ONE PERSON, TWO JOBS: WHAT CHANGES WHEN YOUR CELEBRANT IS ALSO YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER
When couples ask me what's different about an elopement with Elope with Leon, I usually start with a simple answer: there's one of me. I'm your celebrant and I'm your photographer, and I'm there from the first message to the last photograph of the day.
It sounds like a small thing on paper. In practice it changes the whole feel of the day, so here's what it looks like from your side of the camera.
One Conversation Instead of Two
Think about how a wedding day usually comes together. One person writes the ceremony, another person takes the photographs, and a third makes sure the two of them know what's happening. Somewhere in the middle, details get lost.
When it's me, the story you tell me while we plan is the same story I write your ceremony from and the same story I'm thinking about behind the camera. I'm making notes from our first conversation. I know where you'd like to stand, which moments matter most to you and which ones you'd rather keep quiet. Nobody has to be briefed on the morning, because I was in the room for all of it.
What I Learn From You Before the Day
The planning conversations aren't a checklist. I ask about your love story, the location you have in mind, where you'd like to be positioned for the ceremony and the moments you'd like to be sure are captured. All of it goes into the ceremony script and into my plan behind the camera, so the photographs and the words belong to the same story.
A Day With Fewer Moving Parts
An elopement is meant to be calm. Part of that calm comes from how few people there are to coordinate. I come to you before the ceremony, I'm your companion through the morning, and I chauffeur you between your locations myself, so there are no meeting points to find and no one to wait for.
That also means one person to ask when something changes. If the cloud rolls in, I know your ceremony wording, the location and your plan B, so we can adjust together on the spot instead of passing messages along a chain.
Photographs From Inside the Ceremony
Here's the part couples tend to find surprising. Because I'm leading your ceremony, I'm standing right beside you rather than at the edge of it. I know when the moments are coming because I wrote the script with you. I know when you'll laugh, when the voice will catch and when to simply stand back and let you have it.
Before we begin I set up a small video camera on a tripod and clip a wireless microphone to my ceremony folder, which takes only a couple of minutes. While I do that, you can take a breath and look at where you are. During the ceremony I step out of frame to photograph you exchanging your words, then step back in for the commitments and rings. After the closing words I give you the big moment and pick up my camera for the first kiss. If you'd like every step in detail, my Deluxe elopement guide walks through the day from the first meet onwards.
Film and Photographs, Not One or the Other
Because the video camera records on its own while I'm stepping around you with my camera, you don't have to choose between film and stills. The footage is edited afterwards so that you're in frame for the important words, and the photographs pick up what a fixed camera can't: a glance, a hand reaching for yours, the breath before a promise. Together they give you the ceremony from two points of view, with the voice recorded from my ceremony folder so you can hear it all again.
What You Receive
Both elopement packages include a personalised ceremony with video and audio, photography, planning support and private chauffeuring. Your photographs arrive in 4 weeks and your video in 8 weeks, and your photos and film go into your Love Story Album, online and printed, alongside the registry that comes with every experience.
You'll also leave with a few extras: a gift bag with local chocolates, your ceremony script and certification in a presentation box, Polaroids from your day, a USB backup and a bottle of Champagne.
How It Fits Your Budget
Both roles sit under one booking, so there's one package to understand and one person to talk to about it. My elopement packages start from £3,250 for a half day and £4,950 for a full day, and I've broken down what's typically involved in what an elopement costs in North Wales.
Who It Suits
It suits couples who want a day that's intimate and unhurried, with one familiar face beside them rather than a crowd of professionals. If that sounds like you, my guide to eloping in North Wales covers the practical details, and you can compare the packages side by side.
Getting to Know Me First
I'd rather you felt comfortable before you booked anything, so have a look at how I work and what the day involves. I also explain why having one celebrant and one photographer carries through every chapter of your story. When you're ready, you can get in touch about your elopement and tell me where you're dreaming of getting married. One celebrant, one photographer and one calm day is all it takes.