Sam Starns - Adventure Elopement Photographer

Sam Starns - Adventure Elopement Photographer Elopement photographer/expert, author of “Elope Your Life” and TEDx speaker, empowering couples globally. www.samstarns.com

I will tell you right now with my entire chest that some of the coolest (and most chic 😏) people I know chose to elope.T...
08/06/2026

I will tell you right now with my entire chest that some of the coolest (and most chic 😏) people I know chose to elope.

They chose to run toward themselves and adventure. To plan a next-level start to the next chapter of their lives. To maybe start an anniversary trip tradition. Or to just do something different.

It’s kinda chic to elope. It’s also:
kinda freeing
kinda empowering
kinda exhilarating
kinda whimsical
kinda badass
Elopement inspiration
Elope
Eloping
Elopement wedding
Adventure wedding
Kinda chic to elope

When eloping in Norway after getting engaged on a boat, you board a 50+ year old sailboat and explore the Norwegian Sea ...
08/03/2026

When eloping in Norway after getting engaged on a boat, you board a 50+ year old sailboat and explore the Norwegian Sea for your elopement day.

I love when eloping couples get intentional and decide to bring things full circle.

There’s so much to share from this midnight sun, sailboat elopement in Norway, but these moments deserve their own post.

I’m thankful folks trust me enough to take a chance and climb the rigging (figuratively and literally) to convey the level of adventure it felt to sail a gently undulating glass ocean a half a world away from their home in Canada.

If this sounds like the down-for-anything type of elopement adventure you’ve been wanting, prepare to get even more inspired: the story of their Norway elopement is up on the blog (link’s in the bio).
Lofoten Islands elopement
Elope in Norway
Elope on a sailboat in Norway
Sailboat elopement
Elope at sea
Elope in the Lofoten Islands
Norway elopement inspiration

07/30/2026

When you spend nearly your whole life in Oregon (aside from that stint living in France — a story for another time), living in Southern Oregon, working as a park ranger and whale watching naturalist on the Oregon Coast, you know spots FAR beyond what’s shown on social media.

I love when couples trust me to show them parts of Oregon you don’t get to see. Glacier carved mountains, vast desert playas, alpine lakes, lava fields (yes lava), sand dunes in the desert, lava tube caves lit by a natural skylight, hills painted in vermillion and sienna hues, and a metric ton more.

Prime example: Madeleine and Sam let me take them miles into the mountains, where we didn’t see a soul for hours. They had set aside time to just sit and read (they’re voracious bookworms!). And TBH, I don’t think the backdrop gets much better than this for an SSR session.

If you’re searching for your OWN elopement location, one that hasn’t been done a million times like Yosemite, Grand Tetons, and Olympic NP, let a former park ranger show you around.

If you haven’t already, bookmark this for elopement location inspiration 🔖.
Oregon elopement inspiration
Elope in Oregon
Places to elope
Private elopement locations
Umpqua elopement
Elope in southern Oregon
Experience Roseburg Travel Southern Oregon

07/24/2026

Oregon elopements can be SO diverse, and it’s something I love most about this state.

If you let yourself get off the (figurative) beaten path and allow a lifelong Oregonian and former Oregon park ranger to show you around, you aren’t going to have the photos you’ve seen on Instagram or Pinterest.

You’re going to have a backdrop that feels like it’s all yours. You’ll be setting the trend.

If you want to beyond the viral locations and to places that AllTrails doesn’t know about, then LFG 🤘. I’m ready when you are.
Oregon elopement inspiration
Elope in Oregon
Where to elope in Oregon
Unique Oregon elopements
The best Oregon elopement spots
Elopement inspo

A crimson mermaid standing at the foot of Ariel’s castle. So damn breathtaking. That rich red isn’t seen by everyone tho...
07/20/2026

A crimson mermaid standing at the foot of Ariel’s castle. So damn breathtaking. That rich red isn’t seen by everyone though, including the groom (who is red/green colorblind).

Good thing his bride got him EnChroma glasses, because she knew this moment couldn’t go without them.

After a hell of a pivot by us due to Switzerland’s unpredictable May weather (I was up for hours calling and emailing folks on the French side of the country for Plan C—or was it D now?— putting my French skills and time living in Poitiers to good use), we ended up at a fairytale location that was perfect for this surprise reveal.

