If you asked me to describe the kind of elopement day I could photograph over and over again, I’d probably just pull up Rebeka and Grayson’s gallery. Their elopement day wasn’t filled with a huge itinerary, nor did we have to hike eight miles to an overlook in North Georgia. Instead, we spent the day at a quiet lake outside of Dahlonega in the middle of nowhere. It was so special for many reasons, but I think the most important being that they created a lakeside Dahlonega elopement their way.

Rebeka and Grayson’s Lakeside Elopement in Dahlonega, Georgia

Rebeka and Grayson have been together for years after originally meeting through work. The two of them warned me ahead of time that they hadn’t really had professional photos taken together before and were a little nervous about what they were supposed to do in front of the camera.

Which, fair. But honestly, it took about five seconds for that worry to disappear.

They have one of those relationships where all they really need to do is look at each other and everything else seems to go away for a minute. They were giddy, so comfortable together, and constantly laughing.

There honestly wasn’t much “posing” required because they were already doing the thing I always want couples to do anyway: paying attention to each other instead of me. 

The Story Behind Their Elopement Location

The lake they chose wasn’t somewhere they found on a list of the best places to elope in Georgia. Grayson found it himself.

He grew up around North Georgia and loves taking his truck out, exploring backroads, and seeing what he stumbles across. On one of those drives, he found this little lake tucked way back away from everything with a small dock sitting along the water.

Eventually, it became their place. But, there was one teeny problem… The dock was kinda-sorta falling apart.

So before their elopement, Grayson drove all the way back out and spent an entire day rebuilding it. Just this little public dock in the woods that had become important enough to them that he wanted to take care of it.

At one point while he was working, someone came out to fish and basically said, “Oh, you must be the guy who fixed the dock. Thank you.”

I don’t know. That tiny detail gets me every time. Because there are plenty of gorgeous places you can choose for an elopement—especially in the North Georgia Mountains!

But a place with a story like that, you can’t really recreate it.

Making Their Elopement Day Their Own

A few days before we met at the lake, Rebeka and Grayson had officially gotten married in a tiny ceremony with their immediate family at their church.

Then they gave themselves a separate day where there wasn’t an audience or a schedule to worry about. They could read their vows privately, exchange their rings again, wander around somewhere they loved, and actually sit in the fact that they had just gotten married.

I think sometimes couples assume an elopement has to replace a traditional wedding completely. But it doesn’t.

There aren’t really rules here.

Maybe you want your family there when you legally get married but still want a few hours afterward that belong entirely to the two of you. Or maybe the courthouse or church ceremony matters to you and so does hiking out to your favorite overlook. Maybe you want everyone there for dinner but your vows to stay private.

You get to piece these things together however they make the most sense for your relationship and for Rebeka and Grayson, this peaceful lakeside elopement in Dahlonege was theirs.

The Red String

One of my favorite details from their day was the red string you’ll see throughout their photos.

Grayson and his family have Japanese heritage, and he shared with me the idea of a red string connecting two people who are meant to find one another.

It was something the two of them really connected with, so they brought an actual red string with them to the lake. And I loved that.

It wasn’t there because it matched some wedding color palette or because they saw it on Pinterest. It meant something to them. Those are always the details I remember and the same details that their family will hold onto for years to come.

An Elopement Doesn’t Need Much to Feel Like Yours

We spent the rest of their time together wandering around the lake, taking photos along the dock, letting them be ridiculous together, and giving them room to actually enjoy where they were.

And I think that simplicity is a huge part of why I loved their day so much, because your elopement location doesn’t have to be famous, it doesn’t need to have a million photos attached to its Google Maps listing or show up on every “best places to elope in Georgia” blog.

Sometimes it’s the lake you found because you took a random road just to see where it went, the trail where you always walk your dog. your family’s property, a mountain you climbed on your third date, and in their case, a dock your husband spent an entire Saturday rebuilding.

I truly believe that some of the best elopement locations are somewhere that wouldn’t mean anything to the next couple, but means everything to you.

Planning Your Own North Georgia Elopement?

Rebeka and Grayson’s day was such a good reminder of why I love photographing elopements in the first place.

There was no pressure for their day to look a certain way, no elaborate production, no trying to make their experience impressive for anyone else. They simply picked somewhere they loved, brought along a few things that mattered to them, and spent the evening being completely themselves.

And selfishly, I’d photograph days like this forever.

So if you’re dreaming about getting married somewhere around Dahlonega or North Georgia and you’ve already got that random little place in your head that you’re wondering, would this be weird?

Tell me about it here!