in this episode, Cass gives us so many great ideas for how to fill you elopement day with things that are fun and authentically you as well as us figuring out ways to make your day reflect being a part of the lgbtq+ community!
Here is the full list of activities that Cass has suggested:
here are a few traditionally adventurous activities you and your partner can do on your wedding day:
And a few ideas that are a little different but just as special and can add so much more meaning to your day:
Say hello to Cass @narrowleafphotography on instagram!
The intro and all instrumentals were written, sung and recorded by @JaynaDavisMusic
in this episode, Cass gives us so many great ideas for how to fill you elopement day with things that are fun and authentically you as well as us figuring out ways to make your day reflect being a part of the lgbtq+ community!
Here is the full list of activities that Cass has suggested:
here are a few traditionally adventurous activities you and your partner can do on your wedding day:
And a few ideas that are a little different but just as special and can add so much more meaning to your day:
Say hello to Cass @narrowleafphotography on instagram!
The intro and all instrumentals were written, sung and recorded by @JaynaDavisMusic
Clearly beloved, welcome back to this week's episode. This is Anna, your host, ihi, her pronouns, and today I have with me pass from narrow leaf photography, which I'm so excited about. Like I was just thinking about before we hopped on. I was like, Wow, like this is part of my job. I get to just like chat with like cool, adventurous people and ask them questions and like learn about your life and your passions and also like, Help people listening along the way. Like, what? That's so cool. So yeah, thank you so much for, for being with us here today. I would love if you could introduce yourself, your pronouns, and Yeah, just tell us a little bit about you. Awesome. Yay. Well, I'm excited to be here and, um, yeah, so I'm Cass. I use she her pronouns as well. Um, I started kind of my photography journey quite a long time ago. I'm gonna age myself here a little bit. Um, but, so I did my first wedding in 2006, and from there, I. Did this kind of photography thing like part-time, always knowing it was something I wanted to do full-time. I did everything from like families, babies, real estate, basically anything anyone would give me a dollar for. I was like, heck yes, I have a camera. I can do that. Um, And then I think it was around like 2017 ish is when I started to really kind of dial in on weddings and couples and things like that. Um, with like an adventurous approach to like their engagement sessions, family sessions and things like that. And then I was introduced to this concept of. Adventure weddings and I was like completely blown away. I was like scrolling out Instagram and this, like I just, I still remember it like to this day it was like this mountain scape and they were like clearly at the top of a mountain. Like they had to have been like 14,000 feet up or something. And it was like this couple. In wedding attire. And I was just like taken back. I was like, people do this. Like how is this, how is this like real life? And I remember like dreaming about it, but being like a Midwest person, I was like, oh, that would be cool. One day maybe whatever. We don't really have, you know, views like that here. Right. And um, I took a workshop in 2019 and actually like kind of learned how to like. Market and, um, move towards this like vision that I had with like adventure, activity-based, experience-based wedding days versus like the traditional, you know, barn wedding with like 300 people. And nothing against that, that's, you know, it's, it's for some people, but it was starting to really, um, have you come into a clear view that that wasn't necessarily what, uh, like spoke to me anymore and what I wanted to be a part of. Um, and so, yeah, I guess I started kind of. Nicheing down into this kind of adventure based, um, thing and doing a lot of traveling and hiking and activities. You know, we've done like paddle boarding sessions, we've done cliff jumping. We've been a part of like, ice climbing in Alaska and just like all these different activities and, and adventures that people have been able to like, you know, reflect like their true relationship in. Their wedding day as well. Like if they're hikers, they wanna hike on their wedding day, it makes sense. Right. Um, this is a really long answer too. I just realized. I apologize. I'm almost done. I'll wrap it up. So basically I kind of got, I started to feel the burnout in 2020. I think all of us got affected from like the pandemic and stuff like that. And I started to kind of realize that, you know, traveling is great and I love it. I still 100%. Love traveling for, for elopement and weddings and going on adventures out west especially. Um, but I started to realize it wasn't really attainable, like full-time. We were traveling from one destination to another and then flying to another, and then finally flying home for a week and then like flying out again. Um, and I decided to really start to build a adventure activity based business. In the Midwest and that was something that, you know, not a lot of people were doing. And I had this like mental block of like, we don't have mountains here in the traditional sense. We don't have like the adventurous places. But when I started to actually think about like how could I do this same concept I was doing out west here at home, I started to realize we do have all that. The Midwest has so many beautiful places and spaces and viewpoints and more seclusion and just like so much more. Um, You know, greenery and forest and a really diverse, I guess, diverse landscape here at home. And so, yeah, that's, that's basically what I do in a very