UK to US Desert Elopement | Sam & Hannah

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It feels like it’s been so long since we were at the Visitors Center wedding location! Valley fo Fire has two areas set aside for wedding ceremonies and we are usually at the Seven Sisters area as it is larger. But when we have a small group, as we did with Sam and Hannah, we are able to get tucked into the sweet little corner of a canyon behind the Visitor’s Center, surrounded by red rocks.

When we first got there, there was a bunch of bighorn sheep as we were setting up. The little herd had a brand new little baby lamb too! They stayed long enough for all the guests to admire them when they arrived. Plus hummingbirds joined the party as well! Such a treat for this wedding party from the UK who had never seen bighorn sheep before. We love it when wildlife joins us.

Sam and Hannah wanted to bring a Tyler Childers record so Hannah could walk down the aisle to it. So we got a battery-powered record player that was such a cute addition aesthetically as well. And Hannah’s customized jean jacket was so subtle done that it didn’t scream “wedding” vibes, and she can wear it again. We are jealous! It was a really cute jacket!

These two were so sweet together; can we just let them tell you their love story in their own words and share why they chose to elope?

“We met and started dating in 2010, when we were both 24. We both work in theatre, in London’s West End, and had worked for the same company for years but in different venues, and even with many mutual friends had somehow never crossed paths. We eventually found ourselves in the same place at the same time, and very quickly became inseparable. We moved in together really quickly, which many of our friends warned us against, but when you know you know, and we like to remind our friends how wrong they were. Over the last (almost) 13 years we have traveled, adopted some cats, traveled some more, bought our first home, adopted some more cats, and traveled a little more. Road trips across America are our absolute favorite adventures, and we have down some amazing ones, all interspersed with return visits to a little place in southeast Florida called Hillsboro Beach, where Hannah’s family have been traveling to since before she was born. It was there, in October, alone on the beach, just after sunrise that Sam finally proposed. Most of our friends and family burst into tears when we told them, as they had assumed we would never do it, but we were just waiting for the right time, and enjoying life!! When we told our friends and family that we planned to elope (with our immediate family) to the desert, they all said they couldn’t imagine a more perfect wedding for us!!”