‘Cause we know when it comes to your wild wedding, you’d rather wander than worry.
You’ve got great taste! And, even better, you’re in the right place.
Our North Carolina sky guarding your sun - and often fog - kissed head.
Our magically moody Blue Ridge mountains grounding your muddy hiking boots.
And our fun-loving team loyally executing the elopement experience your hearts have been longing for.
We’re suckers for romance and have a soft spot for nature. Marrying the two together? That’s been our dream come true since 2015.
Today, we believe in the beauty of celebrating your love story in nature with:
Our origin story is simple:
From taking care of the little things (like that yummy cake, that magical, intimate outdoor space and those butterfly-inducing photographs) so you can focus on the big things (each other!), we’ll be your humble elopement compass and companions, guiding you in navigating your path to the intimate, intentional and heartfelt elopement you’ve always dreamt about.
At Elope Outdoors, we are genuinely devoted to crafting an elopement experience for you that is rooted in love, sprouting with authenticity and blossoming with purpose and passion.
Meet your adventure-makers
Romantic superpower: (Sometimes) capturing and (always) editing the images that contain the heart, soul and magic of your special day.
Fave elopement moment: I absolutely LOVE when couples write their own vows. It adds such special magic & emotion to the ceremony, which is just so fun to capture! And I love hearing the inside scoop on a couple's love story and their feelings for each other.
Out-of-hours adventures: Hiking and mountain biking with her husband, daughter and two dogs.
FOUNDER, PHOTOGRAPHER AND PHOTO EDITOR
MEGHAN ROLFE
Romantic superpower: Swinging into action as your devoted, detail-loving elopement sidekick to guide you in choosing the perfect package, place, photographer and even pie for you and your dream day.
Favorite Elopement Moment: I really love getting to know our couples and becoming a friend they know they can count on.
I adore when couples or other family members confide in me with secret surprises for their loved one on elopement day.
I cry happy tears when I get a first peek at photo galleries and highlight films.
It brings me ultimate joy to receive thank yous and read reviews sharing what an amazing experience our couples have working with our entire team - we do something really special around here and I just beam with pride and appreciation.
WEDDING COORDINATOR
CASSIE MILLER
Romantic superpower: She’s your flower and cake deliverer, your hiking buddy, your boutonnière pinner, your dress fluffer and just a sweet, happy friend to have with you on your elopement day.
Favorite Elopement Moment: After the cake has been cut! We get some pictures and then leave the couple to enjoy their slice. This can be one of the first moments of the elopement where the couple is alone together, with no where to go, no pictures being taken or others to think about. It feels like sweet sigh of relief, where the couple gets to just bask in the marriage being official.
Favorite Elopement/Photo Location: My favorite location so far has to be Black Balsam Knob. It’s never crowded, the temperature is always cooler (perfect for summer), there is a such a variety of scenery with super dreamy backdrops and fairytale woods.
Elopement Assistant Extraordinaire
kara
Meet the hand-picked local providers you'll LOVE!
JENNY
MADDIE
AMY
MEGHAN
Applauded and adored Asheville photographers, our talented team are pros at harnessing natural light and beautiful nature to capture candid and lightly posed images that radiate with the love, emotion and magic of your day.
Photography by Meghan, Amy, Maddie, Nick and Jenny
NICK
Rent mountain bikes from The Hub in Brevard and check out Dupont & Pisgah Forest. If you don’t bike, hiking here is great too!
Check out our sweet yoga scene! My favorite place is Asheville Community Yoga, but there are SO many great studios like Down Dog Yoga, Asheville Hot Yoga, Asheville Yoga Center….and many more!
What Megan recommends you to do in the area:
For nicer restaurants downtown I really love Curate, Chestnut & Limones! Make sure to get a reservation! For dessert, French Broad Chocolate Lounge is pretty amazing!