long-winded nutshell. Yes. Yeah. No, I love it. Yeah, no, no need to apologize. It's, it's super awesome to hear your passions and, um, Yeah, I mean that's how we got connected was, you know, kind of having those same hopes and dreams for the Midwest because I mean, yeah, I feel the same way where it's like, of course, yeah. Like if you wanna do something in California, that's awesome. And also, like there are places here that like not a lot of people know about, uh, or like, Yeah, it just, the Midwest could honestly use some hyping up. So on that note, um, I think it's really cool that we're kind of trying to showcase that the Midwest is cool that there are options and stuff like that. So I'm kind of curious from your point of view, like what do you think. Makes the midwife so great and like a great option. Yeah, that's such a great question. Um, so first of all, the one thing that I really love about like the Midwest being an option for people is it's more like accessible, um, in the fact that not only do you have like an easier permit process for a lot of places, Currently this could change, depends on when you're listening, but right now it's, it's usually not very crowded, like national parks or, or places out west. Um, you know, we're not as like, affected by like the photography boom that's kind of happening where you, you know, go to a, like, you know, Zion National Park and I, we did a wedding there and we sell like another one and, you know, in the same space and stuff like that. So you have more of that like, Privacy, um, in beautiful places. And I, one thing that I kind of already touched on is like the, the vastness of the different landscapes. You know, we have like 300 foot cliffs and we have, you know, the, the Great Lakes and we have sand dunes out in Michigan, and like, there's just like all these different. Cool places and, and I just love like exploring kind of my backyard and finding all those, because for the longest time I was so focused on the west. Like especially Alaska is like a huge place that I love and kept finding myself exploring and going back to repeatedly year after year. Um, And instead I started to kind of focus in on home and finding those different places. And, and there's, there's this, I don't know if you, if you all have heard this, the listeners, but like there's this Minnesota nice concept, which is so true. And the further north you go, the nicer people are and the more like humbling you feel because there's like no Walmarts and there's like, you know, it's just these small little, some people would call'em sleepy towns, but I, I love them. I don't think that, you know, People can always find that experience like in bigger cities or, you know, and, and we do have the metropolitan area. We do have like Minneapolis and St. Paul that's nearby, which is accessible for any guests that would maybe wanna fly in, things like that. But then you can just get in your car and drive and find. Seclusion and get lost in the forest, or go to cool harbor towns, or go to museums or ride a train or like float planes. Like there's just so many different really cool kind of adventures in our area with not a lot of people. Yes, that's so true. Like it's. I mean, it's certainly, it's not to say that like we don't have busy seasons or have like times or places. So like, you know, hopefully that's like a little bit of social proof, like people still come here, it's just not, yeah, it's definitely not the same as like the coast, which I think is probably why honestly people assume that the Midwest is like not great, is just because we're like all landlocked and whatever, but. I don't know if you kind of like squint your eyes a little bit, like superior is basically the ocean, so like, yeah. Yeah. No, that's super cool. Um, yeah, so for anyone listening, add the Midwest to your, to your search, um, but yeah, I, that's part of the reason I really wanted to bring you on here today is cuz I remember coming across here, say a while ago, and, um, You had talked about this idea of like a multi-day elopement and you know, had all these ideas for like cool activities and things to do, and I think that's something that while elopement are starting to catch on more and become more normalized, they're still definitely a big question of like, what do you even do? Like. Or, you know, we only need you for an hour or something like that. Um, so I wanted to have you on to kind of talk about some ideas and things like that, and then, um, because you're such an awesome ally and support the community, we can also kind of chat through ways that maybe folks from the community here listening could sort of add a flare of that into their day as well. So, Let's just dive right into it. Yay. I love it. I'm probably gonna give another long-winded idea list here, but yeah, so for anyone listening, if you are considering doing like a small wedding or elopement and thinking that like one to two hours would be plenty of time, I hear you. Like when I, when I try to put myself in like my couple's shoes and I think about like, you know, what does an hour or two of photography sound, you know, Photography time sound like that sounds like a lot. That sounds like kind of miserable intention filling and being like, I don't wanna be on for a full, solid two hours. Right. But when you really like dial it back and you really think about like the different things that you're actually going to be doing, it's not like a two hour photo shoot or a four hour photo shoot or an eight hour photo shoot, you're, you are living and breathing. And adventuring and exploring and having activities and you're getting freaking married, so everything's gonna take a little bit longer than you anticipate. You know, the ceremony you might think is only gonna be like five minutes, but then you are, you know, you have to think