New Orleans Elopement Photography

Rachel and Daniel’s Pandemic Elopement in Audubon Park

I was just updating my New Orleans Elopement Photography portfolio when I noticed I hadn’t put up any photos from Rachel and Daniel’s elopement last September! ACK! These guys eloped to New Orleans when I was just dipping my toe back in after being mostly shuttered for six months due to covid. I hadn’t yet gotten back in the rhythm of blogging and updating my website. (For all of y’all who are looking to hire a photographer for “just an hour”, please remember there are hundreds of unpaid hours of work that go into running a photography business. And that includes keeping a website up-to-date so you know what kind of stellar work you’re paying for!).

But man, I would be remiss if I did not include this couple on my blog. They were the first wedding ceremony I photographed during Covid and they were 100% my kind of people. Rachel found me on instagram and knew with a handle like “@photosforweirdos” I was the right person to capture her and Daniel’s elopement. This union had been a long time coming with years spent long-distance and multiple cross-country relocations to be together. A couple of tattooed, witchy nerds, Rachel and Daniel were cut from the same cloth and nothing was going to keep them apart. When she told me their story on the phone I was also certain I was the right photographer for this gig.

I hooked them up with the best gotdang officiant in town, Reverend Andrew Ward. Don’t let the word “reverend” fool you. He is an ordained minister but not affiliated with any religion and his ceremonies do not include any mention of any religion whatsoever. To officiate weddings in Louisiana, one must be an ordained minister and registered with the state. But that ordination can come from the Universal Life Church online! Anyone can become a minister, really. But not just anyone can deliver a ceremony the way that Reverend Ward does. Whenever I get married (and I would absolutely elope to someplace beautiful), Andrew Ward is definitely the person I would hire to officiate (and I would absolutely fly him out). His ceremonies are personalized, heartfelt, hilarious, and always bring tears or joy and laughter. It feels like hanging out with an old friend rather than some dial-a-minister couples often find on google. Trust me when I say you need to book him for your New Orleans wedding (click here to send him an email!).

We planned their elopement at two locations. September is Fall in other parts of the country. But in New Orleans it’s still Summer AND it’s still Hurricane season. Rachel and Daniel knew they wanted the backdrop fo the Tree of Life for portraits but we were all concerned about rain. So we picked the nearby Newman Bandstand for the ceremony. It could provide cover in the event of rain and we could easily scurry over to the Tree of Life after. Which is exactly what we did.

There have been a number of times in my career that my assistants and I have signed marriage licenses as witnesses because there were literally no guests in attendance (you need 5 people to get married in Louisiana- a couple, an officiant, and 2 witnesses). The guests to this union were on facebook live being broadcast from Daniel’s phone (this has been a pandemic staple). Andrew started the ceremony with the couple standing pretty far apart. Then he would read a bit of what he wrote about them (he gets info weeks in advance to write something personal about their love story, the reason they’re getting married, their plans for the future, and the promises they want to make to each other) and ask them to step closer together, read a bit more, ask them to step closer together, on repeat until they were face to face. It ended up this beautiful analogy of two people staying strong together in a year the world had forced everyone apart.

They rock, paper, scissored to decide who would give their vows first and then made the all of us laugh and cry with what they wrote for each other. My assistant and I signed their paperwork afterwards and we (sadly) bid Andrew adieu before starting on their park portrait session.

Rachel couldn’t stop marveling at the majesty that is the Tree of Life. I set up my lighting gear while she got lost in the beauty of the 300 year-old moss-draped limbs. And then we commenced with more silliness and irreverence because that’s just the kind of folks we are. When our time was up I was sad to say goodbye. With it being covid, we couldn’t exactly meet up during their stay like some elopement couples invite me to do. I’ll just have to hope they return for a visit sometime and give me a shout. Because I’d love to shoot this shit with these guys.

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Enjoy this selection of images from Rachel and Daniel’s Elopement Photography in Audubon Park.