For Zoe and Austin, the most important thing for their wedding was to be somewhere beautiful and just to have their families present. Once they decided to elope, Georgia was the obvious option since there are so many beautiful places. They had been to Cloudland Canyon a handful of times before and knew it would be the perfect location for their intimate, sunrise wedding. They loved the nature and beauty the state park provided, with the canyon overlook and waterfalls below. Their families live in two different states, but they knew their families would be up for the adventure! Their wedding day started early, arriving at the park at sunrise for their first look. They saw each other for the first time on a cliff overlooking the canyon below with fog covering the valley like a blanket. None of us had seen the canyon so foggy, but we now understand where Cloudland Canyon gets it’s name from! Their ceremony took place on the main overlook, with only their closest friends and family surrounding them.
How did you meet?
Austin and I (Zoe) met online and quickly became friends. Soon we were talking all day and FaceTiming for hours. Austin lived in Georgia and I’m from Texas. The week after I graduated nursing school, Austin flew to Houston for us to meet in person.
What is your proposal story?
After dating long distance for about a year and a half and visiting each other every month or two, we were making plans for Austin to move to Texas after his college graduation. On my last visit to Georgia before the big move, Austin proposed!
Tell us about your attire choices.
It took us months to find a suit we liked for Austin but when we finally found his maroon suit at the last minute, we fell in love with it. We picked it up from being altered just a couple of days before driving to Georgia for the wedding. The color turned out even more amazing alongside the fall colors of Cloudland Canyon. For my dress, I knew I wanted something kind of boho and lacy. My dress and veil were both pretty much love at first sight. I had a hard time choosing shoes but I’m so happy I went with hiking boots! I’m not really a heels kind of person and the boots really fit our low-key vibe for the day.
What were your favorite parts of the day?
The whole day was perfect but some of the best parts included hopping a fence in my dress to get the perfect first look photos, the overwhelming feeling of joy and love when we said our vows surrounded by our loved ones, and hiking down to the waterfall after the ceremony to take more photos!
Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?
Definitely try and do whatever makes you happy! We knew we didn’t want a big, traditional wedding and we’re so glad we followed our instincts.
Why a mountain wedding? What’s your biggest piece of advice for other couples planning a mountain wedding?
Our main objective when choosing the location was that it was somewhere outside and beautiful! We also wanted it to be reasonably accessible for our family members and Cloudland Canyon worked out perfectly. It also helped that we, as well as our photographers, had been there before so we were familiar with the location. The best advice is just to try and relax and enjoy it. We knew going into it that we wouldn’t be able to control a lot of things like the weather, etc. We lucked out with a beautiful, perfect day because we were prepared to be flexible!