Cliffside Elopement on Oahu, Hawaii

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October 5, 2022

Okay we’re so excited to share this styled cliffside elopement on Oahu with you! For starters, these two were a freaking PARRRTTYYYY!! I knew from the second we met that this day was going to be a blast. Joy and Michael are seriously are two of the most fun people, and we loved getting to know them as Joy got her makeup done. I don’t know what we enjoyed more, the shoot itself or the party we had while getting ready! We were blasting some great music, talking like we had known each other for YEARS, and getting pumped up for the afternoon.

cliffside elopement on Oahu, Hawaii. Captured by Riss and Steven Photography, destination elopement photographer

Planning The Shoot

This session was GORGEOUS. Our other business, Cactus and Pine Co, planned and hosted this styled shoot (so like, obviously we made it a dream!!) but boy was the hike there difficult… it was almost entirely uphill. But dang the views made it worth it, that turquoise water had me drooooling! Hawaii is 100% a little slice of heaven and this spot is the perfect example of that. It also was the perfect location for a laid-back elopement (this was technically a ‘styled shoot’ but relaxed and dreamy days like this are SO possible if you’re planning an elopement on Oahu, even with a few guests)!

Give It Up For The Dress

Fun fact: Hawaii has some crazy weather. I’m talking sunny and beautiful at 1:00 then pouring rain by 1:30, and this day was no different. When we began our hike the weather was pretty good, but atop the mountain the wind was INSANE. This did wonders for the dress, however. And speaking of… THE DRESS. Ummm I’m deceased!! I’ll literally be dreaming of it forever. It was seriously one of the prettiest gowns we’ve had the chance to capture and I couldn’t get enough of its elements: the beautiful beading and texture, the sleeves and cape, UGH it was everything! I’m convinced that the wind knew exactly what it was doing because it was WORKING with the dress.

Sometimes things are unpredictable for elopements (especially weather) but the best thing you can do is just take things as they are and go with the flow. Every now and then locations change, or timelines have to be switched up but remember — this day is about your marriage, not just your wedding/elopement. With this shoot, we experienced so much back and forth with the weather. After a little bit of shooting it rained, and then stopped, and then rained again haha. We were in and out of storms the whole time but Joy and Michael totally rolled with it!

We had the best time during this styled elopement on Oahu, and being in a beautiful location with an incredible couple was just the icing on the cake. Styled shoots are such a fun way to express our creativity and discover new places where we can take our future couples as well. Let’s dream up some beautiful possibilities together and come shoot with us!