Stunning Sunset & Starry Wedding Portraits at Glacier Point

When Molly and Alex reached out to me, I knew we were going to have a great time. They wanted to setup a Yosemite Adventure Session for their anniversary. This has become a tradition for them.

I absolutely love the tradition they have created for themselves. Every year they set up a photo shoot in their wedding garb to give them something fun and exciting to look forward to, and to help keep their romance alive. This is such a great tradition, and I hope more people will consider doing something like this for themselves.

This was Molly and Alex’s 8th anniversary carrying on this tradition! Since they do this regularly, they have also found that they really enjoying adding some props that are special for them. Between Molly’s hair accents and Alex’s signature hat, they really personalized the session to represent and capture who they are! I love it!

Molly and Alex really wanted to get to multiple locations in the best light. So we scheduled the Adventure Session in one of my favorite ways. We split the time between a sunrise photo shoot, and an evening photo shoot that went into the night so we could also shoot under the stars.

Photographing couples under the stars is one of my favorite experiences to share with couples. For this shoot, it made the most sense to actually shoot the sunset and stars images first. We then met the following morning for our sunrise shoot. Sometimes when spitting a shoot between sunrise and sunset, it’s best to have them on the same day. But sometimes it make sense to have them split between two days. And in this case that worked out perfectly.

Our first shoot was out at Taft Point for sunset. This is one of the most stunning places in Yosemite National Park for wedding photography. After a gorgeous photo session at sunset, we walked back to the cars as the day turned to night.

By time we got back to the cars we headed to Glacier Point for a short photo session under the stars. Glacier Point is perfect for astro photography, with huge open skies and of course Half Dome under starlight is just spectacular. We then met again at Glacier Point for sunrise to finish our Adventure Session and had a gorgeous sunrise to enjoy.

This flow of sunset at Taft Point to stars at Glacier Point to sunrise at Glacier Point has been one of my favorite and most popular Yosemite photography flows with couples.

With the Glacier Point road closing for 2022 and most likely 2023, this flow is not going to be available to us. While many people are bummed at the Glacier Point road closing, it does need the work. I am taking this as a great opportunity to suggest and push my absolutely favorite area of the park, the Tuolumne Meadows region off of the Tioga road. 

So for anyone wanting to get out of the Valley and into the high country during the hot and busy summertime, going forward Tuolumne is my top recommendation. The Tioga road offers a plethora of amazing locations to choose from. Perfect spots are everywhere for sunrise, sunset, and under the stars. They are locations close to the or we can hike as far as you’d like.

We can easily get away from the heat and crowds of Yosemite Valley. It’s my favorite region of Yosemite National Park. I look forward to guiding my couples into its majestic high country beauty, and capturing unique special images that you’ll treasure for a lifetime. 

Want to find out more about what options are available in Tuolumne? Or if you’re looking for your Yosemite wedding photographer anywhere near the park. Please be in touch so we can discuss your options and come up with a dream experience that you’ll remember forever. Onward!

Click here for more information, and you can see more images in my portfolio. You can also see my nature photography and filmmaking on my personal website here.

You can find more information on the National Park Service website here. It’ll have info on the permit process, locations, and more.