Victoria & Taylor’s Lovely Coastal Rhode Island Elopement
SWELL & STONE / ADVENTURE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER / RHODE ISLAND & BEYOND
Victoria and Taylor’s early winter rocky coastline elopement at Beavertail in Jamestown, Rhode Island felt more like summer with mid-60’s temps and a nice sunny day. It was super important to Victoria that she and Taylor not see each other before the ceremony- something that rarely happens anymore just because of logistics. So I made sure to pick a nice, secluded spot on the coastline where I could position Taylor for watching her walk down the hiking trail (the outdoor adventure elopement equivalent to an aisle) to their ceremony site. Things went off mostly without a hitch except for when I left Victoria and told her to give me a minute to get set up, she ended up giving me 5 minutes and I found out later that her dress had gotten stuck on a bush and she had to untangle herself before walking down! Such are the perils of eloping in the great outdoors.
Close friends were in attendance for their intimate ceremony, and their adorable pup, Zinnia. They celebrated the ceremony on the cliffs of Beavertail State Park and had a mini reception with baked goods and sandwiches right there as well. We explored the many views of Beavertail before heading over to the Chanler in Newport, RI, where they were staying that night. The grounds of the Chanler made for incredible photos before we headed out for Fort Adams to catch the sunset. Everything happened just in time, too. As I was driving home from their elopement a huge storm rolled through, which hurricane-force winds, and massive amounts of rainfall. Talk about threading the needle in terms of weather.
There were so many sweet moments during their day- from the vows to all the laughter. One of my favorite moments was when we were driving together to Fort Adams to catch the sunset, Victoria mentioned that this was literally the best day of her life and the perfect way for the two of them to celebrate it together. Everything had just gone so wonderfully, from the views to the vows, it was all she imagined and more! That’s always what we aim to do, and it is so wonderful to hear that, in the middle of their day, we absolutely nailed it.
When we were in the booking process Victoria told me she had planned and even mostly paid for a traditional wedding when they realized it wasn’t what they wanted. When she reached out I had a note on my website that I was already fully booked for the season, but something about the two of them (she made me cry on our initial phone call when she talked about working with special needs kids) made me realize that they were exactly the people I wanted to serve in this work that I do. And I’m so happy we were able to make their dreams come true.
As night fell and we headed back to the hotel where they had dinner planned that night, they had a few drinks with friends, we watched the storm roll in and cover up the stars and they relaxed content knowing that they had chosen the best possible way to get married catered perfectly for the two of them.
From the couple…
“Kat is an incredibly talented artist, wonderfully kind person, and all around magical human! When I first contacted her, I was in the throes of anxiety—I had planned and paid for a traditional wedding when I realized that wasn’t what I wanted. My now husband and I decided to elope, and after pouring over Google searches, landed on Swell and Stone. From the moment I saw her photographs, I knew we had to book her!! I contacted her and she got back to me so quickly, and was SO flexible—I gave her basically a 2 month timeline and she made it work for us!!
The day of my wedding, I was running late and she made me feel so at ease and not stressed at all! The whole day was so fun, and she found the MOST beautiful spots to take pictures that I see in wedding magazines and on the internet—I still can’t believe these are pictures of my wedding! She had our sneak peek ready in less than a week, and gave us the rest of our pictures (HUNDREDS!!) well before the agreed upon date.
Kat was incredibly flexible, professional, and open minded—she wanted to do whatever we wanted because it was our wedding, but also made sure to note things that would be preferable from a photography stand point. She is a lovely, warm, kind, and relaxed person, and I genuinely cannot recommend her enough to anyone looking for wedding pictures that will make you think you are dreaming. She also included drone shots (so cool!!) and GIFs which are some of my favorites!”
