Outdoor Elopement in the Smoky Mountains

Patrice and Chuck – September 18, 2026

Some love stories are nice, neat little lines. Meet. Fall in love. Get married. Live happily ever after.

Patrice and Chuck’s story took the scenic route.

These two had been married before. Life eventually took them in different directions, and for a while, their story together seemed to have ended. Except it hadn’t. Somewhere along the way, Patrice and Chuck found their way back to each other. And this time, they’re not trying to recreate what they had before.

They’re starting something new. New wedding rings. New promises. Plans for a new home. And a new chapter of a love story that already has plenty of history behind it.

They chose the East Tennessee forest for their outdoor elopement, surrounded themselves with black and red roses, and got married all over again.

Honestly, there’s something pretty beautiful about that. ❤️

A Dramatic Outdoor Elopement in the Woods

For their ceremony, Patrice and Chuck went bold. They dressed the chapel in black and red fabric paired with our red rose florals, creating a dramatic pop of color against the surrounding forest. And it looked SO good.

Outdoor weddings don’t automatically have to mean soft neutrals, greenery, and pale flowers. Nature can handle a little drama. The deep black fabric and rich red roses stood out beautifully against all of the green surrounding the chapel, giving Patrice and Chuck’s ceremony a slightly dark, romantic feeling without overwhelming the woodland setting.

More importantly, it felt right for them. And Patrice’s wedding look fit the mood perfectly.

Patrice’s Black Lace Wedding Dress

Patrice wore a black lace and beaded dress with a nude underlay. It was romantic, a little unconventional, and absolutely gorgeous on her. The lace and beading gave the dress plenty of texture, while the nude underlay allowed all of those darker details to stand out.

Chuck complemented her in tan pants and a black suit jacket, keeping his look polished but relaxed enough for an outdoor elopement in the woods. Before they headed to the ceremony, though, we had one very important thing to do.

A first look.

And Chuck did NOT disappoint.

Chuck’s First-Look Reaction

We positioned Chuck in front of the archway and brought Patrice up behind him. Then he turned around. His entire face changed. 🥹

You know those reactions where you can immediately tell someone isn’t thinking about the photographer, where they’re standing, or whether they’re supposed to react a certain way? This was one of those. Chuck just lit up when he saw her. And considering everything these two have already been through together, that moment felt especially sweet.

This wasn’t a groom seeing his bride for the first time in their relationship. This was a man looking at someone he had already loved, married, lost, and found again. That’s a lot of history wrapped up in one first look. And there he was, absolutely beaming at her.

Yeah.

That’ll do. ❤️

Getting Married…Again

After their first look, it was time for Patrice and Chuck to head to the chapel and do something they’d technically done before. Get married. Again.

But this wasn’t simply a repeat of their first wedding. They aren’t the same people they were then. They’ve lived more life. Their relationship has changed. They’ve spent time apart. And they’ve made the decision to choose each other again with the benefit of knowing exactly what their shared history contains.

There’s something incredibly hopeful about that. Second-chapter love isn’t about pretending the first chapters never happened. It’s about knowing what happened and deciding there’s still more story to write.

Patrice and Chuck exchanged new wedding rings during their ceremony, which felt like the perfect symbol for where they are now. Same two people. Same history. New promises. New rings. New beginning.

Building More Than a Marriage

And their fresh start isn’t ending with their wedding day. Patrice and Chuck are also working on plans to build a new home together.

I mean… Could there be a more appropriate next step? 🏡❤️

They’ve found their way back to each other, exchanged new rings, and now they’re literally planning to build the place where the next part of their life will happen. There’s something beautifully tangible about that. A wedding ceremony is filled with promises about the future. A home is where you actually live those promises. It’s where the boring Tuesdays happen. Where you make dinner. Where you argue about where something should go. Where you celebrate good news. Where you come home after bad days. Where all of those tiny, ordinary moments slowly become a life. For Patrice and Chuck, this outdoor elopement wasn’t just about getting married again. It marked the beginning of something they are intentionally rebuilding together.

Newlywed Photos in the Forest

Once everything was official, we started Patrice and Chuck’s newlywed portraits around the chapel. After the emotion and significance of the ceremony, this was their chance to relax a little. No more vows to remember. No more rings to exchange. Just… Hey! We’re married again! 😂❤️

We wandered around the chapel area before heading toward the mossy tree, taking advantage of all that lush East Tennessee greenery. One of my favorite things about forest elopements is how easy it is to get a variety of photos without losing that intimate feeling. You can have the structure and romance of a chapel in one set of images, then wander into the trees and suddenly everything feels wild and organic.

