Amalia and Dan – man, where to begin. My husband and I spent the most epic and adventurous day with them for their off-roading Lake Powell elopement in Northern Arizona. With myself as their photographer, planner and guide and my husband as their officiant, we met up with the two of them at their tiny home air bnb before hopping in a jeep to drive for miles on a dirt road. The day was spent gawking over the insane views and celebrating the two of them throughout their intimate elopement day. They hand-wrote vows to one another and read them during their ceremony, stopping to soak in each moment and word that was being said. Dan and Amalia have been together for almost 9 years and have had such incredible moments with one another, all leading up to their wedding day. Here’s their story:

HOW THEY MET:

“Our story goes back to us being introduced by his aunt! I was looking for a new roommate temporarily here in Tucson as I had plans to move back to my hometown San Diego. On the night of the interview, all she seem to really care about is if I was single I kindly let her know she was more than welcome to give my information to her nephew that had just moved into town from Pittsburgh to help his father out with the family business to help him make some new friends. On the night I was moving into my new room, she insisted that I come to dinner that she had planned with her nephew and I had originally explained it was unfair to take time away from her and her nephew as she had been saying she never really got to spend much time with him due to his work schedule. She was very adamant and continued insisting to the point where I could no longer decline the invitation! On the night of the dinner, I was so anxious and couldn’t understand why as I was not looking for relationship at the time. When he knocked on the door, I went to answer and my eyes started down at his feet and slowly made their way up to his face. Once I looked at him in the face and in his eyes, I felt something that I had never felt with anyone else before. As cliché as it sounds, I saw my entire future flash before my eyes and it was as if I knew instantly that he would be my forever person. Here we are almost 9 years later!”

THE PROPOSAL:

“On the morning of my birthday, Dan came over to my side of the bed with our pup with a hot cup of coffee (Love language anyone?!) and vegan saying sweet things while wishing me a happy birthday! I could tell something was up because he was acting nervous and slow with his words! I started to have a feeling of “where is this going“. Soon, the words came! He asked if he could take out my grandmothers wedding ring (I inherited) and “WILL YOU MARRY ME?!” I literally sat up so fast, tears came, embraced him from my seated position while he was still on his knees and screamed…. “are you serious?! You’re joking?! Wait, is this for real?!” HAHAHA! The rest is history! It was so sweet and perfect.”

WHY ELOPE?

“2 major reasons were being that we have baby boy on the way, due in December and Covid. It was super important to us to be married before babies arrival and with having gotten engaged in July, this seemed like the next best thing in terms of planning! To be honest, we actually reached out to Allison even before we got engaged because I started becoming more interested in the idea of an elopement and when I found her work, I was blown away by the beauty of the images, location as well as the idea of intimacy between couples! WE ARE SOOOOOOOO HAPPY WE DID IT THIS WAY!!!!!!! We planned from the beginning to make sure that we have a big celebration post Covid in the future however the more we got into our planning of the elopement, the more and more excited we became about it just being a day for us two. Wow! It was such a special day!!!!!!!!! We are so over the moon and could not be happier with how our day turned out! We would choose to do it this way 1000 times over again!”

THEIR FAVORITE PART:

“The intimacy, no pressure of a big crowd, taking our time from beginning to end, really tuning into each other and soaking in the day, Allison and Matt being the best support and team! The day truly was about us and the private moments we shared with each other from beginning to end are memories that we will cherish forever. Our vow ceremony is something we will both always hold so close to our hearts. Our first look and the adrenaline that we felt go through our bodies when we first saw each other. We loved the location we chose and just everything was incredibly special. We are still floating over here about how unique and spectacular our day was. We honestly think everyone should elope and why not do it in an epic location! We are already wanting to go back and renew our vows because the day was THAT special!!”

The tiny home air bnb, taco bell drive-thru run, off-roading, getting ready on the side of a jeep, a super intimate first look and ceremony, an incredible sunset and a rad stargazing session was without a doubt the most perfect compilation for a super rad elopement day. Amalia and Dan are now officially married and have some dang awesome memories to share with their little one on the way.

Cheers!

Allison

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