Alberta · Canadian Rockies · Elopement Curator
Banff
51.18°N · 115.57°W
Not a photographer for hire, a curator for the whole Rockies day: I design it, plan it, book it, pull the permits, style it, photograph it, film it, and hand it back to you. A complete companion to eloping in Banff National Park.
Banff is the most iconic elopement country in Canada, and the hardest to do well: Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks, Lake Louise under the Victoria Glacier, Lake Minnewanka, a gondola summit above the Bow Valley. The views are known to the whole world, which is exactly why timing and access are everything.
I do not just show up to shoot. I design the day around you and book every piece of it, the officiant, the Parks Canada permit, the shuttle to Moraine, the florals, the activity, the dinner, then photograph and film it and hand back the record. One person, start to finish, with a full-value weather and access backup built into every plan.
Best monthsJun to Oct
The curationEnd to end
Packages from$7,500 CAD
Guides on file8
Why an elopement, and why me
The Spiritual Union
An elopement is unlike a wedding. Whereas the wedding is purely focused on aesthetics and performance, elopements are about the spiritual merge: the two of you, a place that means something, and a day built to be lived instead of performed. Done right, it is the most honest set of photographs a couple will ever have. Done by committee, it falls apart in ways you only see later, in the pictures.
Buy a package from a planner
and the day is beautifully arranged, but there is no real “photographer” involved. The pictures come back looking like they were taken on a smartphone. You planned a film and got a receipt.
Bring your own photographer
and you get a good eye with no say in the day. There is a disconnect between what the plan was and what the pictures turn out to be, because the person shooting it did not build it.
Work with me
and you get the best of both worlds. I am a photographer first who plans the entire thing, then brings it home. The person who designs the light is the person standing in it with a camera.
Everyone else plans a day around an activity.
I write a story and play it through one.
It starts with your story, never a location. Before I plan a single thing, I sit with you and listen: how you met, what you are like when no one is watching, the small private details no one else would think to ask for. I write that into a narrative, and then I design the day to play it out. The hike, the boat, the drive up the mountain, that is only the vessel I run your story through, here in Banff.
This is why the film and the album land the way they do. They are built to carry your story, beat by beat, so that years from now they still move you. Anyone can film two people doing something photogenic in a beautiful place. Turning who you actually are into a film and a set of stills that mean something is the harder thing, and it is the whole of what separates me from everyone else.
What it means to just be present.
Every extra person on an elopement is a seam. A planner to update, a second photographer angling for the same shot, a small crowd of vendors to be aware of. Each one pulls you a little out of the day, and the pictures inherit that split. The reason I hold the whole thing, the plan and the camera, is so that on the day there is no one to manage and no one to perform for.
Present means you are only ever looking at each other. You are not thinking about the schedule, because I am. You forget the camera is there, and that is the exact moment the real frames happen.
01
8 dispatches on fileThe Directory
Everything I have filed about eloping in Banff and the Canadian Rockies, organized by what you are trying to figure out. Start with the planning guide, then come back for the specific pieces, the permits, the lakes, the comparison with the other mountain towns.
02
Four days I photographed in the RockiesReal Elopements
Four Banff elopements, written the way I remember them: the light, what was decided in advance, what happened that nobody planned. Open any card to read the full story.
03
Two tiers · everything handled end to endThe Packages
One person plans, books, styles, photographs, films, and delivers your Banff elopement, permits included. Not photography hours, a curated Rockies day. Two tiers, and the Signature adds the cinematic film and the premium experiences, the helicopter, the private lake touring, the sunrise access, that turn a session into a day.
Two ways to work together. Both are the whole day, designed, planned, booked, styled, and shot by one person. The Blueprint is the essential day. The Signature adds the film, the experiences, and the printed album. Everything is listed. There is no hourly meter and no add-on column.
Tier I
The Blueprint
$7,500 CAD
4 to 5 hours · photography
- ✓The whole day designed around your story, not a shot list
- ✓Full planning and the hour-by-hour timeline
- ✓Officiant and every permit booked and handled
- ✓Styling direction for the two of you
- ✓Four to five hours of coverage
- ✓Every frame shot by me alone, no second shooter and no handoff
- ✓A curated, hand-edited gallery
Tier II · Recommended
The Signature
$9,100 CAD
8 to 12 hours · photography + film
Everything in the Blueprint, plus:
- ✓A full eight-hour day, dawn to dark if you want it
- ✓A cinematic film of the day, cut by hand
- ✓Florals, hair and makeup arranged with the people I trust
- ✓Transport between locations and a chef's dinner for two
- ✓The bundled experiences below, woven into the story
- ✓An heirloom album, printed
Signature experiences in Banff
·A helicopter flight into the Rockies (just outside the park)
·Private touring between Lake Louise and Moraine Lake
·Sunrise access at Moraine, ahead of the crowds
·A chef's dinner for two under the peaks
Signature locations in Banff
Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks · Lake Louise and the Victoria Glacier · Lake Minnewanka by canoe · The Sulphur Mountain summit by gondola
Frames from Banff
A few of mine, from this city
Cover
Click arrows to turn pages
Tap sides to turn · swipe to navigate
Start here
Find your elopement archetype first.
Before the date, the tier, or the locations, take two minutes and find the kind of day you are actually after. It is where every day I design begins, and it tells me exactly where to point you in Banff.
Take the Elopement Compass →04
What you will actually doThe Experiences
This is what you are really paying for. Not photography hours, but a handful of extraordinary Rockies moments I design, book, and run for you, each one a chapter of the elopement and each tied to a tier. Turn the album: the photograph on one page, what it is on the other.