about the time getting into the car, driving into your ceremony site, getting out, you know, walking to the ceremony site. Maybe you have to use the restroom, grab a snack, you might, you know, there's a lot of different things, um, that kind of goes into that section, which is clearly longer than like five minutes. And the thing that I always tell couples, You know, that are on the fence and thinking like, oh, we really just need you for like two hours. Let's ceremony and some photos after. Right. You know, what I always tell people is, you know, you chose to have a small wedding or elopement intentionally. You chose to do it because it is a more stress free, you know, more relaxed, more intimate situation. And so the last thing you wanna do is put time restraints into an hour. Like how do you fit a whole wedding day into an hour or two? Right? And you're, you know, in order to honor, like, not only. You know, honor your wedding day, but honor you and your partner. I always feel. That adding a little extra time allows you to be relaxed. It allows you to not have to be looking at the clock being like, oh, oh no, we only have five more minutes. We need to try to fit all this in. Or, you know, things like that because that's what people did in a traditional wedding day. And you know, and, and you had to do that because in a traditional wedding day, if like one thing was delayed the entire day was. Fucked. But when it comes to like your elopement and stuff, you know, you have the freedom and the choice to do things differently and you chose to do a your wedding day differently. Therefore you kind of need to approach it in a little bit different mindset, you know, and that if you wanna have, you know, An actual experience and you wanna actually remember your day and you wanna actually like honor your partner and actually have time and space to be in the moment. You have to actually kind of put time in for breaks and for those moments, instead of just being like, this is a block for the ceremony, this is a block for photos and we're done, basically. Um, does that track, does that make sense? Feel like I could talk about why you should add more time in two days and. Five, like even four hours isn't enough, but I always have like a minimum of four hours just to, to work with me as a photographer and as an adventure, um, you know, adventure brand that focuses heavily on experiences over just kind of, Getting the photos and moving on. Um, you know, and, and even then, I feel like four hours isn't always enough. There's this niche situation where maybe you're only doing one small adventure that doesn't require a whole lot of movement or like hiking or driving or anything like that. Um, where I think four hours is okay, but realistically, 6, 8, 10 hour days, 12 hour days even, which I know sounds crazy. He's like, what do you do in that time? But you're getting ready with your partner. You're maybe having breakfast together. Maybe making coffee or pancakes, you know, and then you're moving into getting ready together. And then you're moving into, you know, driving to your ceremony site. And then you're having this beautiful ceremony where you say your vows to each other, and then you have this little pocket of time afterwards, just the two of you, you know, and you can even have a section where you have. 100% private vows where you even kick me or your photographer, your immediate team out and say, we just wanna have a moment together. So then you, what you're doing is you're actually allowing the time and space to be in the moment and you're beat intentional about it. And that way you'll actually be able to remember your day. Cuz it's often that people that only have like one to two hours of coverage, they're like, it flew by, I barely remember anything. You know, it was kind of stressful and stuff like that, which sounds a lot. Like a traditional wedding where again, I used to hear that time and time again. Early in my career, I would deliver galleries. They're like, I didn't even remember that happening. When did that happen? How? How am I in this photo? I don't even remember doing this thing. So, yeah. Yes, absolutely no, like, A million times, yes. To everything you said, because I think you touched on like intentionality a lot, right? Like if people are choosing to do a small wedding or elopement, they're usually doing it with like intention and like, you know. Yeah. It's gonna be like you're doing this because you want a different experience and you wanna be able to like, enjoy, embrace, and remember that experience. So like, Yeah, 100%. Um, I also think, like, something I've been thinking about recently is like, I kind of shoot like a mix of traditional and elopement and like in both cases, a lot of times I like hear couples being like, whoa. Like, we don't need any getting ready photos, or we don't need X, or we don't need Y, or blah blah blah. Like they're just like, it's so easy for people to get hyper-focused on like, this is what we need, this is what we don't need. Like it turns into like a checklist, whatever. And I don't know, I've just been thinking about it so much recently cuz I'm like, yeah, I think it's maybe an like a different concept for people to think about, like, Oh, you know, getting ready photos, like, I don't need that. But you also don't need like an ice vanilla oat milk latte. But is it great? Is it nice? Does it make you happy? Like, and also, yeah, like maybe you're not gonna like two weeks from now be like, wow, I remember this like one specific like, you know, latte, but like it was really nice having it and I enjoyed doing that and like, Obviously with photos you will get to remember it because it's being documented. But yeah, I just think that's such a cool concept to think like, like the thing you mentioned of like making pancakes with your partner. Do I