Heyyyy, are you ready to stand atop mountains! Hike through glorious trees and among the furriest friends! Dip your toes in water so crystal clear you can see your little piggy’s tapping the sand below! Doing this all for a one of a kind adventure elopement with your sweet honey?? You’re reading this screaming (internally) “YES, KELSEY!”, I am screaming back “I said ‘are you REAADYYYY?’” and you’re saying “YASSSS!” And I’m saying no, like, are you ready? Are your bags packed? I don’t want to pull a Dasha here and find empty cans, and I’ll be damned, your shit was never packed! So, let’s get ready with our ultimate elopement packing list for adventurers!

If you are wondering what to do before eloping, check out the complete

Elopement Checklist

From the dreaming stage to the planning stage, to enjoying your magical day, your elopement can be anything you want it to be with a bit of preparation. This checklist will help.

Elopement Packing List for Adventurers – What You Are Wearing

Backpack

First up, you need a good backpack. Please please please, I beg you, don’t embarrass me let your partner bring their dirty backpack from their high school sports days a decade ago, motherfucker. I am not saying go out and buy a new one, but surely there has to be a happy medium. We can get so many cute photos of the two of you hiking up and the backpack may be featured. 

Dress

What is an adventure elopement without the DRESS!! Half of the fun is WEARING THE DRESS!!! We love all of our badass brides showing that you can hike and showcase your beauty, delicacy, etc. at the same fucking time! When picking out your dress you’ll need to choose something lightweight. It can be challenging hiking in a dress to begin with, don’t add 10 lbs of fabric to weigh you down on top of that. Tulle works great. Lace is also a good option! Get something that won’t wrinkle. It’s the balance of doing something incredible but making it look effortless when you reach the top. Also, grab a chafing stick, your thighs will thank you. 

Suit

As with the dress, think lightweight when choosing your suit. Also mobility. You’ll be hiking, climbing rocks, jumping over streams, whatever the fuck you want. Don’t let your suit hold you back!! Be on the hunt for stretch fabric and practice your Cobra Kai moves before you commit. 

Rings

Pack the ring box in a sock for an easy find in your backpack. Our pro tip is to pack this in EARLY so you are guaranteed not to forget about it. Sometimes the obvious things are the ones you miss.

Hiking Boots are a MUST on the Elopement Packing List for Adventurers

If you want to bring cute sneaks or something else to change into, do it!! But DO NOT try big hikes in any other shoes aside from hiking boots. Our cutesy idea is timberlands hiking boots – one half of the couple in black boots the other half in white! Just break the hiking boots in before the big day. Wear hiking socks. Do everything by the book here. Not just for your comfort post nuptials but also for your safety. The last thing anyone wants is someone twisting their ankle on the big day and needing to be helicoptered out of there. Now if you’re thinking, waittttt…. A helicopter on my wedding day does sound kind of cool… THEN BOOK A DAMN HELICOPTER ELOPEMENT! Plan that shit in advance. We can help. 

Helicopter Wedding in Montana – with 2nd day hike! 

Extra clothing and layers

You gotta do this. I never trust the weatherman. During cooler seasons you’ll want to bring the beanie and scarf and then you can rip them off like the hulk. You can also bring a change of clothes for the hike back down. Just like the hiking boots there are a lot of cool ideas to have complimentary outfits with your partner here! For warm seasons we love a “jumping in the lake with your spouse in wedding attire” photos, BUT you can also bring a swimsuit and enjoy your fucking day!! Pssttt – if you are thinking Alaska for your adventure elopement, let us know! There is some extra preparation for such a varied environment.

Elopement Packing List for Adventurers – The Admin Side

Vows

Bring your vows books! Please don’t have your vows just on your phones. It is NOT cute for photos. Hell, I’ll help transcribe your vows from your phone to paper if you’d like. Just, please bring your vows.

Permits

If you don’t know if you need a permit or not, all the more reason to choose an adventure elopement photographer who can help you! We know permits like the back of our sun freckled hands. What you need, what types of places you need it for, and what it includes.

Marriage License

Give this to your officiant in advance and let them hold it! With all the chaos and beauty of your adventure elopement, you’ll want to make sure the ceremony is legit.

Elopement Packing List for Adventurers – All The Other Shit You Need

Flowers

We looooove flowers. Have them popping out of your backpack, hold a small bouquet on a hill, create a flower crown for your dog if they are joining. The pop of color is magical. Here’s how to wrap your flowers. 

NOTE – in our experience, scattering flower petals is prohibited at 99% of hiking locations. Flowers can drop non-native species into the environment. Bring your bouquet up, bring your bouquet down, repurpose the flowers a million ways.

Champagne

Great for photos! Also, after you share your vows and get FUCKING MARRIED it is TIME to celebrate! Celebrate your love, celebrate making it up a fucking mountain in a wedding dress, celebrate the dozens of years to come with your new spouse!!

Elopement Packing List for Adventurers on a Picnic

First, bring snacks. Second, bring a picnic if this is a long hike. No one wants a hangry fiancé. We can stop and spread a blanket out for a little lunch. DRINK YOUR WATER. Have some nibbles and a rest. Get some cozy photos and entice a squirrel to join you. A picnic is always a good idea.

Water

Invest in a water system if you don’t have one already. It’s convenient and will keep you hydrated. Especially on adventure elopements, sometimes your body is filled with so many butterflies you aren’t thinking about drinking water. Make sure you are drinking BEFORE you realize you are thirsty.

Map

Fun fact!! Often your service sucks on a mountain. You can download a map to your phone to use when the service fails, but we also recommend a paper map. In addition to making sure you don’t get lost, it makes the best backdrop for detail shots of your wedding. AND you can frame the map with the gorgeous photos I’ll be taking of you on the big day.

Headlamps

I believe that any elopement packing list for adventurers necessitates headlamps. We have woken up at the crack of dawn to capture weddings and let me tell you, you are hiking in the dark to get there. Headlamps and a gallon of coffee is the recipe for sunrise elopements. For sunset elopements, you’ll need them on the way down. Also, I promise we can get really cute photos of you in headlamps. 

If you are wondering how many people should you invite to an elopement? Specifically for a hiking elopement, we would say no more than 10. After that it gets a bit crazy with different speeds, different needs, and it becomes less focused on the couple – which is the whole damn point of an elopement!

Consider a Bluetooth Stereo on your Elopement Packing List for Adventurers

This is something new I have seen but I am OBSESSED with!! Bring a Bluetooth stereo and play your first dance song. Just because you aren’t having a big over the top wedding doesn’t mean you have to skip over the things you want to! An elopement is a wedding your way!

What a Full Day Elopement Looks Like and Sample Elopement Timelines – honeybeeweddingsmt.com

If you are ready to book your own adventure elopement, don’t hesitate! Fill out our easy breezy non committal form, feel us out, and then we’ll knock your hiking socks off with our elopement planning and photography!