The Experiences
Click arrows to turn pages
The ceremony · the Valley of the Ten Peaks
Sunrise at Moraine Lake
The most famous view in the Rockies, and the only way to make it yours is to be there before anyone else. I arrange the shuttle and the timing so you are on the shore at first light with the turquoise water and the Ten Peaks to yourselves. This anchors the essential day.
The Blueprint · June to October
Tap sides · swipe to turn pages
The day itself
How your elopement day goes
Once you have your archetype, here is how the day itself actually goes. Nothing here is your job to arrange. It is already arranged.
The slow morning
No rush, no room full of people. You get ready in your own time while I quietly catch the first frames: the note, the shoes, the light coming up.
We begin the story
We do not work a shot list. We live the day I designed around you, and I document it as it unfolds across Banff, chasing the light I have already mapped.
The vows
Your words, out loud, with no audience but the place and me. This is the quietest and the most important part of the day, and I shoot it from a distance so it stays yours.
Through the activity
The hike, the boat, the dinner, the drive. This is where the story plays out and the best pictures live, because you are doing something real together, not posing beside it.
The last hour of light
I plan the whole day backward from it. When it arrives we are exactly where we need to be, unhurried, with time to spare.
The record
It comes back not as files but as a finished thing: a curated gallery, and on the Signature, a cinematic film and a printed album. The day, kept.
The full guide · free
The Canadian Elopement Guide
Before Banff, the bigger picture. I wrote the complete guide to eloping in Canada: the legal steps, the regions and seasons worth building a day around, what it honestly costs, and how the whole thing comes together. It is the same thinking behind every day I design, in one place.
Read The Canadian Elopement Guide →
05
A sample plan, counted backward from your dateThe Timeline
The legal process in Alberta is simple, but the park is not: a marriage licence, a marriage commissioner, two witnesses, a Parks Canada permit, and the access logistics for Moraine and Louise. I handle all of it. This is the order it runs in.
Date, location, and photographer
Banff is the most in-demand elopement region in the country. For summer, a September date, or a Moraine Lake sunrise, book these three first. Peak dates and the best light windows go early.
Book the officiant and start the Parks permit
Alberta requires a licensed marriage commissioner and two witnesses. Ceremonies in the national park need a Parks Canada permit for the reservable sites; I handle the application and the location rules.
Obtain your Alberta marriage licence
Available from any Alberta registry agent. Approximately $40, valid for 90 days, with no waiting period. Two witnesses are required at the ceremony.
Lock access, transport, and the weather backup
Moraine Lake has no private-vehicle access, so I arrange the shuttle or private transport and the sunrise timing. I set a full-value backup in case of weather, closures, or congestion. Nothing is left to chance on the day.
Be unhurried, stay present
Your only job is to live it. Permits, shuttles, timing, and the light are already handled. I bring the Rockies home with you.
06
Introductions on requestThe Company I Keep
The officiants, experience operators, restaurants, and lodges I recommend to couples eloping in Banff. Every name here has been vetted. If you want a warm introduction to any of them, mention it when you write.
Ask and I will make warm introductions to the officiants, operators, and restaurants I trust in the Rockies.
Officiants
Experiences
Dinner for Two
Where to Stay
07
The ones couples ask firstQuestions
The questions I hear most often from couples planning a Banff elopement, answered plainly. If yours is not here, it will be in my first reply when you reach out.
08
Banff dispatchesFrom the Journal
Longer reads for couples who want to go deeper: location guides, the legal and permit walkthroughs, the comparison with the other mountain towns, and what each season actually delivers for elopement photography in the Rockies.
Notes
Do You Need a Permit to Elope in the Canadian Rockies?
Banff wants a form, not a permit. Jasper wants nothing at all in a public area. Canmore is more administered than either. Checked against what Parks Canada and Alberta actually publish, including where the twenty person cap really comes from.
15 min read →
Guide
Canmore Instead of Banff
Twenty minutes outside the gate: the same range with no shuttle and no reservation lottery, what the Town actually requires, and why it saves less money than people think.
13 min read →
Story
Design Your Own Banff Elopement Day
The whole day, hour by hour: the dark drive to Moraine, a sunrise ceremony on the Ten Peaks, a canoe on the turquoise, a gondola summit at golden hour, and candlelight under Rundle. Permits and shuttles handled.
8 min read →Guide
Best Places to Elope in Banff
Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks, Lake Louise, Lake Minnewanka, the Sulphur summit, and the quiet corners of the park most couples never find. Grouped the way I plan a day.
8 min read →
Guide
Banff vs Whistler vs Jasper vs Revelstoke
The honest comparison: the pros and cons of each mountain town for an elopement, the crowds, the access, the permit rules, and what packages actually cost across all four.
10 min read →
Guide
The Lake Louise Elopement Guide
How a Lake Louise ceremony really works: the sunrise timing, the crowds, the canoe, the permit and access rules, and what the photographs look like when you get there first.
6 min read →Guide
How to Elope in Banff
Alberta marriage licence, marriage commissioner, two witnesses, a Parks permit, a location, a photographer. The complete practical guide to eloping in Banff National Park, first step to certificate.
7 min read →Tell me about your day in Banff.
Share your date and I will come back within 48 hours with availability, an honest estimate, and the Rockies plan and vendors I would point you toward.
Est. 1999 · Based in Canada · Travelling worldwide
Whose ground this is
on the map, banff, albertaheld as Mînî hrpa
Mînî hrpa is the Îyârhe Nakoda name for this place, for the water falling off Cascade Mountain. Banff sits in Treaty 7, on the territories of the Siksika, Kainai and Piikani of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Goodstoney of the Îyârhe Nakoda, the Tsuut'ina, and the Métis Nation of Alberta. The Bow Valley also carries long Ktunaxa and Secwépemc connections that predate any of those lines on a map. I work here as a guest.