A sneak peek of the moment is at the end of this carousel. Fair warning: I got teary-eyed, so you might as well.

“You guys see this all the time?!”

Nami and Hari, love you guys.
Adventure elopement inspiration
Castle elopement
Indian elopement
Lehenga wedding dress
Ideas for eloping
Engagement photos
Colorblind wedding
Colorblind groom

07/02/2026

Our pilot for Caroline and Ismael’s Dolomites elopement said, “We’re all done, now let’s have some fun”, before he hovered and pointed the nose of the helicopter straight down the gullet of a mountain canyon.

When you prioritize yourselves on your wedding day instead of your 20+ guests and find the right photographer/elopement location matchmaker, epic elopements like this become possible.

I help over half my couples pick not just the specific ceremony location, but their entire elopement destination. 🗺️

Mountains, desert, hot, cold, time of year, lush beaches, rugged shores, unique formations. Give me a combo of your dreams and I’ll show you places that match exactly what you’re looking for in an elopement experience ✅.
helicopter elopement
epic elopement
epic wedding inspiration
nontraditional weddings
funny
pov

“I didn’t even know that was possible” — what I heard on a recent discovery call with an elopement couple.And that’s par...
06/28/2026

“I didn’t even know that was possible” — what I heard on a recent discovery call with an elopement couple.

And that’s partly what I’m here for. When people ask what I do for work, one of the things I say is that I’m a “professional enabler”.

I’ve spent my life saying “Yes, and”. I’ve embraced my willingness to “commit to the bit”. That mindset has landed me in situations I'd never have predicted...��⛰️ Finding myself on a dogsled on top of a glacier.
⛰️ At remote desert astronomy observatories camping out in an ultralight tent.
⛰️ Driving a motorcycle on a desert playa.
⛰️ Working as a whale watching naturalist on an Oregon Coast vessel.
⛰️ Debated other international representatives in the Danish parliament.�⛰️ Rode for a week on horseback across the Scottish Highlands from coast to coast.�⛰️ Chased the aurora above the arctic circle on two continents.�⛰️ Played oboe under the direction of world-renowned composers.�⛰️ Found myself on stage for Taskmaster in January.
⛰️ Volunteered behind the starting line of the Iditarod ceremonial start this past March (then running with reindeer through downtown Anchorage).
⛰️ Currently on track to hike an active volcano in Central America in early 2027 (with a beekeeper detour to visit an apiary of tropical stingless honey bees).

None of those things started as lifelong dreams. They happened because I kept saying yes to interesting opportunities.

That same curiosity is exactly what I bring into discovery calls. So when couples come to me and aren’t sure what to do during their elopement, I get to show them *exactly* what’s possible. And then we make it happen.��My elopement couples and their adventures often don’t start with a bucket list, but pretty soon after discovery calls I get texts and emails saying, “We had NO idea that was possible, and now I’m actually SO excited to start planning this adventure!”.

✅ Taking guests via helicopter to a glacier top ceremony
✅ Kayaking sea arches on the Oregon Coast
✅ Horseback riding in the redwoods
✅ Riding a motorcycle sidecar in the Oregon desert�✅ Helicoptering between peaks in the Dolomites of Italy
✅ Backpack overnight to a backcountry chalet in Glacier National Park�✅ Planning to elope during peak king tides on the Oregon Coast.
✅ Soaking in hot springs after your ceremony�✅ Whale watching in a RIB/zodiac boat.�✅ Having a dedicated bookworm reading hour cliffside, at the top of a mountain
✅ Overlanding to the top of a canyon pass in Utah
✅ Cold plunging and packrafting in an iceberg pool/lagoon
✅ Hot air ballooning above endless fields of spring flowers at sunrise

Enabling is something I LOVE about discovery calls. I get to know what lights you up: your interests, your passions, the weird little things that make you *you*. And then my brain immediately starts dreaming up an adventure that feels like it couldn't belong to anyone else.

I tend to live by the Mythbusters motto: If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.

So let’s do it.

The first day of their Norway elopement 🇳🇴 actually bled into Day 2, as we took in the midnight sun just a couple of wee...
06/21/2026

The first day of their Norway elopement 🇳🇴 actually bled into Day 2, as we took in the midnight sun just a couple of weeks before the summer solstice.

