Forest Elopement
Colby + Carly – October 1, 2026
There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about getting up on a cool October morning, putting on your wedding clothes, heading into the woods with your favorite person, and getting married.
No giant guest list.
No elaborate timeline.
No worrying about centerpieces or seating charts or whether your third cousin is offended because someone else got a better table.
Just…
Hey. Want to go get married and then spend the day exploring the Smokies?
YES. ❤️
Colby and Carly chose a sweet and simple forest elopement on a beautiful October morning before heading off to Cades Cove to continue their adventure together. Their actual wedding was short, but there was something really lovely about that. They didn’t need to fill an entire day with wedding activities to make getting married feel important.
They came to do one very specific thing.
Become husband and wife.
And judging by the enormous smiles on both of their faces, they were pretty darn excited about it.
Fall FINALLY Arrived in East Tennessee
First, can we please take a moment to appreciate the weather?
Because East Tennessee finally remembered what October is supposed to feel like.
😂🍂
After a September that spent a significant amount of time pretending to still be summer, Colby and Carly got one of those wonderful cool mornings where being outside actually feels GOOD.
The air was crisp, the forest was quiet, and the mid-morning light filtering through the trees in the highland area was gorgeous.
There is a particular kind of light you get in the woods on a clear morning when the sun is high enough to start slipping between the trees but still soft enough to create little glowing pockets throughout the forest.
Colby and Carly happened to arrive at just the right time for it.
Sometimes Mother Nature cooperates.
We appreciate those days.
😂
Keeping Their Forest Elopement Casual
Carly kept her wedding look perfectly simple in a short white dress paired with brown boots.
And I loved it.
There is absolutely a time and place for a dramatic wedding gown with a twelve-foot train.
There is also a time and place for putting on a cute white dress and boots because you’re about to get married in the woods and then spend the rest of your day adventuring around the Smoky Mountains.
This was definitely option two.
Colby coordinated with her in jeans, a patterned white dress shirt, and brown boots of his own.
They looked adorable together.
More importantly, they looked comfortable.
Nothing about their wedding clothes felt like a costume they had put on because they thought a bride and groom were supposed to look a certain way. They looked like Colby and Carly.
Just slightly fancier.
And approximately fifteen minutes away from being married.
❤️
A Wedding Stripped Down to the Important Part
Colby and Carly chose our Make It Legal option for their wedding, which meant their ceremony was intentionally tiny and simple.
And when I say simple, I mean SIMPLE.
The entire idea is to strip a wedding down to the part that actually makes it a wedding.
Two people.
An officiant.
The legal bits.
And those two very important little words:
“I do.”
That’s it.
For couples who aren’t interested in putting on a big production, there’s something really freeing about that.
You don’t have to plan a processional.
You don’t have to decide who sits where.
You don’t have to coordinate an entire wedding party or choose a first-dance song or spend six months debating napkin colors.
You can simply show up dressed, stand together in a pretty place, and marry your person.
Colby and Carly seemed perfectly happy with that arrangement.
Getting Married Among the Trees
The two of them stood together in the highland area surrounded by the East Tennessee forest.
There wasn’t a crowd of people watching.
There weren’t dozens of phones held in the air.
There wasn’t a long list of things waiting to happen after the ceremony.
It was quiet.
It was simple.
And it was theirs.
Colby and Carly were young, sweet, and SO genuinely happy to be getting married.
You know those couples where you don’t really have to tell them to look excited because their faces are already doing all the work?
That was these two.
🥹❤️
The smiles were not going anywhere.
And I loved that their forest elopement didn’t ask them to be anything other than happy.
They didn’t need to perform the moment for a room full of people.
They could stand there together, make everything official, kiss each other, and start married life.
Done.
Husband and wife.
A Few Newlywed Photos in the Woods
Of course, we weren’t going to send them away without photographic evidence.
😂
After the ceremony, we used the rest of their time for a few newlywed portraits around the highland area.
The morning light was still filtering beautifully through the trees, so we didn’t need to go far or overcomplicate anything.
That fit the rest of their wedding perfectly.
Colby and Carly could simply stand together, snuggle, laugh, and enjoy those first few minutes of being married.
There was no need for an elaborate photography itinerary.
No need to rush from one location to another.
Just the two of them surrounded by the woods with that gorgeous October light peeking through.
Sometimes that’s enough.
Actually, sometimes that’s exactly what you want.
A Forest Elopement Can Be the Beginning of the Adventure
One of my favorite things about Colby and Carly’s plans was that getting married wasn’t the end of their day.