For casual restaurants I like to go to Liberty Cafe for breakfast, Pulp & Sprout for smoothie bowls and healthy snacks, Wellbread bakery for a salad plate lunch and yummy sweets (the chocolate orange cookie is my jam), Haywood Common for a relaxed outdoor vibe with delicious food & drinks and Papas & Beer or Zia Taqueria for my Mexican food splurges :)
Restaurants that Meghan Recommends:
I gotta say I am always pumped to photograph at Wiseman’s View in Linville Gorge, I just love that area so much! So gorgeous!
Favorite Elopement Location:
I absolutely LOVE when couples write their own vows. It adds such special magic & emotion to the ceremony, which is just so fun to capture! And I love hearing the inside scoop on a couple's love story and their feelings for each other.
Favorite Elopement Moment:
MEGHAN
Spending time with my family and friends, spending time on the water, surfing, hiking, paddle boarding, trail running with my dog, homeschooling my child, working on house projects, and traveling as much as I can.
When I am not behind the camera I am:
Craggy Gardens, as I can almost always find something unique there. The trail and the vegetation are so beautiful, and the sunsets there can be amazing.
Favorite Elopement Location:
I love the adventure side of elopements, and I love having fun with my couples no matter what happens that day! Definitely at the top of my list is an elopement that took place in a hot air balloon. It was an amazing experience, but I also love the everyday unexpected things that happen. I've had a blast photographing couples in the pouring rain (which can make for magical photos); being incorporated into a music video that was being filmed on a mountaintop; laughing with a bride who fell into the river (luckily at the end of the day); having a family of bears join an elopement; tears and heartfelt moments; and so much more.
Favorite Elopement Moment:
AMY
If you're in summertime the best things to do (and stay cool) are getting on the water and hiking up a mountain top. A good combo would be renting a pontoon or kayak on Lake Lure and then hiking up Chimney Rock or Bearwallow Mountain. Other water combos are dipping your toes into Looking Glass Falls in Brevard and then hiking Black Balsam Knob along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
What Maddie recommends you to do in the area:
Caring for our backyard farm or making a big (gluten free) meal.
When I am not behind the camera I am:
Roan Mountain
Favorite Elopement Location:
Sunrise elopements are my favorite. I had a couple successfully convince their immediate family to wake up and make their way to a local mountain top for their sunrise ceremony. Sadly the fog hadn’t cleared and the view wasn’t visible. As the ceremony ended the officiant pronounced the couple husband + wife and miraculously the fog lifted and the most amazing view came through. You could hear a group gasp as it was such a magical moment.
Favorite Elopement Moment:
MADDIE
Spending time with my sweet family. My three kiddles keep me pretty busy, and I love being a mom. I enjoy spending time in nature and love a good hike! I feel lucky to have found love after divorce, and so I "get" couples who are non-traditional, on marriage #2 or who have blended families. Mushroom hunting is one of my absolute favorite things to do. It's like Easter egg hunting for mushroom lovers. Yes, I do eat many of the mushrooms that I forage, but no, I've never tried the psychedelic kind. I'm fascinated by the amazing variety that grow in our area and the many medicinal properties they have as well as the incredible flavors. My partner and I are fixing up my family's 100 year old mountain house, and my favorite thing in the world is swinging in the hammock and enjoying the view there. My dream is to maintain the big garden that my great grandma started there and live happily ever after tending to my plants and flowers with my family.
When I am not behind the camera I am:
Favorite Elopement Moment:
My favorite elopement moments have been watching the sunrise at Black Balsam. It's a spiritual experience, watching the clouds go from a dull grey to an array of bright pinks, purples, and oranges as a couple exchanges vows. It's so beautiful I find myself in tears sometimes! The gorgeous morning light on a foggy morning is incredible to see as well. It's magical. I love listening to people's vows and feeling the power of their words and capturing these incredible moments for couples. It's so much fun to witness the joy on the elopement day and to hear the uniqueness of each couple's story. I really enjoy sharing in the joy with them and helping them feel comfortable so that I can capture their true personalities. I love hiking, photography, nature, and getting to know new people, so elopement photography really does it for me. Dream job!