Since today marks the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, it’s the perfect time to share Amy & Sylvia’s first elopement adventure moments from a few weeks ago, 100 miles above the Arctic Circle.

There’s something about adventuring when no one else is. You and your partner feel like you’re the only two people in the world. Like the technicolor archipelago of breathtaking islands and the soft warm glow from the briefest of sunsets (before the sun rises again in an hour) are showing off *just* for you. When you have a midnight sun to light your way, it’s pretty easy to avoid crowds.

Elopements like this are worth every bit of planning, detail, and effort. From the ubiquitous crimson rorbuer-style cabin they stayed in, to the 50+ year old sailboat they boarded to cruise the Norwegian Sea (their sailboat elopement adventure is a whole other post, coming soon).

☀️🌙Happy Solstice to you adventurers, do-it-for-the-plot lovers, and cravers of unique earth experiences.
Norway Lofoten Islands elopement
Eloping in Norway
Lofoten Islands wedding
Two brides eloping in Norway on a sailboat
LGBTQ elopement in Norway
Elopement inspiration

“I know it’s probably too late to plan any meaningful elopement for this year” — I’ve been hearing this a lot from folks...
06/16/2026

“I know it’s probably too late to plan any meaningful elopement for this year” — I’ve been hearing this a lot from folks the past month or so.

If you’re unsure whether it’s too late to still plan an intentional, kickass, “you” elopement in 2026:

It’s not.

Some of the coolest and most unique elopements have been planned in one month. Mountaintop picnics, whale watching, redwood canopy walks. Depending on your priorities, so much is still possible for 2026. In the last month or so, June, September-November dates have been most popular 💍 🏔️. Just be aware: most locations that DO require a permit need that paperwork to be submitted at least a month out. THAT SAID, to quote Taylor Swift: I know places (“that don’t require permits”, is probably what she meant to finish with) 😏.

If you’re ready to jump in with both feet, I’ll be here to help you curate one hell of a wedding adventure with my decade+ of being an elopement specialist and a whole life of exploring the PNW and beyond.

Ready when you are.

👉🏼 Get inspired for your elopement by swinging by samstarns.com/blog and hearing the stories of folks who’ve dared to do things differently.

2026 Bride
Elopement inspiration
Last minute elopement
When to plan an elopement
Bride
Engaged

It’s been since 2018 that I’ve submitted to Junebug, and this is the first time one of my images has won an award.Out of...
06/12/2026

It’s been since 2018 that I’ve submitted to Junebug, and this is the first time one of my images has won an award.

Out of thousands of images submitted worldwide, this ice cave Alaska elopement image was selected for Junebug Weddings' Best of the Best Destination collection.

A few years ago I stopped paying much attention to contests. After enough years of submitting without much success, I stopped worrying about contests and put that bit of energy back into my actual clients instead. This year I only submitted because my friend SAM | Elopement Photographer & Expert encouraged me to throw a few images in.

So yes, it’s cool to finally have one make it through.

But looking back through years of submissions, I realized something:

An award-winning image might be great, but a non-award winning image could mean more to your client. And that’s what really matters.

Nevertheless, looking back at years of submissions, here’s what I noticed:

📸Unusual locations tend to stand out.
📸Dramatic or unique lighting helps. Not just good lighting.
📸Distinctive details can elevate an image.
📸Emotion often plays a role. And from what I’ve seen, tears seem to win more than laughter.
📸Sometimes an image simply has that hard-to-define “stop scroll” factor.
📸 Not every style of photography is equal in every contest, including vertical vs horizontal framing.

Some of those things are within your control.
Some aren’t.

A fresh set of eyes can help. This image wasn’t even one I was thinking would have a chance.

The biggest thing I’ve learned and am trying to keep close to heart is that awards aren’t always a measure of your growth as a photographer.

Sometimes they’re a measure of whether the right ingredients happened to come together on a particular day. A kickass backdrop. Really interesting lighting. A couple with thoughtful and unique details.

If you’ve ever submitted work, gotten nothing back, and wondered what was wrong, I hope this is your reminder that great work doesn’t suddenly become bad because it didn’t win a contest. Your creative point of view is never bad.

This image won.

But here are some others I submitted I’m also proud of. Because my point of view (like yours) is still good.

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