like, need quote unquote photos of that with my partner, but like, no, but what I absolutely like. Love it, because that's also a reflection of our love story equally as much as the ceremony. Absolutely. So, yeah, no, I, I 100% agree with everything you said. Yes. I'm so glad that you touched on that too, is it's like sometimes those photos in the, in the morning of the getting ready can actually be some of the most. Emotionally charged images. And it's because, you know, I mean, I can't say exactly why, but I feel like it's because, um, you know, the nerves are pretty high, excitement, nervousness, things like that, you know, and it's these moments before the big day. Right. And it's, it's, it's storytelling. Like that's where the storytelling, that's where the story starts is them, you know, you and your partner waking up. Making pancakes together, you know, we photographed that and moving into, again, like the getting ready photos and things like that, and it's just these different moments and these different pockets of time that. Immortalizes the full day. So when you're, you know, 50 years down the road, you're looking back at your gallery of images and you remember every fucking moment perfectly because you have it documented every single moment and it can transport you back in time and transport you back to that moment where the two of you are making pancakes together before your freaking wedding day. And it's so incredible. And yeah, I don't know. And yeah, so the element of storytelling is a really big part of it as well, and I hear that all the time too. Anna, I hear people I don't need getting ready photos and it always makes me really sad. Obviously, I'm not going to, I'm gonna try to inspire them to even give me 10 minutes of, of the pre moments, which, you know, is, is not a ton of time. But just to be able to kind of start the story where the story actually started, you know, instead of just like, we're at the ceremony site, how did we get here? You know? Um, so yeah. Yes. Yeah, no, a hundred percent. So yeah, like on that note now that we're hopefully starting to, you know, convince people a little bit, um, yeah, I think it would just be so fun for us to like, help people kind of like come up with some ideas or, you know, honestly just like brainstorm, like what are some fun things that you could do that, that kind of reflect you so, Take it away. Yeah. Yay. So before I give you like actual, like brass tack ideas, I'd love to kind of start with like a, a couple of questions to kind of get you and your partner in the space of like thinking about, um, you know, what kind of activities are for us, what could we do on our wedding day, things like that. So, I'd love to ask, like, first and foremost I'd like to set the, you know, set the foundation like by asking my couples like, What is the ultimate favorite adventure the two of you have had together? And this question is one of my favorites because it really gives me like a window into the type of adventure that they like to do, the kind of activities that fire them up. The ones that are the most like. Core memories for them as a couple, because if we can tap into that and bring some element of that into their wedding day, I think that's where the magic really happens, because they're, not only are they reliving an experience or an adventure that they already loved before, but they're bringing that into their wedding day and they're making another core memory of that thing that they loved to do. And it's funny because like. Adventure in the traditional sense is like what, you know, how I got introduced to it too is like hiking up a mountain or you know, doing these like. Helicopter rides in Alaska, like things like that, which is awesome. And I, you know, definitely agree that that is an epic way to spend your wedding day. But there's also those little micro adventures and activities that I think can be so meaningful for people. You know, whether it's just like stopping a coffee shop or going to a brewery, or, you know, having a little pocket of time to paint if you're an artist or, you know, just these little things that you can kind of bring into your day, um, that can make it more meaningful. And then, so, That kind of leads me into the next question I ask couples is like, what is something that the two of you love to do together on the regular? It can be as simple as making a cup of coffee every morning, or playing cards or playing video games or like what is something that the two of you do, or a tradition that you might have, you know, made up in your relationship. And it can be just like silly stuff too. It doesn't have to be this like, You know, huge, big picture, epic adventure. It can just be like we always do X when we go travel or we always do whatever, you know. Um, and that's like a really good way to kind of tie in, you know, you and your couples, or you and your couples, you and your partners. Mm-hmm. Like traditions or things that, you know, habits that the two of you have together or just, you know, different things. You know, bringing that into your day, I guess. And then the final question that I love to kind of ask my couples before really giving them like a, Big idea list, um, of activities that they could do, um, is if you could literally do anything, literally anything sky's the limit, what would that be? What would you, what would you be so fired up to do that you're like, hell yes. I have no limits. This is what me and my partner are gonna do. Because that's also a really good window into like what inspires them. So we have basically what adventure that they love. Then what the everyday normal adventure looks like together. And then the. Biggest inspirational, like big possibility. Like is it flying off to Paris? Is it what, what is it like, huge, huge life kind of thing. Um, Anyway, so basically