JENNY
My favorite restaurant is Wild Ginger in South Asheville. The pho is amazing and I'm addicted to the bubble tea! The waiters know me by name there. : ) The Chocolate Lounge is my favorite dessert spot, and The Chocolate Fetish for chocolate treats and gifts for family. The Thai Pearl in West Asheville is amazing as well. If you eat at Corner Kitchen, Jargon, and a few others, you might get to taste wild mushrooms that I foraged. I have a license to sell wild foraged mushrooms to restaurants. Ultimate ice cream has the tastiest ice cream I've ever eaten.
Favorite Restaurant(s):
The Chocolate Lounge
The Chocolate Fetish
Jargon
The NC Arboretum
Graveyard Fields on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Linville Gorge Wilderness
Hiking and playing in the river in Pisgah National Forrest in Brevard
Dueling Piano Bar at Elaine's at the Grove Park Inn
Amazing Pubcycle
Tubing on the Green River
Recommendations for things/places couples to check out:
Get lost in downtown and explore as many restaurants as possible!!
Recommendations for things/places couples to check out:
RAD Farmers Market, Local Coffee Shops, and explore the endless nature that surrounds us.
Favorite places to go/things to do in Asheville area:
Bearwallow!
Favorite Elopement Location:
Every time I am a part of an elopement I'm reminded how blessed I am to call "going into nature to document true love" as my job.
Favorite Elopement Moment:
NICK
RODNEY
JULIA
JAY
MICHAEL
We’ve sourced some of Asheville’s most nature-loving officiants to create ceremonies customized to your personalities and love story. From incorporating poems and prayers through to crafting romantic rituals like unity candles and sand, you’ll experience a ceremony made just for the two of you.
Ceremonies by Michael, Jay, Julia and Rodney
JESS
Playing with my kiddos, finding rocks and making art.
When I am not officiating elopements I am:
Forest at Black Balsam Knob
Favorite Elopement/Photo Location:
My favorite part of the elopement process is arriving at the ceremony site. The couple and crew just finish the hike or walk to where the ceremony is being held….there is a moment when the couple pauses to take in the view or looks up to see the sun peeking through the canopy of trees and it’s like a switch flips…everyone takes a deep breath and this is happening, that space becomes sacred.
Favorite Elopement Moment:
MICHAEL
Hillman Brewery, Zilacoah Brewery.
Favorite Breweries:
Geraldine’s bakery, Taqueria Munoz, Vinnies Neighborhood Italian, Whits Custard
Favorite Restaurant(s):
I think I would recommend ziplining through the forest with Navitat. It's great for all ages and abilities. I also think LaZoom Trolley Tours is a fun, interesting way to tour downtown Asheville....surprisingly enough, you learn some great history of our town.
Recommendations for things/places couples to check out:
I like bike riding on the trails of Biltmore Estate...it's one of the less-hilly areas of our county and the views can't be beat! I also, enjoy visiting the Bird Sanctuary or Botanical Gardens in North Asheville. Peaceful places to hike...easy to get to.
Favorite places to go/things to do in Asheville area:
Asheville has such an amazing food scene, that it's hard to go too wrong. My favorites are Sunny Point Cafe for their amazing fried green tomatoes; Bouchon for their endless bowls of steam mussels; & Jerusalem Cafe...their sampler platter is what Mediterranean dreams are made of.
Favorite Restaurants:
A dedicated mom to four, yes, FOUR! Proudly, my two oldest are now in NC state colleges ("Go Niners" & 'Neers") and then the younger two are keeping me busy with swim team practices and fun moments with friends.
