Initially Zach and Abbie wanted to elope in Colorado where they had gotten engaged, but realized quickly that leaving their two dogs at home was out of the question. Unfortunately hiking would be a challenge for their senior dog, Queenie, and not having extra sets of hands to manage the pups wouldn’t leave a lot of room for alone time. So they decided to shift gears and see what Des Moines had to offer them. Which, turns out, was quite a lot.
In my biased opinion, your wedding day is an excellent way to celebrate not only yourselves, but the local businesses and scenery that you love so much. While the idea of traveling for a wedding or elopement definitely has its perks, you might be pleasantly surprised taking a look around your own block. Spending time the places you love, enjoying the businesses that make your day to day feel special and fun—there’s nothing better than feeling like home as you cement the newest chapter of your lives together.
As beautiful as getting married in their own neighborhood turned out to be, one of the biggest challenges we faced was finding the perfect spot for their vows. Abbie and Zach still wanted a Colorado feel without sacrificing too much time driving. While Des Moines has lots of gorgeous natural spaces—Brown’s Woods, Walnut Woods, Waterworks Park, Ashworth-Greenwood Park, just to name a few—nothing really felt like Colorado. Eventually they found the perfect spot, but learned it was on private land*. But with enough determination (and a few emails to a private land owner), you can basically make anything happen. And as a result Zach and Abby were able to exchange their private vows among towering pines, commemorating the experience with some polaroid snapshots and puppy snuggles.
After a little car AC therapy, we bopped over to the South side of Des Moines, Zach’s stomping grounds, to make their tattoo appointment at Lucky Gal. If you’re like me, you get that there’s nothing like inflicting minimal amounts of pain to memorialize your love for someone or something on your skin for the rest of your life. If you don’t get it, you can at least acknowledge how freaking cool it is. Getting each other’s initials tattooed on one another in your wedding clothes? So cool.
Thanks to the fast work of the gentlemen at Lucky Gal, we had some down time before meeting friends and family at The Shop for their larger reception. Zach and I chatted back and forth for ideas—A restaurant or bar? Another outdoor space?—when Abbie quietly chimed in:
“What about ice cream? Do…you guys want to get ice cream?”
I looked at Zach. “You married the smartest woman on the face of the planet.”
“Hell yeah I did.”
After a quick Google search to see how long it would take us to get there—in which Zach said, “If it’s more than 8 minutes away from here I’m getting everyone’s ice cream.” He was correct, it was only 6 minutes, but he still got everyone’s ice cream—we headed to Classic Frozen Custard, the BEST classic ice cream shop Des Moines has to offer. Don’t get me wrong, I love fancy, novelty ice cream. But there’s nothing like Classic Frozen Custard, which has been serving the Des Moines community for as long as anyone can remember. We hung out eating ice cream and snapping some pictures before the owner came out to say congratulations and offer Zach and Abbie more ice cream. Without missing a beat, Zach accepted, and part two of Ice Cream Photoshoot Shenanigans began. After stuffing themselves to the brim with ice cream, we thanked the owner for his generosity and for keeping such an important space open for the community. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid,” Zach shared, shaking the owner’s hand. “This place is home.”
We finished off our time together getting some family photos at The Shop, as well as sneaking away for a few more portraits before their celebration continued with family and friends. One misconception is that if you elope, you can't invite friends/family. But that's another joy of eloping in your hometown.
Thanks to their vision and trust, most of their day felt like home. Very few things were overly planned or staged on Zach and Abbie’s day—no pre-planned first look, only a few instances of true posing or directing. Most everything was just two people taking in their wedding day, enjoying their favorite things along the way. There’s a lot of vulnerability and trust that goes into a photography experience like that, but Abbie said it best: “We got the best day ever and actually got to enjoy it. Everyone deserves that on their wedding day.”
Zach and Abbie’s elopement was truly a celebration of their lives in Des Moines (and a dream come true for me). Being able to document the city I love so much with two people who genuinely love it as much as I do was incredibly special. Which we might not have mountains, we have a hell of a lot to enjoy.
*Please note: if your photographer tells you it is okay to shoot on private land without prior consent from the landowner, do not consent to that. Seriously. Even if it seems harmless or they act very confident. Without written approval, not only can this be a huge liability but potentially dangerous.
