Mountain elopement at sunrise in Switzerland

26 August 2021

On the 19th of June, I had the chance to take Justine and Stéphanie for a very special hike at dawn : their mountain elopement in the swiss alps ! We slept in a chalet the night before, and got up at 2.10am (ouch). Stéphanie did her and her lover’s make-up like a boss and with a lot of patience.

4:30 am, departure time. There is something exhilarating about getting up at this hour, when the whole village is asleep and you can feel the dawn coming. A short drive later, we are at the beginning of the walk that will take us to the place of the ceremony. 30 minutes of climbing, nothing, right? But not when it’s 5am, when you can’t see two metres in front of you, you’ve got a wedding dress on your back and the sloping ground is full of holes (thanks to the Swiss pastures). This is the moment when you have to push on, telling yourself that the result will be worth it. And what a view! As we climbed, accompanied by the bells of the cows, we began to see the sky lighten and change colour. It was amazing!

After the hike, Stephanie and Justine took a few minutes to catch their breath before getting ready and putting on their beautiful dresses. Then came the long-awaited moment, the ceremony. A tender exchange of vows, with the sun starting to come out from behind the mountains. It was magical, and I made myself very small to capture these emotional moments without interfering.

After their ceremony, the brides took advantage of the sunrise to warm up a bit while admiring the incredible 360° views. There’s nothing like feeling the first glimpses of sunshine on your skin when you’ve been in the dark for a few hours, wet from the dew.

I’m super happy that I was able to plan and photograph this special morning. I’m not a morning person, but if there’s one thing that makes me jump out of bed at the first ring of the alarm clock, it’s the prospect of a day like this!


Couple : @steph.gasikara & @justine_rcht06
Dresses : https://www.thefdress.com/
Flowers : https://auxfleursdelune.ch/
Vow books : https://sevenpaper.ch/

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