When I am not officiating elopements I am:
We hike to so many beautiful locations that it's hard to pick just ONE! Recently, I remember one of our incredible photographers taking us into a little, secret pocket of the woods, before the hike up the mountain. The couple loved it so much, they wanted their ceremony there. No one was around. No distractions. You could hear a pin drop. That ceremony was so private and intimate, it gives me chills just remembering it!
Favorite Elopement/Photo Location:
Hmmm, there are so many but one that comes to mind lately is when a couple finished their ceremony and went up to enjoy their cake/champagne moment (usually, I don't get to see these extra moments because I'm finishing up my paperwork portion of the elopement). They were laying on this gorgeous, little quilt and the groom gently leaned up against his beautiful bride...he was eating an incredibly decadent slice of cake and the bride was sipping champagne straight from the bottle. They couldn't be happier. A sublime moment!
Favorite Elopement Moment:
jay
JULIA
Horseback Riding! I love Sandy Bottom Trail Rides.
A stroll around the gardens and grounds of the Biltmore Estate.
Pick your own fresh flowers/the honor system vegetable stand at the Flying Cloud Farm in Fairview!
Recommendations for things/places couples to check out:
One of my favorite Asheville gems is the Battery Park Book Exchange (aka the Champagne Bookstore!) - used books, great wine, live music, and comfy big arm chairs! What more could you ask for? A favorite day excursion of mine is to do the Lover's Leap trail in Hot Springs, followed by a hangout at my favorite brewery Big Pillow Brewing, which also has great food via the Grey Eagle Taqueria!
Favorite places to go/things to do in Asheville area:
I love Nine Mile (Jamaican fusion), The Lobster Trap (epic seafood), Zia's (authentic Mexican taqueria), and All Day Darling (a great cafe with coffee and all types of food - great for casual brunch!)
Favorite Restaurants:
When I'm not holding space for people in love, I am probably outside somewhere with my husband and dog. Or possibly cuddled up with a good mystery book in a coffee shop! I work a lot, so I always aim to ground myself with enough time outside in nature and connecting with people I really love.
When I am not officiating elopements I am:
I am a sucker for the woods around Black Balsam Knob-- it's a woodland, magical, fairy forest! For an epic scenic view, my favorite place is Hawksbill Mountain in Linville Gorge, but prepared for quite a hike!
Favorite Elopement/Photo Location:
This is such a tough one to answer as every elopement has their own unique special moments, how could I possibly choose one?! If I had to choose, I'd say anytime a couple chooses to include their dog in their ceremony! I just think dogs are the absolute best and it's such joy to see how much people love their animals and how important they are to be honored and acknowledged during such a pivotal moment.
Favorite Elopement Moment:
Well, you have to check out the Grove Park Inn. Dinner is rather pricey, but you can at least enjoy a cocktail on the Sunset Terrace! I'm also a fan of Bouchon and Isa's Bistro, our French restaurants downtown and I've recently discovered Stoney Knob Cafe!
Where Rodney suggests to eat in Asheville:
Hiking, biking, fly fishing, snow skiing. I also like to wander around downtown and check out all the silly shops.
Favorite places to go/things to do in Asheville area:
When I am fighting back tears during a ceremony is when people are reading vows they've written. When someone has really put their heart into it and they tell a funny story before getting to the serious part it's just so sweet and memorable.
Favorite Elopement Moment:
RODNEY
Seeing clients in my bodywork practice, having fun with my daughter and husband, doing yoga, hiking or mountain biking!
When you are not officiating you are:
The Arboretum!
Favorite Elopement/Photo Location
My favorite moment again and again is watching the couple connect and arrive fully into THEIR moment during the ceremony! when they realize "its happening!" - tearing up or catching eyes or holding hands.... it gives me goosebumps ever time :)
Favorite Elopement Moment:
Jess
I love Moderno, Sierra Nevada, and Green Tea (my daughter loves to watch them make sushi)
Favorite Restaurant(s):
Biking the trails, dipping my toes in the cold creeks, Stand up paddleboard the lakes and rivers
Favorite places to go/things to do in the Asheville area:
jen
jenny + brian
As a photo-focused elopement company, we are passionate about doing everything we can to document and preserve every moment of your celebration (especially since you’ll be spending it immersed amidst our one-of-a-kind mountains, waterfalls and wonders!)