It was the beginning.
Once their ceremony and photos were finished, they were heading toward Cades Cove.
🏔️🚗
And that feels like such a fun way to plan an elopement in East Tennessee.
You can get married in the morning and still have the entire rest of the day ahead of you.
Go explore the Smokies.
Drive through Cades Cove.
Find somewhere delicious to eat.
Take a million phone pictures.
See some wildlife from a very respectful distance.
Stop somewhere pretty just because you can.
Your wedding doesn’t have to consume every minute of the day for the day to feel special.
Sometimes the ceremony can simply be the first adventure.
Off to Cades Cove
Cades Cove is one of those places that feels especially appropriate after a quiet wedding in the woods.
You go from an intimate little forest setting into this huge Smoky Mountain landscape filled with open fields, historic buildings, winding roads, and mountain views.
For Colby and Carly, it meant they didn’t have to choose between having a simple wedding and having a fun day in the mountains.
They could do both.
Get married first.
Adventure second.
Honestly, that’s an excellent itinerary.
😂
And because their ceremony was in the morning, they weren’t spending the whole day watching the clock and waiting for their wedding to begin.
By the time many couples would still be getting hair and makeup done, Colby and Carly were already married and headed toward the mountains.
Simple Doesn’t Mean Less Meaningful
I think sometimes people feel like a wedding has to have a certain number of components before it “counts” as a real wedding day.
It doesn’t.
Colby and Carly didn’t need an elaborate setup to make this moment matter.
They didn’t need a huge audience to prove they were loved.
They didn’t need hours of traditions to make their marriage feel official.
They needed each other.
That’s really the heart of an elopement.
Everything else is optional.
If you want the elaborate dress, bring it.
If you want flowers, carry them.
If you want a mountain photography adventure afterward, absolutely do that.
But if what sounds perfect to you is standing in the forest on a cool October morning, saying “I do,” taking a handful of beautiful photos, and then disappearing into the Smokies with your brand-new spouse?
That counts, too.
❤️
An October Morning in the Woods
There was something especially sweet about how uncomplicated Colby and Carly’s wedding felt.
The forest was beautiful.
The weather was cool.
The morning light was showing off.
Carly looked adorable in her short white dress and boots.
Colby looked perfectly at home beside her in jeans and his patterned shirt.
And the two of them could not stop smiling.
Sometimes when you remove all the extra pieces from a wedding, you get to see the most important part even more clearly.
These two were really, really happy to marry each other.
That’s the story.
Everything else is scenery.
Sometimes This Really Is All You Need
A cool October morning.
A quiet spot in the East Tennessee forest.
Two people ridiculously excited to become husband and wife.
A few beautiful newlywed photos beneath the trees.
And the entire rest of the day waiting for them in the Smoky Mountains.
Sometimes that’s really all you need.
Colby and Carly’s forest elopement wasn’t trying to be an all-day wedding squeezed into fifteen minutes.
It wasn’t trying to check every traditional wedding box.
It was simply the beginning of their marriage.
Short.
Sweet.
Happy.
And completely enough.
Congratulations, Colby and Carly!! 🤍🍂
We hope you had the BEST time exploring Cades Cove afterward and that the rest of your day was every bit as fun as those giant newlywed smiles suggested it was going to be.
Here’s to many more adventures together—and to always being this ridiculously happy to be standing beside each other. ❤️🌿🏔️
From the Couple:
We met when we were 13 years old. Colby was best friends with Carlys cousin. We were good friends all our teenage years! We hung out together a lot with our friend group before dating. Our first date was very simple! We took a ride through the mountains and got ice cream afterwards.
Colby proposed to Carly on 2/12/2023. We were vacationing in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We rode the Great Smoky Mountain Ferris Wheel and Colby proposed at the top. It was cold and rainy but ended up being the perfect day!
We love coming to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. It was the first vacation we ever took together. We loved the idea of getting married in our favorite place where we have made so many memories!
We are excited about FINALLY making it official. We have known each other for so long, it’s very exciting to take the next step in our relationship!
We love fall and always wanted a fall wedding. Our birthdays are in November and December so we liked the idea of our wedding date being close to that time.
We love to go camping and go to the lake. We also enjoy spending time with our chocolate lab, Bella. She is our world!! We bought a house and have spent a lot of time remodeling it with the help of family and friends. We continue to fix it up and make it our dream home.
Forest Elopement Vendors
Wedding Rings: Kay Jewelers
Officiant: Ian Parrott
Photography: Star Noir Studio
Venue: Chapel in the Hollow