Weddings & portraits
Elopement Shot List Template
An elopement is not a small wedding. There is no wedding party, no group shots, no reception timeline — but there is a landscape, a journey, and often a hike. The shot list shifts from covering a schedule to telling the story of two people in a place.
This list assumes a travel or outdoor elopement, which is what most people mean by the word.
Shots
32
Groups
5
Format
Checklist
The shot list
Preparation
- 01Getting ready in the accommodation — small, intimate, wide
- 02Dress or suit detail against the landscape through a window
- 03Rings and stationery, flat lay
- 04Boots, packs, and anything practical — this is the elopement detail
- 05Letters to each other being written or read
- 06Leaving together
The journey
The hike or drive is a genuine part of the story here, not a gap.
- 07Driving — road ahead, from inside
- 08Trailhead or starting point
- 09Walking, from behind, wide
- 10Helping each other over terrain
- 11Wide with them tiny in the landscape
- 12Resting, drinking, laughing
- 13First sight of the ceremony location
Ceremony
- 14Wide establishing of the location
- 15Locked-off wide of the whole ceremony
- 16Vows — close on each face
- 17Hands and rings
- 18The kiss, wide against the landscape
- 19Officiant or witness, if present
- 20The moment immediately after — the private one
Portraits and landscape
- 21Extreme wide — two figures, one landscape
- 22Walking together through the terrain
- 23Backlit at golden hour
- 24Close portraits of each
- 25Dress or veil moving in wind
- 26Silhouette against sky
- 27Aerial or high vantage, if available
- 28Sitting together looking out
Celebration
- 29Champagne or toast, just the two
- 30Picnic or meal
- 31Dancing with no audience
- 32Night — stars, headtorch, tent, or firelight
Tips for this kind of shoot
- Scout the location and the sunset time properly. There is no venue coordinator and no plan B.
- Pack for the walk, not the shoot. Everything you carry, you carry uphill.
- The extreme wide with two tiny figures is the shot people book elopement filmmakers for. Get several.
Use this list on your next shoot
Storeyz keeps your shots in story order for planning and regroups them by location for the day — then you tick them off on your phone as you get them.