Which is why we’ve partnered with two of Asheville’s most talented videography studios to offer heirloom-worthy films that allow you to cuddle up, get cosy and revisit your adventure over and over again together.
Videography by Heart is Tree Studios and Wildwood Media
Catawba Falls is one of the closest waterfalls to Asheville and along the walk to the big waterfall you can find little swimming holes and spots to chill.
The Rooftop Bar/Restaurant at AC Hotel has the best view of downtown Asheville and Hemingways has a fancy vibe and great views as well as really good cuban inspired food.
The Botanical Gardens and walking path around it is nice for a long walk or to bike.
Favorite places to go/things to do in Asheville area:
Walking, biking, doing yoga and teaching yoga! Exploring outdoor places and visiting beaches, especially in Costa Rica and tropical places.
I am also editing videos a lot but counter it with as much movement as possible. Bryan and I love trying vegan restaurants and cooking our favorite meals at home. I am often in the process of discovering and establishing new healthy habits and love a good daily routine but tend to change it up a lot. Bryan can be found making music or performing his conscious rap songs at festivals and he also is probably fixing something or learning new things from YouTube university. We both like to learn what I call " the secrets of the universe" and also find better efficiency in how to live in the matrix aka this world. We’re very independent but enjoy a good hang from time to time with our soul family and biological families.
When you are not behind the camera you are:
I loved when we were filming the cake cutting once and the couple's dog licked some of the cake and they just went with it! It was very cute.
Definitely a Full Moon elopement at Balsam with a really dynamic duo who were laughing and dancing the entire time was one of my favorite elopements. Seeing the moon shine behind the Bride during a really beautiful sunset was epic.
We've had some really fun and charismatic couples that I have enjoyed getting to know.
Favorite Elopement Moment:
JENNY & BRIAN
JEN
When we are on that mountaintop or in the forest and the couple shares intimate vows with each other. Seeing them pour out their deepest feelings to one another and catching their reactions is my favorite!
Favorite Elopement Moment:
Black Balsam forest for me. I love the forest floor!
Favorite Elopement Location:
I’m busy chasing my 3 and 5 year old around, going on hikes, painting or just spending time with my family!
When I am not behind the camera I am:
Eat at Nine Mile, go exploring at the Biltmore Estate, chasing waterfalls in Brevard or hanging out at any local breweries!
Favorite things to do in Asheville
A boutique flower farm growing specialty cut and heirloom flowers in the mountains of Asheville, NC, Flourish Flower Farm uses sustainable and natural practices to create lush, seasonally inspired floral designs.
Mountain-fresh florals by Flourish Flower Farm
Hannah & Ben
“My officiant made the ceremony perfectly tailored to us, the location chosen from my criteria was gorgeous”
Consider ourselves wedding planners or serve small weddings with a guest count larger than ten.
Schedule bookings for Saturdays. Sometimes we’ll be able to scoop up a special Friday evening or Sunday spot, but in general we find weekend reservations difficult because we can rarely avoid large crowds (and many of the venues save their weekend spots for big weddings).
Totally eliminate the adventure of ever-changing weather (hey, that’s part of the fun!)
Offer a complete concierge service for navigating every foot of Asheville and its local suppliers.
Nay – we don’t …
Support your intimate elopement (with fewer than ten guests) with a customizable elopement experience.
Sweep you and your lover off on a magical week-day adventure.
Go with the flow and be flexible with mother nature’s moods on your elopement day.
Share our well-loved local tips and recommendations for eloping and enjoying yourself in Asheville.
Yay – we’ll absolutely …
