Wedding photographers for the wild at heart
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Wilder Weddings Collective is a dedicated team of elopement and wedding photographers passionate about capturing wild love and real emotion. We believe wedding days are beautiful and sacred, and we want to cut through the chaos of the wedding industry and return to the heart of what weddings are supposed to be about: two people promising to love, support, honor, and cherish each other for the rest of their lives.
Founded over a decade ago by Carolyn and Jake Gann, Wilder Weddings Co has grown over the years to a team of 3 amazing photographers based in Western North Carolina, but willing to travel anywhere. We’re leading a revolution in wedding photography, bringing the focus back on couples, their commitment, and the whole experience of the day.
Wilder Weddings Collective is a dedicated team of elopement and wedding photographers passionate about capturing wild love and real emotion. We believe wedding days are beautiful and sacred, and we want to cut through the chaos of the wedding industry and return to the heart of what weddings are supposed to be about: two people promising to love, support, honor, and cherish each other for the rest of their lives.
Founded over a decade ago by Carolyn and Jake Gann, Wilder Weddings Co has grown over the years to a team of 3 amazing photographers based in Western North Carolina, but willing to travel anywhere. We’re leading a revolution in wedding photography, bringing the focus back on couples, their commitment, and the whole experience of the day.
Get to know these people who will be following you around on your wedding day.
What makes a Wilder Wedding? Learn more about how we capture your memories.
How do we book? Do you travel? Get all your questions answered here!
Get to know these people who will be following you around on your wedding day.
What makes a Wilder Wedding? Learn more about how we capture your memories.
How do we book? Do you travel? Get all your questions answered here!
Get to know these people who will be following you around on your wedding day.
What makes a Wilder Wedding? Learn more about how we capture your memories.
How do we book? Do you travel? Get all your questions answered here!
Founders,
LEAD photographers
Specializing in all-in epic adventure elopement experiences and intimate weddings with fewer than 30 guests. Sunrise first looks, hot air balloon rides, cliff-jumping off waterfalls, you name it. If you want to pop champagne in the wild somewhere with a spectacular backdrop, and get back to your airbnb exhausted, sunburnt (or rain-soaked!), and deliriously happy, then we’re the photographers for you.
LEAD
Photographer
Specializing in gorgeous weddings packed with all your family and friends. Maybe you want a sunrise vow ceremony in the mountains, just the two of you, and then a crazy dance party with all your friends that night. Does being surrounded by friends and family, having a crazy fun huge bridal party, and dancing the night away sound like your dream wedding? I’m the photographer for you.
Your wedding day is a real event, where you’ll feel real feelings with real people who mean the world to you. With our experience-first approach to wedding photography, you don’t need to worry about leaving your wedding without any real memories of the day. We guard your experience and emotions so you get gorgeous wedding photos without sacrificing genuine experiences.
We know the secret to loving your wedding photos: Plan a wedding day that’s true to you and your spouse, not other’s expectations. When you plan a day where you love you’re doing, what you’re feeling, and who you’re with, its inevitable that you’ll love the photos captured of that day. After all, you loved every minute of them being taken!
We know the secret to loving your wedding photos: Plan a wedding day that’s true to you and your spouse, not other’s expectations. When you plan a day where you love you’re doing, what you’re feeling, and who you’re with, its inevitable that you’ll love the photos captured of that day. After all, you loved every minute of them being taken!
If you want to feel real things on your wedding day, you have to slow down enough to leave space for those emotions to develop. Let us help you craft a day with the space and time to breathe, engage, celebrate, and enjoy. We’ll capture gorgeous photos of you moving effortlessly through your day, all you have to do is experience it!
If you want to feel real things on your wedding day, you have to slow down enough to leave space for those emotions to develop. Let us help you craft a day with the space and time to breathe, engage, celebrate, and enjoy. We’ll capture gorgeous photos of you moving effortlessly through your day, all you have to do is experience it!
We view our role on a wedding day differently than other photographers. While the end goal IS for you to have amazing photographs you love, we don’t see our main job as just taking photos. Our job is to keep you happy and comfortable all day, because the best way to ensure you love your wedding photos is to ensure you feel good while taking them!
When you hire us to capture your wedding day, you never have to be worried about being overly posed, pulled out of the moment, or put through your paces. Your day will feel natural and full of real memories, not faked and disingenuous.
Our Experience-First Approach prioritizes your feelings and experience over perfect portraits for our portfolio. We’re experts at capturing stunning images that will enhance your memories rather than replace them. Hire us if you want your day to feel like a genuine experience rather than a posed photo shoot.
We’ll never be so focused on epic photos that we forget that this is YOUR wedding day. A day you’ll spend with those closest to you, feeling real things and experiencing deep emotions. We’ll never ask you to sacrifice real memories of the day in exchange for posey-perfect photos.
We’re leading a revolution in wedding photography, bringing the focus back on couples, their commitment, and the whole experience of the day. We don’t want you to do anything on your wedding day “just for the photos”. We use an experience-driven approach to wedding photography to help you feel like yourself on this incredibly important day.
We’re leading a revolution in wedding photography, bringing the focus back on couples, their commitment, and the whole experience of the day. We don’t want you to do anything on your wedding day “just for the photos”. We use an experience-driven approach to wedding photography to help you feel like yourself on this incredibly important day.
