Atlanta Elopement Photographer

Lately the question we hear most often from couples goes something like this: “Can we just… not do the big wedding? Can it be the two of us somewhere beautiful, and you there to photograph it?” Of course, the answer is absolutely yes! An Atlanta elopement is one of our favorite days to shoot, and we’ve done a lot of them over the years. On rocks above a creek, on a rooftop at sunrise, in a courtyard behind a restaurant, on top of a mountain in north Georgia, and in plenty of places we’ve never gotten around to writing up.

If you’re thinking about a Georgia elopement and you’re not sure what that actually looks like, or whether it will feel like enough, keep reading. We’ve pulled together a few of our favorite places below, a little about how these days tend to run, and what to think about while you’re planning one. It’s nowhere near everywhere we’ve shot, so if the spot you have in mind isn’t here, just ask. There’s a good chance we’ve been.

So what counts as an Atlanta elopement?

Honestly? Whatever you want it to be. Couples use a few different words for this and they all overlap, so don’t get too hung up on which one you’re having.

An elopement is usually just the two of you and whoever you need as witnesses. A micro wedding in Atlanta tends to mean something under about twenty guests, small enough that you won’t be seating anyone at a numbered table, and an intimate wedding is the same idea with a little more structure to it, so a proper ceremony and a meal afterwards, just with fewer people around the table. We’ve photographed all three and we promise, none of them feel small when you’re standing in them.

The one hesitation we hear a lot: “Will it feel like a real wedding day?” Totally fair question, and yes it will. One of our favorite ceremonies was two people and two guests beside a creek, and it was every bit as emotional as a three hundred person reception. You still get ready, you still walk toward each other, you still say the words out loud. There’s just less standing around in between.

Where to elope around Atlanta

Here’s the good news: you don’t need a venue to get married in Georgia, and some of our very favorite spots aren’t venues at all. Here are a few of the Atlanta elopement locations we’ve shot and loved, though it’s far from a comprehensive list.

Sweetwater Creek State Park is the one most couples picture when they imagine eloping outdoors near the city. There’s a wooded trail that takes you down toward the water, big flat rocks you can stand on with the creek rushing past, and enough tree cover that the light stays soft and pretty through most of the day. We photographed a ceremony here with only two guests in attendance and it was gorgeous, all green and gold and water noise.

Morgan Falls Overlook Park in Sandy Springs has a beautiful old stone chimney sitting up above the river, with the ridge behind it turning colors in the fall. There’s a split rail fence along the water that photographs wonderfully late in the day when the sun is low. We shot a ceremony here with the couple’s children standing right up there with them, which was so sweet.

If you want the city instead, Ventanas puts you up on a rooftop with the Atlanta skyline stretched out behind you. We were called in for a sunrise ceremony there, petals down the aisle, florals on the columns, the whole downtown still quiet and pink. Sunrise on a rooftop is a gorgeous look, though it does mean an early alarm and a little more planning, so give yourself time to sort it out.

Courthouse and city hall weddings

Some of the sweetest weddings we shoot happen in a county courtroom on a weekday morning. If you want the marriage without the production, this is the shortest path there, and it photographs far better than people expect.

At Brookhaven City Hall the ceremony happens in the council chamber, with the judge in his robes and the Georgia and US flags behind him, and there is room for family to sit in on it. Afterwards you can walk straight out to the willow trees along the path outside, which is where we took most of their portraits.

The Cobb County Courthouse sits right on Marietta Square, and that is the great advantage of it. You wait your turn on the wooden benches, you say your vows, and then the whole square is yours for photos, hydrangeas and shopfronts and the old theater marquee with its round bulbs.

Up in north Fulton, couples often pair Alpharetta City Hall with Brooke Street Park a short walk away. We photographed a ceremony at the fountain there under the crepe myrtles with a handful of family watching, then walked back for portraits on the City Hall steps.

Bring your marriage license and your witnesses, and check the hours with the county before you plan around them, since each one runs its own schedule. Cobb County lists its marriage license requirements here, and Brookhaven publishes theirs on the city site.

Intimate wedding venues in Atlanta

Maybe you’d rather have an actual room, and somebody whose job it is to run the day. Plenty of smaller venues will happily take a weekday, a Friday or a Sunday for a few hours, and a micro wedding in Atlanta is an easy thing for them to say yes to. It never hurts to call and ask.

Wahoo! Grill in Decatur is a restaurant with the loveliest ivy courtyard tucked behind it. We photographed a wedding there with a beautiful birch arch, florals by Moss & Clay and the cake from Southern Sweets, and the patio was perfect for dancing afterwards. They cater their own weddings too, which takes one more decision off your list.

Barrington Hall in Roswell is a beautiful columned house at the end of a long tree lined drive, with gardens on either side and a big porch to wait on while everyone arrives. We shot an intimate ceremony here with the chairs set out on the lawn in front of the house, and the southern charm of the place did half the work for us.

Over in Midtown, the Goat Farm gives you old brick and enormous paned windows, which is a completely different look again. We shot a wedding there around a timber arch banked with greenery, and when the rain came we simply took a clear umbrella outside and kept going.

Their dog came along in a pinstripe suit, which we mention because more of you should do this.

There are plenty more in our Atlanta wedding venue guides, and our post on seven places for your intimate wedding or elopement has ideas we haven’t listed here, including backyards, Airbnbs and borrowing a family property.

Where to elope in Georgia: the mountains

A Georgia elopement absolutely does not have to happen in the city! North Georgia is about two hours out, so you can make a day trip of it, or stay over and have a whole weekend.

Spyglass Cabin in Blue Ridge has a helipad right on the ridge, and you can set a timber arch up on it with the whole valley dropping away behind you. We had been eyeing this place for years before we got to shoot there, and it did not disappoint. We were booked for one hour of coverage and still came away with the ceremony, the portraits and the cabin.

If the mountains are calling, tell us early. North Georgia sunsets come down behind the ridgeline sooner than you’d expect, and we like to build the timeline around that rather than race it.

What does the day actually look like?

Shorter than you think, and calmer than you think. Here’s roughly how these run.

We meet you wherever you’re getting ready, or at the location itself if you’re already dressed and ready to go. We photograph the ceremony straight through, which is usually somewhere between ten and fifteen minutes. Then we take our time with portraits, and this is where the extra hours go.

This is honestly our favorite part of shooting elopements. On a full wedding day you might get twenty or thirty minutes for portraits, squeezed between the ceremony and the reception, with a coordinator checking her watch. On an elopement you can have two hours if you want them, and you can walk somewhere better when the light changes instead of staying put because the schedule says so. Your photos get to breathe, and so do you.

Elopement packages in Atlanta and Georgia

Elopement packages in Georgia usually start at one or two hours, and ours do too. You’re booking a window of time instead of a whole day, and we’ll talk through how many hours you actually need once we know where you’re going and what time you’re saying your vows. You can see what our Atlanta elopement packages include over on our investment page.

Every wedding we shoot comes in three editing styles, Signature, Cinematic and Romance, and that doesn’t change just because your day is a short one. We also shoot 35mm film alongside digital if you love that look, and there’s more about that on our film photography page.

Let’s plan yours

Tell us where you’re thinking and roughly when, even if it’s only half an idea at this point. If it’s somewhere we’ve shot before we’ll tell you what the light does there and how long you’ll want, and if it isn’t, we’ll go take a look. Either way you’ll know whether one hour is enough before you book it.

Still deciding whether to elope at all? Our post on why eloping might be the wedding you want makes the case better than we can here. And when you’re ready, get in touch and tell us what you’re dreaming up, or have a look through the rest of our wedding photography first.