To have and to hold — bragging rights.
A white dress and chapel or a ring and a bent knee just aren’t enough nowadays — so couples are going to extremes, like braving hurricanes and dodging airplanes, to make sure their wedding and engagement photos stand out.
Brooke Westbrook, 36, was overcome with emotion when she realized that she was in love with her girlfriend Julia, 30, as they flew over the Grand Canyon during a helicopter tour.
When the couple got engaged last summer, they knew that they wanted to say their vows with another breathtaking view to honor their relationship.
After a year and a half together, the couple from Georgia tied the knot in the middle of Knick Glacier outside Palmer, Alaska, with no one but their officiant, helicopter pilot, photographer and videographer.
“It was so magical,” Brooke told The Post.
And their photos from Relic Photographic, owned by Hanna Thimsen and her sister Heidi Burtch, show it; Their wedding album is filled with breathtaking photos of the women climbing out of a helicopter onto snowy mountain caps, standing in their wedding dresses on massive frozen cliffs and kissing in front of clear blue rivers cutting through walls of ice.
Some dresses might have been harmed in the making of those photos — but the newlyweds, who “love adventure” didn’t mind.
“We were in a euphoric state,” Brooke, a hairstylist, remembered. “I think for us it was like we wanted to go big or go home. We wanted it to be very unique.”
From perfectly posed kissing photos in a chapel to scaling a mountain in a white dress, wedding photography trends have changed drastically in recent years with photos becoming much more individualized — and intense.
“Couples don’t have to just pose and hold hands. They want to stand out and are more willing to do fun things,” wedding photographer Kelli Carrico told The Post.
Carrico would know. Earlier this summer she went viral with 6.3 million views on TikTok when she shared a shocking video of an airplane taking off over a bride and groom on their wedding day.
Amanda and Kevin were getting married on a small airstrip in Fayetteville, West Virginia, when Carrico was alerted that a plane was going to take off from the runway. She quickly grabbed the newlyweds, got them excited about the impromptu shot and snapped away as the aircraft ascended into the air.
The picture came together last minute, but Carrico has noticed a trend of more extreme and characteristic wedding photography in recent years. She’s taken engagement and wedding photos on unmarked hiking trails, gorge overlooks and in the middle of an oncoming hurricane.
Photographers are hired by 85% of engaged couples and are among the most-hired vendors for weddings all around the world, according to The Knot, with most couples shelling out thousands of dollars on engagement and wedding photo packages.
Since couples are spending big portions of their wedding budget on getting the perfect shot, brides and grooms have become more specific with demands.
And Carrico, a 15-year industry vet, claims the pervasiveness of social media has pushed couples to get more creative.
“Social media has given people ideas and permission,” she explained. “These couples are finding their niche and are not afraid to ask for it.”
Leigh, 29, and Joe Ferraro, 33, were one of those couples. The couple moved together from the New York area to California in 2015 and knew that they wanted to honor the life they built on the West Coast in their engagement photos.
The stunning photos show a bird’s eye view of the pair cuddling in a row boat floating through the waves of the Pacific Ocean and laying on a rock on the shoreline as the water crashes around them.
“We personally felt like we have seen so much of the same photoshoot redone by couples over the years, which really motivated us to try something different that felt more like us,” Leigh told The Post.
“Ultimately, our engagement shoot was inspired by the California dream we shared all those years ago and the photos will forever represent this chapter of our love story.”
Photographer Shrey Bhagat, founder and creative director of Raabta, said he noticed a major shift in wedding requests coming out of the pandemic with “couples seeking unique and adventurous wedding or pre-wedding shoots.”
The COVID-19 pandemic upended the $74 billion wedding industry, with many couples having to cancel, postpone or downsize their large, elaborate nuptials. As some couples have continued to opt for small, intimate alternative ceremonies, they’ve turned their attention to each other — and their photos.
The Westbooks fall into that category. “[The pandemic] was such a scary time and put things into perspective of what truly matters so it inspired us because we wanted to show that intimacy together,” Brooke said of their private Alaskan ceremony.
Bhagat predicts that “with the rise of social media and the desire for couples to stand out and create memorable experiences, extreme wedding shoot requests” will likely continue with “destination weddings in remote or exotic locations, unconventional venues and extreme outdoor settings.”
The sisters running Relic Photography are sure of it; They’ve seen the increase in demand rise during their 13 years in business and are already booked for several upcoming adventure weddings with more glaciers and mountain shoots to come.
“These adventure weddings are extremely personal, very low stress, completely exhilarating, and allow couples to truly enjoy one another and their day,” Thimsen told The Post.
“Standing on a mountain top, hand in hand with your lover, kissing, laughing, playing on what feels like the literal top of the world, promising your vow on miles of ancient ice…that is where it’s at. It just doesn’t get more profound, poetic, beautiful and intimate than that.”
