Leave No Trace | A Beginning Guide to an Ethical Outdoor Elopement
“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time.” – Aliyyah Eniath
What is Leave No Trace & Why It Matters for your outdoor elopement
Leave no trace on your elopement. When eloping, you leave buildings and sidewalks behind entering the world of dirt and trials. This means that regular commodities that developed areas have like waste bins, potable water and toilets are not as accessible (depending on where you elope). Since you’re entering nature, it’s important that you respect it, and that’s where Leave No Traces (LNT’s) 7 principles of ethical outdoor recreation come into play. Not everyone who goes into the outdoors or eloping knows about these principles, and that’s OK! We (me included) are always improving ourselves and trying to be better - that’s why it’s important for me, as an elopement photographer and outdoor enthusiast, to raise awareness for future couples and nature lovers.
The LNT principles aim to mitigate degradation of trails/outdoor spaces to keep them beautiful for all who come after us. The principles are widely applicable and can be integrated into any outdoor space you elope or recreate in, whether it’s on a developed trail/venue or deep into backcountry.
One of my top priorities is to leave nature as beautiful and untouched as possible. That’s why I took a Leave No Trace Awareness for photographer’s class. A course that was created by Adventure Instead in partnership with the Leave No Trace Office. I want to provide the best Leave No Trace advice that I could to eloping couples so they, and the couples that come after them, can respect nature and enjoy the beauty it has to offer.
As a principle of ethics, LNT is not a law you have to abide by. Rather, it’s a guide that you can follow for responsible recreation and eloping.
Principle 1: Plan and prepare
“Know before you go.” Principle 1 encompasses the understanding of where you are traveling/eloping to. Preparation for backcountry and frontcounty travel may vary slightly, there are some things that are the same.
For frontcountry and backcountry
Check to see if there’s potable (safe to drink) water available. In the frontcountry, you’re more likely to have potable water available, whether that’s at a campground or in a venue, it’s generally not too hard to find. If you’re residing in a developed campground or planning to for your elopement, the website you book your campsite on has good indicators of whether you have water available for drinking.
In the backcountry, while some trails do have potable water, it’s more likely they won’t. You want to know how long your hikes are so you can pack the right amount of water. A general rule is .5 liters for every 1 hour of hiking - and that can increase or decrease depending on how strenuous the hike is.
Some other things you should prepare for (for front and backcountry) is the temperature, climate, elevation, your activities so you can properly plan for food, and check so see if you’ll have service so that you can download maps if you need to. It’s very easy to see if you’ll have service, you can google “carriers coverage map” and an interactive map should pop up as a result.
If you have guest coming to your elopement, give them some preparation as well. Warn them on the temperature, cell service, climate, so they can be prepared and know what to expect as well. Also share LNT principles with them, so they have knowledge on how to recreate responsibly.
While it can be daunting preparing and researching, it’ll make the elopement execution much less stressful. You’ll be adequately prepared with clothes, food, water, etc. which will make your elopement much more fun for all parties!
Principle 2: Travel and camp on durable surfaces
Quick little trivia question: “when coming upon a muddy part of a trail, do you walk through the mud or around it?”
The answer: walk through it. Why? Because you don’t want to create a new trail on the already established trail. While one person walking around the mud, going off trail may not create an immediate impact, on a popular trail, 20+ people taking the same detour will create a noticeable impact with a new trail, leaving a trace.
When hiking, stay on designated trails and avoid creating your own, even for that “it” photo. When taking photos, stay on durable surfaces, this can be snow, rocks, dirt trails. Don’t walk on live soil (cryptobiotic soil), live vegetation, flowers, prairies, etc.
If you’re backpacking on your elopement, camp only on designated campsites or, camp on durable surfaces, aka. No vegetation.
Principle 3: Dispose of waste properly
Bring it in, pack it out! The essence of principle 3.
Dispose of waste properly, garbage waste and poop waste for both dogs and humans. If you’re bringing your dog on your elopement, take enough doggy waste bags to pack out their poop. Dog waste carries processed products that are unnatural in nature and take a while to breakdown. On average, it can take up to 9 weeks for dog waste to decompose in the desert!