But Patrice and Chuck had another very important photo request.

Obviously, We Needed the Tractor

Chuck loves tractors. Therefore: Tractor photos. 🚜

I support incorporating the things you actually love into wedding photos, even when those things aren’t traditionally considered particularly “wedding-ish.” Actually, especially when they aren’t traditionally wedding-ish. If the groom loves tractors, take the man to the tractor. So we did.

Patrice and Chuck got to cuddle up for some photos with it, giving their wedding gallery another little detail that actually says something about them. But apparently, we weren’t the only ones interested in what was happening. The chickens arrived. 🐔

I’m assuming they heard there was an elopement happening near their territory and decided someone needed to conduct an official inspection. Were the outfits acceptable? Was the tractor being used appropriately? Had anyone brought snacks? Important poultry business.

So yes, Patrice and Chuck’s wedding gallery received a little supervision from the feathered welcoming committee.

Very exclusive service.

Creekside Wedding Photos

After successfully passing the chicken inspection, we headed toward the creek. The creek gave Patrice and Chuck another completely different backdrop for their outdoor elopement photos, moving from the chapel and forest into something a little more tucked away.

By this point, East Tennessee was also making sure we remembered that the calendar saying fall was approaching did NOT mean summer temperatures had received the message. It was HOT. The kind of hot where everyone involved starts pretending they’re not sweating. 😂🥵

But Patrice and Chuck kept going. They snuggled. They smiled. They laughed. And somehow they continued looking cute while the Tennessee humidity did what Tennessee humidity does best.

Finishing Their Elopement on the Road

We finished Patrice and Chuck’s photos out on the road. I love ending an elopement session somewhere open after spending so much of the day surrounded by trees. There’s something about a winding road that also felt particularly fitting for these two. Their relationship hasn’t exactly traveled the most direct route. There were turns. There was distance. There was a point when they weren’t traveling together at all. And somehow, the road brought them back to the same place. Okay, that’s slightly cheesy. But COME ON. They literally found their way back to each other and then ended their wedding photos walking down a road together.

Sometimes the metaphor just hands itself to you. 😂

A New Chapter of an Old Love Story

By the end of their outdoor elopement, Patrice and Chuck had done more than simply repeat something they’d already done once before. They had marked a new beginning. They exchanged new rings instead of trying to recreate the past. They’re planning a new home together. And they celebrated this chapter in a way that felt like them: surrounded by the woods, with bold black and red details, a tractor, some nosy chickens, a creek, a winding road, plenty of laughter, and one extremely happy groom seeing his bride.

Their story may have taken a detour. Maybe several. But here they are. Together again. Married again. And building something new from everything that came before. Here’s to second chances. Here’s to new rings. Here’s to the new home. Here’s to old love finding a new beginning. And here’s to Patrice and Chuck. ❤️

Congratulations, you two!!

May this next chapter include a beautiful house, plenty of happiness, at least one tractor, and hopefully fewer chicken inspections. 😂🐔

From the Bride: 

In 2004 Chuck’s sister was my nurse, I had just come out of a long relationship and was looking for a friend, someone to just spend time with and have fun, Chuck had just come through a bad divorce, his first wife had left him for someone else and he was sad and lonesome and his sister thought we could just go out and have a good time. Our first date was June 3, 2004, we took his boys bowling and went to Steak and Shake afterwards and a year later on July 2, 2005 we got married. We stayed married until May 2, 2024 when we were divorced after several years of trauma and struggle in our family. Chuck succumbed to alcohol abuse and we separated, and I took our two younger children and left in 2023 after a couple of things that were the final straw for me. Our divorce was actually a blessing from God in disguise. Chuck went to Rehab willingly and has been sober since January of 2024. We have worked so hard to rebuild our relationship and we are both different people today and our relationship is even better than the first 20 years. We are embarking on this journey to the rest of our lives together.

Chuck proposed the first time, but I proposed this time. I told him I wanted to get married again, that I would chose him again, over and over again. We chose East Tennessee for our outdoor elopement because it’s one of our favorite places on earth. We are most looking forward to looking into each other’s eyes and renewing that commitment to grow old together, to spend the rest of our lives together, to work together no matter what. For fun, we like to eat, cook, camp, go to the races. We love the mountains, we love the outdoors, we watch dancing with the stars and braves baseball. We have four children and one grandchild and two grand dogs.

Outdoor Elopement Vendors

Venue: Chapel in the Hollow
Photography: Star Noir Studio
Officiant: Ian Parrott
Chapel Florals: Chapel in the Hollow