Jessica and Jeff wanted a simple, stress free elopement experience. One where their immediate family could join them. Keeping those aspects in mind, it led them to travel to Sharon, PA where Jessica's grandmother lives. The nearby easy location choice for their elopement day was Buhl Park. It made for a perfect, sweet backdrop while being accessible and family attendance friendly.

Jessica and Jeff met at Yellowstone National Park while working as rangers. It was Jessica’s first season with the National Park Service, but Jeff had many years of experience as a ranger. Together they worked at the East Entrance of Yellowstone. Their first interaction was when Jeff trained Jessica during her first day on the job. They recall that they started hanging out immediately, they shared “more out of necessity than anything—you need more than one person to hike safely in grizzly bear country!”. They shared the same days off and had similar interests, so it just made sense to spend time together. Even though Jeff later asked Jessica out officially, she technically initiated the first outing when she coerced him into going on a big hike in Grand Teton…mainly so she didn’t get eaten by the bears. Their relationship naturally took off from here, leading to their elopement in PA!

They began their day getting ready at Jessica’s grandmother's house, later making their way to the Buhl Park Historic Casino. Here Jessica put on her dress, which was handmade by her grandmother originally for Jessica’s mom on her wedding day. She altered it a bit and so she wanted to share a first look with her mom and grandma, as they weren't sure what it would look like. It was such a beautiful surprise for them!

She then met Jeff out on the covered porch for a first look and some laughs. The small stresses of the morning were over and now the two of them could enjoy some time together before heading to the ceremony site. We walked around Buhl Park, stopping at a few locations and enjoying the scenery while taking photographs of the two of them. They chose to have a morning centric timeline and it was fun getting to shoot during a time of day that we don’t often get to.

Once we were done with their couple portraits we made our way over to the gazebo for their ceremony. Their family brought and decorated the chairs with beautiful floral accents. The ceremony was short and sweet followed by family portraits.

Afterwards, Jessica changed into a deep green jumpsuit before we all headed over to Tara for their afternoon reception celebration. We utilized the beautiful grounds for a few more photos, photographed the dining space and said our goodbyes. Leaving Jessica and Jeff to enjoy a relaxed yet elegant family meal together.

Jessica and Jeff’s sweet and simple autumn elopement was just what they envisioned. Making it the perfect way to celebrate this commitment to each other. We had such a great time spending the morning with them, chatting about life and park ranger stuff (still think that’s one of the coolest jobs out there!) and can’t wait to see what adventures these two have in the years to come!

Sweet Autumn Elopement at Buhl Park | Jessica+Jeff