Wedding videography should be more about the memories than a production.
When I was growing up, I didn’t know that I would one day be living my dream job as a Jackson Hole videographer.
What I did know??
That I loved making home videos for my family. Trips, holidays, reunions – my camera was constantly in hand. I found myself making these because I loved going back years later. My Dad’s laugh could be heard and I could rewatch inside jokes unfold with friends. I could see my siblings grow up between each film. These were nostalgic little windows into my favorite memories of the past.
When I started photographing couples and working in Jackson Hole, I knew that I wanted to one day give others this gift of having their nostalgia filmed like this as well. From photography, it wasn’t long before my ages old passion for video was introduced into my business.
This is the belief – that videography should be more about the memories than a production – is what all of my couples’ films revolve around. The experience my couples have on the wedding day, as well as way I film and put together wedding videos, is all based on this. It means I’m not having you stage a moment just for “the shot”. It means that candids have the weight of a real memory behind it. And it means that your wedding film with feel more like a nostalgia tour, rather than a forced production of posed moments. Wedding videography is moving, living proof of your love that you can watch play out over and over again.
With only a couple of months of planning, Sydney and Grant decided to have a summer elopement in the Tetons – their favorite place on earth. They hired me as their Jackson Hole elopement videographer to document their experience. After we talked, they decided to have two days of coverage so that they could have a second day to adventure into the backcountry of the mountains.
Wedding Ceremony at Windy Point Turnout in GTNP
It was the most perfect intimate celebration. We started their elopement at Windy Point Turnout for the wedding ceremony and a first look. One of Grant’s buddies from the Navy officiated, and they were surrounded by their closest family.
After the ceremony, we headed to Schwabacher Landing for more wedding portraits and to watch the sunset. Being July, it was a very smoky week from the Northern Idaho fires, but it made for some very soft and lovely light. The Tetons looked like they were part of a watercolor painting.
With the light of the evening dying out, it was time for dinner. Sydney and Grant had dinner hosted in a private room at the White Buffalo, where they ate the authentic food of the West and relaxed with family. At this point, their photographic coverage was over (I love doing weddings alongside Elizabeth Jackson Photography), but I was still covering their evening on video! This is when we went back to their cabin to hear speeches, cut the cake with a military cutlass, and dancing. We went late into the night, before remembering that we had a VERY early morning for the second day adventure that we had to get up for.
Second Day Elopement Hiking Adventure
I woke up just before the sun crested the horizon. Sydney and Grant’s dream for the day after their elopement was to summit a mountain. With logistical planning (and the fact that they had not yet acclimated to the elevation), we decided that the adventure we would tackle was Delta Lake. This is arguably the most beautiful and epic location in all the Tetons that you can access without mountaineering, and it is a 9.4 mile hike into the backcountry.
We hiked in the early light, with our summit just after 9:30 in the morning. Grant and Sydney celebrated with some of their wedding cake they’d put into their backpacks, while they dipped their feet in the alpine lake.
Elopement Videographer for Your Jackson Hole Wedding
Elayna RaNae Photo and Film is a Jackson Hole videographer who loves creating films for couples eloping in the Tetons. My people are those who are not into the forced, cheesy, slo mo stuff that you see in traditional wedding videography, leaning into the indie film or home movie side of video. This has been my passion the past several years as I’ve honed in on creating a style I and my couples both resonate with!
If you vibe with this style of film and would like to hire me as your own Jackson Hole wedding videographer, reach out to me here!! There is nothing more that I love than this job, and filming intimate weddings and elopements makes my heart so happy. I’d absolutely love to document your day.
