Sam Starns | Oregon Elopement Specialist

Sam will give you the most exciting, adventurous, unique, grounded, and joyful wedding experience. The long version: Sam is one of the coolest chicks in the country, hands down. It becomes clear that she works hard, cares hard, and loves hard from the minute you begin working with her. Our first phone conversation with Sam felt like meeting our new best friend, but it was also exciting to find out what a strong listener, savvy adventurer, and thorough photographer she would be! No detail went unaddressed, no stone unturned as we decided what to do and where to go on our big day. We settled on a jam-packed schedule up and down the Oregon-California coastline with everything from first looks to beers to surprise sea lion sightings and the whole time, Sam had us cracking up and we had hours of amazing conversation. My husband and I are naturally a bit camera-awkward, but that’s no match for Sam’s expertise! Our album is full of the most meaningful, powerful, and artistic photos, and honestly the day was everything we could have asked for and more. We can not recommend Sam enough. Read her book. Book her for your engagement or elopement/small ceremony photos. You simply will not be sorry!

Sam is the absolute best! She is a stellar photographer, communicator, planner, and overall human. She gave us the best day ever at our Oregon coast/ redwoods elopement. Words really can’t describe how much of a dream the day was and the entire process of planning the day. From the moment we hired Sam I didn’t have to worry about a thing, and our day went flawlessly. We met Sam in 2018 and still keep in contact with her on a regular basis. I tell every friend and relative to elope, and specifically to elope Sam!

We loved our Glacier National Park elopement with Sam! She took the time to really get to know us through phone and video chats before we met up. The first time we got together in person was for our adventure session a few days before the wedding. We scheduled the adventure session at the end of a 2-day hiking experience totaling almost 20 miles, so we were pretty exhausted at the time. Sam's vibrant personality immediately perked us up and put us at ease. Her prompts were hilarious and we ended up having a fantastic time laughing together while taking portraits. The fun was genuine and it absolutely shows in the photos! Sam had the knowledge and experience to take us to the right places at the right times to optimize our experience of Glacier's jaw-dropping settings. She was our unofficial guide about the park, sharing knowledge and tidbits along the way. She has such an eye for beauty and light, and was able to capture our special memories in the most beautiful way. Our small group of friends all had a great time with her and her husband, Brian. Our elopement day was full of fun, laughs, Goldfish crackers (Sam and both of us love them), adventure, and authenticity. We even got to go paddle-boarding in our wedding gear; how many people can say that? Afterward, Sam and Brian joined us at our place for dinner! It was great hanging out with two new friends after experiencing one of the best days.

Our elopement in Alaska with Sam was so epic. Our friends kept saying that our elopement announcement photo should be used for Alaska’s tourism! The whole elopement experience was completely worth it. The mine, glacier, and reindeer farm were all perfect additions to the day where we climbed a mountain and said “I do”. It felt good to do what we wanted. It wasn’t like we were trying to exclude anyone, but an Alaska elopement was just what we felt more comfortable doing. Sam’s communication was on point (I love a quick response and she was on it) and she gave us so many location/activity recommendations that were so helpful, whether she’d been there already or not. And the whole Elope Your Life aspect? It was present in our day, with trying new things and getting outside our comfort zone. It was also a great reminder to continue that bravery and exploration in our lives. With Sam there to capture it, we forded a glacial stream, hiked a mountain, were surrounded by reindeer, kissed a moose, and explored an old mine in the mountains of Alaska. To anyone wanting to elope – do it. We now have so many friends and family who wish they did what we did.

When anyone asks me how our Kauai elopement was, my words are 'it was perfect' and it truly felt perfect! We combined in that day what we truly love to do. And having Sam there was amazing; the fact that she was so accommodating, willing to do whatever (props for being a great rider), taking awesome photos and on top of that, marrying us in a very personal ceremony with that beautiful scenery. We truly couldn't ask for a better day, and now having these amazing photos, it makes me want to go back to Hawaii.

Choosing a great photographer is the most important wedding decision to make, second only to choosing your spouse. We could not be happier in choosing Sam as our adventure elopement photographer. It was the best decision we made for our day. I went to do some research on Reddit when my (now) husband and I started to consider eloping. The very first post on the Eloping subreddit that day, someone mentioned her and linked to her Wandering Weddings page, where I then found her website. We were immediately sold, and this choice went on to shape the best day of our life. Sam really helped curate the day and make our vision come alive, just like we imagined. Even better, really. Our day was light, fun, romantic, and we felt so ALIVE. Sam’s direction was fantastic, and we loved her games like, “The Floor is Lava” (if you know, you know). It didn’t even feel like “direction”. We now recommend Sam before anyone can even ask. We’re always looking at our pictures all googly eyed, and it’s great to have tangible memories that we can share with our family and friends. There were so many intimate moments captured together, so many smiles, so many laughs. It was an incredible experience. It was an unimaginably perfect, PERFECT day. She knows what she’s doing, a true professional, but it was also so genuine. She wrote a book. She even did a TEDx Talk on eloping!! We were both like whaaaaat!!! Yes, woman, kill it! Seriously, hire Sam, great pics are sooo important, but it was more than pictures, it was an experience. It was worth every penny. I honestly cannot recommend her enough. Break from tradition and do something for YOU that you can share with each other.

Due to COVID, we decided to forgo the traditional wedding and plan the adventure elopement of our dreams. But also due to COVID, we changed our elopement location 3 times! Not only were we impressed with Sam’s flexibility, but with each step, she had an incredible repository of recommended vendors and location suggestions that fit the bill for exactly what we wanted. How can we put into a short paragraph how amazing our 2-day elopement was across the island of Maui? We got married at 10,000ft at Haleakala National Park, explored a red sand beach with a DRONE, hiked a bamboo forest, and so much more. Sam doing what she does gave us a super solid foundation and empowerment to make our experience exactly what we wanted: spontaneous, candid, and fun. She made it so comfortable, so 2 days flew by! Her direction in front of the camera was also a great balance of serious and funny moments. We’re still laughing at, “Every guy has a condition. It’s called ‘dead hand’.” On top of all that, she knew things about the planning process (like when Google was lying about drive time 👀, or how we’d fit our day together perfectly) that made our life so much easier. Her timeline questionnaire and timeline she crafted from it just put our minds at ease. Sam cares SO deeply about every couple she meets. From the first conversation we had, the first thing she did was get to know us as people and what we wanted, past the epic images. Since we were all free, we met up the night before our elopement to just have dinner and talk (and share dog photos) and that really stood out to us about Sam’s process too. The whole elopement experience surpassed what we ever could have imagined.