We’re not only photographers. We’ll guide you along the way as you envision, bring to life, and then experience your perfect day. Need trails scouted? We got you. Vendor recommendations? We know the best. Timeline creation? Included in every package. We’ll hike with you, jump in rivers with you, laugh with you, build fires or make coffee for you. We’ll go to the mountaintops and the valleys and back to make sure your day is what you want it to be.
We’re not only photographers. We’ll guide you along the way as you envision, bring to life, and then experience your perfect day. Need trails scouted? We got you. Vendor recommendations? We know the best. Timeline creation? Included in every package. We’ll hike with you, jump in rivers with you, laugh with you, build fires or make coffee for you. We’ll go to the mountaintops and the valleys and back to make sure your day is what you want it to be.
Your wedding day will feel like a million things—surreal, overwhelming, relaxing, exciting, sweet, tender, deep. We honor the range of emotions couples experience as they mark the beginning of a new phase together. Our job is to facilitate, even protect those emotions. Both in the planning stage and on the day itself we will work to create space for genuine emotions to be felt, and by capturing them in images, we make sure you’ll always be able to return to and relive those beautiful moments.
Your wedding day will feel like a million things—surreal, overwhelming, relaxing, exciting, sweet, tender, deep. We honor the range of emotions couples experience as they mark the beginning of a new phase together. Our job is to facilitate, even protect those emotions. Both in the planning stage and on the day itself we will work to create space for genuine emotions to be felt, and by capturing them in images, we make sure you’ll always be able to return to and relive those beautiful moments.
We don’t have a pre-formed idea of what a wedding “should” look like; we’re here to help you figure out what feels right for you and your spouse and then to capture that day as it unfolds. You won’t ever hear us say “You can’t do that”, instead, we’re here to help you figure out how to make your vision come to life, no matter where, how, or with whom you want to celebrate
We don’t have a pre-formed idea of what a wedding “should” look like; we’re here to help you figure out what feels right for you and your spouse and then to capture that day as it unfolds. You won’t ever hear us say “You can’t do that”, instead, we’re here to help you figure out how to make your vision come to life, no matter where, how, or with whom you want to celebrate
“Carolyn and Jake gave us permission and created space for us to plan a day that was perfect for us. I got to go hiking, I got to run around in the woods and my dress and get it all dirty and then I got to go do the beautiful bride walk down the aisle and party all night. It was just a perfect blend. A lot of that had to do with them and the communication that they had with us, not pushing us in any direction but really listening to what WE wanted out of our day, without any agenda of their own.”
We’ll shoot any type of wedding, as long as it’s a wedding that truly reflects who you are and how you want to celebrate. If you’re going through the motions of a traditional wedding for the sake of meeting family expectations, it will show in your photos. If you’re unhappy with any of your wedding plans, feel trapped, or anxious about the direction your wedding plans are headed, we’d LOVE to talk with you and discuss your options to help you have a day that feels 110% you and your spouse. We’re in your corner.
First step, fill out our contact form. We’ll get back to you within 24-48 hours to schedule a free phone consult. Once we’ve chatted and you know we’re a perfect fit, a $1000-$1500 non-refundable retainer and a signed contract holds your date. After that you’re on the books, and we start planning out your adventure!
That depends on how many different activities you plan. Intimate wedding days yield around 100 images per hour on average, while adventure elopements generally result in 50-70 images per hour. The more guests you have or events you schedule, the more photos you’ll get, but choosing to spend the day together just you two doesn’t mean you wont get a ton of amazing images! Your gallery will be full of photos of raw emotion, epic views, tender moments, unexpected delights, laughter, smiles, portraits, candids—you get the idea.
Your photos will be delivered to you in an online gallery with high-resolution digital images (with print rights) 6 to 8 weeks after your epic adventure wedding. You’ll be able to share your adventure with family and friends, allowing them to relive the fun or experience your day for the first time.
There are no limits to how far we will go! We’ve traveled to over 20 countries between us, and photographed epic adventure weddings in Iceland, Scotland, the UK, St. Lucia, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Hawai’i, Bermuda, Portugal, and all over the continental US.
Want to sizzle your dress on the edge of an active volcano in Japan? Say your vows in a cavern 800 feet underground in Bali? Ride into the sunset on the back of an elephant in South Africa? We’ll design a custom all-inclusive destination wedding package that includes everything, so you won’t have to worry about our travel arrangements. And we’ll help you plan your adventure!
Having an intentionally planned wedding is one of the bravest things you can do. If the typical elements of a traditional wedding don’t resonate with you, you’re not going to regret leaving them out of your day. In fact, when you free yourself from others’ expectations, you open yourself up to experiences that are memorable for the genuine emotions you felt—not just the ritual you performed. And there are many creative ways to incorporate special people and meaningful traditions into an intentional wedding or elopement.
We consider ourselves wedding guides, but we’re not wedding planners or day-of coordinators. We don’t book vendors, set up centerpieces, or make sure that your cousin Johnny walks down the aisle on time. On your wedding day, the only people we’ll be paying attention to are the two of you, so if your plans involve more than three or four people, a day-of coordinator can take the stress of communicating and people-wrangling off of the two of you. With small groups, a detail-oriented and responsible friend may be all you need, if they’re willing, or we can recommend some of the best coordinators in the business!
Technically, yes, if you’re in a state like Colorado where you don’t need an ordained officiant or any witnesses to legally get married. In states where you do need officiants and witnesses, there’s still options to make it more personal than hiring an ordained stranger. We can help you find the best option that matches your vision for the day and satisfies local legal requirements, whether that’s getting married by a friend, an ordained religious leader, or no one at all.