grand canyon wedding at the north rim
grand canyon wedding at the north rim
Mandi and Frankie’s wedding at the Grand Canyon North Rim was soooo special to me for so many reasons. The Grand Canyon is somewhere my husband and I have wanted to go to together our whole relationship and never got around to it. 2020 was… 2020, you don’t need me to tell you how it was haha, and this wedding week was really the first time we had left the house all year. It was such an adventure and so good for my soul to see somewhere new and be out in nature! This week was absolutely the highlight of my year personally but also for my lil biz. I spent so much of 2020 sooooo sad about the loss or postponements of so many weddings I was soooo excited about (if you don’t think I get just as excited as you are, you’re wrong!), and it meant so much to me to still have this!! It totally got me out of my funk and revitalized my love for photography and it helped me hold onto all there is to be excited about in the future, even if it takes longer than we thought. Shooting Mandi and Frankie’s wedding was truly a dream come true - I have looked up to Mandi for so many years (check out their engagement session to learn more about my obsession with her!) - and it still feels too good to be true I got to capture her day! It’s always such an honor to photograph a wedding of another photographer - it’s the biggest compliment ever and something I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to.
This celebration was soooo unique and perfectly them! We adventured out to an epic spot for photos a few days before the wedding and it was some of the most incredible views I’ve ever seen. Then the days around the wedding were spent camping with their family and friends and they got to be FULLY present with everyone. The wedding day was so relaxed - they got ready together in their yurt, walked to their ceremony together, then enjoyed homemade tamales and smores around the campfire with their family and friends. I’ll let Mandi fill you in a bit on how they made their decisions and planned their dream celebration!!!
Q: What did you love most about your wedding location? How did you pick it?
A: We got married on public land in Kaibab National Forest, right outside of Grand Canyon National Park North Rim. Frankie always loved the Grand Canyon, when we met I had never been there so he of course brought me up to this "spot" he had found one time and I immediately fell in love as well. This spot is outside the park, 15 miles down a dirt road which puts us on public land to camp freely while still getting amazing views! That spot is where we ended up having our closest friends & family camp for the week and surround us during our ceremony on 8/28/20. I can see us camping at this spot every year, eventually with a little one, it will always be our special place. I will also say, being that our wedding was in 2020, the public land gave us freedom and peace of mind. (note* we had a room at the lodge in town so we could still shower for our wedding, I am a camper but all about a good wedding day shower amirite).
Q: Any favorite memories from the day?
A: My favorite moment from the wedding day was when we walked together to our ceremony. Frankie and I got ready together that afternoon in our yurt, we did not separate the night before or morning of. We came out of the yurt ready to do the damn thing & our family followed as we walked to the viewpoint, it was a very exciting and emotional walk.
Q: Tell me about your honeymoon!
A: Gah! I wanna do it again. Our honeymoon was a month after the wedding trip and we drove right back up to Arizona to Marble Canyon area and got some sleep at Lee's Ferry Lodge. That next morning we got pulled up river for our two day rafting trip through the Canyon, we covered a good part of the river that day & then camped on a beach that night inside the Canyon. That second Canyon day we slowly made our way back & from there we drove a couple hours to a boutique hotel outside of Zion National Park! WE HAD A SHOWER AND A BED WOO! We had four days in Utah, most of our time was spent in Zion of course. We did Angels Landing, The Narrows and a few shorter hikes, we really enjoyed doing half days and coming back to relax at our amazing hotel which had a balcony with a beautiful view.
Q: What advice would you give couples planning their wedding?
A: Throw everything out the window and do what makes you and your partner happy, even if that looks way different!
Q: Your wedding was super unique - tell me about how you made decisions and what you decided was important and what you could go without!
A: I have worked in the wedding industry for ten years, I love a beautiful tablescape and floral arrangement as much as the next girl. Our wedding was an actual camping trip, extensive planning & spending was just not for us (I really wanted to keep things as simple as possible). I did have a gorgeous travel friendly dried bouquet which I wanted for portraits only, besides that, details weren't important to us. We simply wanted the food to be great, officiant to be a friend and the Photographer to be the best of the best - WE GOT ALL OF THOSE THINGS!
Q: Anything else you want people to know about your experience or how they can think outside the box to plan a unique celebration?
A: Weddings have become big events, please do not feel that you need to do that. You get what you pay for when it comes to vendors, don't skimp on what is important to you but also don't feel like you need to impress anyone with swans and 19 food trucks. Keep the thing about the thing, you are starting your marriage!
