Misty Rocks State Park Elopement in Jarretsville, MD | Meghan & Alex

When Meghan and Alex began wedding preparations, they initially envisioned including 50 people in their celebrations. With time, however, Meghan came to realize that even a guest list of this intimate size was far from her ideal. “When Alex proposed, he took me out to dinner, and while we were gone, he had our families come over to our house,” she says. “When I opened the door, they all yelled ‘Surprise!’ and when I turned around he was on one knee. My face was red for hours.” Knowing how uncomfortable she would be in the spotlight, Meghan felt the overwhelming attention would ultimately detract from the day. Thus, the couple decided to forego a traditional wedding to enjoy a quiet elopement instead.

Photographer Bekah Lindner suggested Rocks State Park as a location for the ceremony, confident it would provide the perfect backdrop of mountains, cliffs, and trees. “We met just after sunrise on a Thursday morning, and the storms had left the whole park filled with a romantic fog that set the tone for the day,” Bekah shares. “The whole thing was simple, intimate, romantic, and perfectly them… The beauty came from the simplicity of the quiet morning and surrounding nature, not a big show… Instead of interfering and creating a lot of posed moments, I let the morning unfold pretty naturally and looked for those candid moments to capture… They knew that their love [and] commitment wouldn’t change with two or 200 people in attendance and were okay going against the mold… You don’t have to follow a set of rules… do what feels right and the most like you when you decide to make that commitment to your partner…”

The couple created an experience that was hassle-free and meaningful to them. As the bride recalls, “There was no stress, no unrealistic expectations, no worrying about things that didn’t matter… It was perfect. We got married on a Thursday morning, and we both went to work on Friday, that’s how easy our day was.”

Photography by Bekah Kay Creative

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CHOOSING AN ELOPEMENT:

“We originally thought we would have a small wedding of 50 people, but I called my mom crying that I didn’t think I wanted or could handle that kind of attention… My mom told me that it was our day and to do what made us happy and not to worry about what anyone else thought we should do. I asked Alex if we could do something small with just our parents and siblings instead, and he said of course, because he’s the best. Since we didn’t have much to plan, we figured there was no reason to wait, so we got married a month and a half later…

It’s so easy get swept away [with] Pinterest boards of the perfect weddings, but at the end of the day, I just wanted to marry my person. Eloping made it so easy. There was no stress, no unrealistic expectations, no worrying about things that didn’t matter. Our motto was ‘nothing fancy, just love.’”

[Meghan]

PLANNING AN ELOPEMENT:

“Planning was so minimal and easy. When we decided eloping was for us, I honestly had no idea what I needed to do or what kind of planning was involved. I started with the photographer. Since the cost of eloping is much less than a traditional wedding, we knew we didn’t want to skimp on the photos… We met with [Bekah] a few weeks in advance at Rocks to decide where we would meet, where we wanted our little ceremony, where we wanted pictures, and backup plans in case gates were locked. I used a local wedding florist I found on Instagram… [and] I ordered a dress online for 86 bucks and then had it tailored to fit me… We got our marriage license and my brother agreed to perform the ceremony so we were ready to go.

Planning our elopement was so easy, I’ve spent more time writing grad school papers than I did planning our day… I really can’t explain how stress-free it was. Alex really didn’t care about too many things, he just wanted to get married, and he wanted our dog, Ace, there. Other than that, he was down for anything. Planning our elopement was so much easier, because we weren’t forced to discuss silly details that neither of us really cared about…”

[Meghan]

CHOOSING A LOCATION:

“We knew we wanted something outdoors in the middle of nature, and we are mountain people. We asked our amazing photographer, Bekah, for some suggestions of places she has used or wanted to use. Rocks State Park was on her list, and we knew that was the place for us… The day was foggy and misty, and it made the pictures so magical… [it] made it look like we were standing in the clouds…”

[Meghan]

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PARTING THOUGHTS:

“…we couldn’t recommend it more. Our families were both super cool with our decision to elope, but I know that can be a tough spot for a lot of people. Instead of having a small traditional wedding, we instead opted to have a party at our house a few weeks after we eloped and invited all the people who would have been invited to the wedding… much more our style. We are so happy with our decision to elope and don’t regret it one bit.”

[Meghan]