistants or even any lights?’” My mom told me that he’s now your biggest fan”

Thank you Rachel and Hansen for allowing me to be a part of your magical, beautiful, heartwarming and intentional elopement. I miss you both already 

Photographed on @sonyalpha and edited with @hdpresets 

#bigsurwedding #bigsurelopement #californiaelopement 

HMUA @lilianbeauties 
Florals @dahliasanddetails

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  • Home
  • Elopement
    • Elopement Experience
    • Planning Resources
    • The Best Places To Elope
    • Washington Elopement Guide
    • Oregon Elopement Guide
    • California Elopement Guide
  • Info
    • About Us
    • Travel Schedule
  • Blog
  • Pricing
  • For Photographers
    • Education / Mentorships
    • HD Presets
    • Online Store
CONTACT US