This wedding of Bryan and Karassa took place in the majestic Dolomite mountains. What a location for a love story. This place took not only my breath away but the newlyweds too. It was like a dream come true for the wonderful couple after they had flown into Italy from Florida. As an Italy Wedding Photographer, I have photographed weddings all over the country. From Lake Como to Lake Garda and Sicily to Tuscany. After photographing this elopement in the Dolomites, this could quite possibly be the best location I’ve travelled to not just in Italy but in the world.
Brian and Karassa exchanged vows as a couple on the edge of a cliff in the Dolomites after visiting other areas a few days before the wedding day including Lake Braies and Tofana di Mezzo. These locations are incredibly romantic and could be perfect for an engaged couple to say their vows to each other. The Dolomites possess the most dramatic and beautiful backdrop for an elopement and as a destination wedding photographer it’s one of the greatest places I’ve been to photograph a wedding.
Eloping in the Dolomites
This particular 3-day elopement in the Dolomites began with myself and Sam from Moss Wedding Films flying out the nearest airport to the Dolomite mountains, Venice. We spent the spare day we had exploring the Venician canals, enjoying the architecture, culture, food, and atmosphere. All before we took the 2-hour drive into the mountains to Cortina. We then spent three days here making wedding films and photographs for Karassa and Bryan on what was the most amazing elopement. It was incredibly hot during our time in Venice and we spoke about how it would be tricky photographing a wedding in that heat. I do have a best time of year to get married in Italy guide I wrote to aid couples with the timing of a wedding in Italy. However as we headed to a cooler climate in the mountains after we were ok!
Elopement photography is a really intimate and adventurous way of capturing the marriage of two people. It’s different from the more traditional wedding that has a large audience. Eloping puts so much more focus on the emotions, genuine emotion, connection, and surroundings.
Using my skills and experience I was able to document these intimate moments and now they’re preserved forever in these images. Here is a brief overview of the trip and the locations we used for this beautiful Italian elopement.
Elopement Day One – Cortina
We took the cable car from Cabinovia Freccia nel Cielo and had to change cable cars twice to get to the top of Tofana Di Mezzo. We used this time to spend time with the couple in person and to get to know each other a little more while subtly taking photos and filming them. It was incredibly relaxed and we had such a great time. We were 3,244 (almost 11,000 feet) above sea level up here and the atmosphere was incredible. It was extremely cloudy mostly but that only added to the dramatic effect we used to our advantage to make some amazing footage with our cameras.
Wedding photography is such an intimate act and it’s something I never take for granted. Shooting this wedding in Italy was intimate as it was only myself, Sam the videographer and the couple for the whole three days. So having this first day to explore and spend time getting to know each other while the soon-to-be married couple got used to the cameras.
Here you can see Sam of Moss Wedding Films in action filming the couple;
Our approach to shooting elopements is relaxed, unobtrusive, and natural. You and your partner should just be yourselves during an elopement. However, as professional photographers and videographers, we do give direction and guidance (we understand light and composition and want to make sure the photos and videos are absolutely the best).
On the second day of this Dolomites Wedding, we headed to Lake Braies. Now the actual story is that we did head to another area in the Dolomites called; Cadini di Misurina. Though it’s such a popular location for elopements and weddings in the Dolomites. So you can imagine how popular it is for just regular hikers and explorers to visit.
We ended up in the longest tail-back I’ve been in and we knew that if we wanted to hit this location for the actual wedding ceremony we would have to have left much earlier. When it comes to planning a wedding in Italy traffic to different elopement locations is something I’ll be adding to my guide!
So we decided to turn back and head to the lake. Get some beautiful photos of the bride and groom there and make a plan for the following day.
We had to drive for a couple of hours. The drive was stunning though and we passed the beautiful Lago di Misurina which is one of the most beautiful lakes in the Dolomites you could even have your wedding here its so nice. It’s a perfect place for a hike also. Especially if you don’t want anything too challenging. The lake sits next to the impressive Tre Cimi di Lavaredo.
Here you can some images of what was supposed to be the wedding day. We started at our base location in Cortina d’Ampezo in the heart of the Italian Alps. This is the same location we started from on the previous day. It was only a short walk to the cable cars to get to the first location where we did some pre-wedding photos.
The lake is just a 50-minute drive from Cortina and approximately 47 kilometres. However, after our traffic incident, it took much longer. Especially for Karassa who spent the whole time in her wedding dress.
The final day of this beautiful Dolomites wedding. The bride and groom chose the Dolomites for their elopement due to their dramatic landscapes and because they knew that the scenery would make for incredible photographs. They had a vision that exchanging their vows surrounded by majestic peaks would be incredible. Just the couple surrounded by nature and panoramic views.
The couple both love hiking and they loved the idea of charming alpine villages and finding a place where they could make amazing memories on such an important occasion as a wedding.
We had to leave early to make it to this spot. Very early. Imagine on your wedding day having to have your hair and makeup to begin at 3 am. Well, this is exactly what happened. The bridal preparations began in the early hours of the morning before we set off on our way to Cadini di Misurina. When we eventually arrived at the parking location it was just 2 degrees Celsius. There wasn’t a soul around and after a wonderful hike for approximately 90 minutes we found the spot we had been waiting for this whole time. The spot is 2,260 meters above sea level. So the air is a little thinner up there.
We didn’t have much time once we arrived at the location as some other hikers had arrived before us. So we had to wait for just 10 minutes before we could walk along to the edge.
It was the most beautiful and intimate of wedding ceremonies and to have it all surrounded by mountains and peaks was just incredible. Once the ceremony was over the newlyweds had to walk back to the car and take a drive for a couple of hours to Venice to catch a connecting flight out of northern Italy. So we were just in and out of this location.
I hope you enjoy looking at these wedding photos as much as i enjoyed making them.
It wasn’t just myself on this spectacular wedding adventure. Karassa and Bryan had also hired a good friend and amazing filmmaker Sam Moss of Moss Wedding Films. I’ve worked with Sam on Numerous occasions now and have more Italy weddings booked with sam in the near future. I mentioned him earlier in the post and there is a photo of him working his magic at the top of Tofana. Please check out his work and enjoy this video he has made for Karassa and Bryans Dolomites’ Wedding.