If you’re backpacking on your wedding day or going for a long hike where there are no bathrooms, bring a small little shovel, so you are prepared to poop in nature or bring a wag bag. If you must poop in nature, dig a hole about 6-8 inches deep and 4-6 inches in diameter, and for your toilet paper, it should either be buried in the hole or pack out. WAG bags are sanitary bags that you can poop and pee in and pack it out. While it may sound nerve wrecking, I promise pooping in nature is not that bad!
Don’t litter. If you bring in a snack that has a wrapper, pack out that wrapper. Don’t bring anything you don’t want to pick up latter. This means that instead of having confetti on your elopement that litters and is very hard to clean up, throw leaf confetti, or snow. Instead of popping a champagne, pop sparking water for the same effect (and be sure to collect the cork!). Another thing someone might not think of is veils or flowers! Veils not secured properly are at risk of flying away in high winds. Flowers are another thing to consider, for your bouquet, use native flowers!
Principle 4: Leave what you find
Leave what you find. Don’t pick and take flowers, rocks or other beautiful things out of nature.
Don’t make any marks or “engravings” on rocks, trees, or stone. Those deface the object, leaving a trace for years to come and impacting the natural beauty.
Principle 5: Minimize campfire impacts
Did you know that majority of wildfires are started by humans! It’s so important to check fire restrictions in your elopement location. Restrictions apply to not only campfires, but also fireworks, sparklers, smoke bombs, etc.. Fire restrictions are enacted when the vegetation and air are dry. Dry vegetation catches easily and spreads very quick. If your location is clear to have a campfire, be sure that you extinguish your fire all the way by drowning it in water. Just one lone spark can cause a fire, so too much water is better than not enough. Never leave a fire when you’re not confident that you put it out all the way.
Principle 6: Respect Wildlife
When eloping in the outdoors, you’re not the only ones there. Wildlife call nature home, so let’s respect it and them. This means not feeding wildlife, so that they don’t become comfortable around humans and approach them. Human food is also terrible to wildlife and feeding them can also teach them to become reliant on humans for food. While it might be cute to feed a little chipmunk some nuts, it’s not good for them in the end. Make sure to keep a respectful distance from wildlife and never approach. A phrase I like is “keep wildlife wild.”
If you’re brining a dog, make sure they are on a leash and under control. Don’t let your dog of leash when it’s not allowed, legally or morally. While Bleu (my dog) is fantastic, I would not let her off leash in bear country or heavily forested areas - if I don’t have clear visuals all around me. Wildlife can creep up from any direction and in a forest, I’d hate for her dart off spooked. You also don’t want your dog to chase after wildlife, for their safety and wildlife safety.
Principle 7: Be considerate of other visitors
The final principle be considerate of other visitors. On your elopement, consider how many guests you’ll be bringing and depending on where you elope, if that’s an appropriate number. On a trail, don’t bring 30 guests. Instead, have an intimate wedding at a venue, then you and your partner can go exploring privately and meet up with your guest after.
Don’t play loud, obnoxious music. People are in nature for the sounds and experience, loud music is a disturbance to that. Be considerate when passing people on the trail, don’t take up the entire trail, expecting everyone to move for you. General trail etiquette is that downhill hikers yield to uphill hikers, bikers yield to hikers and hikers yield to horseback.
Don’t become agitated if someone is in a place your want to get a shot at, be respectful to them and their time and wait your turn. If you’re eloping in a fairly popular location, it’s bound to have other people there. So go in with realistic expectations of other visitors. If you want a ceremony off the beaten path or with more privacy, talk to your photographer! Consider eloping at sunrise or sunset and specifically ask your photographer to try and find more secluded locations.
Wow! That was a lot to take in, but fun to learn, right? As an elopement photographer, I like to take special attention to educating on LNT, incorporating and bringing it to mind during elopement planning. When booked, my couples receive a guide that goes over planning an elopement while being considerate of LNT. I personally think that incorporating LNT ethics into elopements makes elopements much more fun because you can enjoy your dream day with he knowledge that you left as little impact as possible in nature!