that kind of leads me into then when I have kind of a, like a, you know, an idea of like what really fires them up and what their kind of adventure is, because everybody has a different idea of adventure. Like for some people it might be going to the hardware shore. And getting materials for a house, they're flipping, you know? Mm-hmm. And for some people it's, yeah, for some people it might be just like fishing by a lake, or for other people it might be hiking that 14,000 foot mountain and wedding gear. Like what's their, you know, what's your level of adventure and what. Do you and your partner love to do together? Um, but some, some actual like ideas, um, if we're looking at like the traditional sense of adventure, there's always like hiking, camping, paddleboarding, kayaking, you know, things like that. Horseback riding, cliff jumping, swimming. Relaxing by a fire, like chilling some hot springs like before or after. You know, like it's a really good way to start your day and a really good day. Like really good way to kind of round out the day relaxing hot air balloon. You can go hammock hanging, like glacier climbing, zip lining, rock climbing. Basically any kind of adventure that you do anyway, you can incorporate into your wedding day. Or up Monday. Um, and then to kind of dial things back a little bit and some more of those kind of maybe unconventional activity ideas or adventures is like making time to have just like your favorite drink together, whether it's coffee, tea, beer, you know, basically whatever that looks like. And just having literally like a five to 10 minute pocket of time where the two of you are just enjoying your favorite beverages together on your wedding day and having that, like, that peace and that. That intentionality behind just taking time for each other on one of your biggest days together. You know, um, it could be like five minutes of journaling or writing letters to your future selves for your, you know, for your like one year wedding anniversary. You're recording a voice memo like, Hey babe, you know, I'm so excited. I'm sitting next to you right now. Or I'm, I. See you peeking behind a tree over there recording your voice memo. And I would just love to tell you, this is how I'm feeling and all the things, right? Like how special would that be? I'm getting chills. How special would that be? Like your one year anniversary and you just like pass each other, each other's phones and you listen to your voice and listen. Or sorry, listen to their voice telling you all these things that they're feeling and thinking, you know, before the you two get married or after the two of you just got married or some part of that day, right? I could go on forever, but as this landing. Does that make sense? Yes. No. Oh my gosh. Yeah. You mentioning that whole like voice memo thing or something, like, I feel like I would just cry if someone did that. Oh my gosh. That's so sweet. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I really love, I don't know if this is exactly how you worded it, like what's your level of adventure? Is that what you said? Basically? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, like. I, I think that's, that's so cool. And like, feels like so inclusive because Yeah. You could do the other thing too is that like, with any of those things, like you could just like be in nature, you know? Like it also doesn't have to be like a destination. So Yeah, I just, I love that you kind of point out the fact that it can be, On a spectrum. Right. Um, yeah, and I kind of wanted to just like, like Cass has given us some amazing ideas. Like, I'm not even gonna try to, you know, add on to that and, um, maybe we can stick some of these ideas in the show notes if you're comfortable with that. Yes. Um, so you guys can all look at all those awesome things she just talked about. And I sort of just wanted to like point out that because a lot of folks listening here are part of the L g BT Q community. Um, it's not like, obviously any and all of the things you wanna do are open to like any of the things that Cass mentioned are like a great idea. And also because you're part of this really like special community, like I just wanted to throw out some things that are like, Could, you know, kind of give a no, a, what am I saying? A nod to that. Um, so yeah, like a couple of things I've seen is. Sort of relating back to like why every wedding should be like a little bit queer is kind of this idea that a lot of queer weddings, they're just like already different by nature, right? So like something I've seen a lot of couples do is that like they'll have like a little pop of color in their outfits, you know, like versus one of them having to wear white and one of them having to wear black or whatever, like throwing in a pop of color or you know, throwing in some. Some elements of like the pride flag or things like that. Um, another fun thing would like, honestly, literally, if you just like do it in the month of June, like just being able to say that it's sort of like a version of you celebrating pride and kind of joining in with the community that way. Um, and I think something that's a very common theme in this podcast too is like, Supporting like other queer folks. Um, and so if in the event that you do need some kind of vendor in your day, whether it's a florist or a chef, or, um, yeah, maybe you do wanna like grab a beer and go to a concert or something, like are there like queer folks in those spaces that you can support and also connect with? Um, I think that would be really, really fun. And, um, Yeah, honestly, I know like a lot of those aren't necessarily like activities, but just sort of like pointing out the fact that like you get to kind of decide like I know for me it's a really special feeling to like be a part of this community now and feeling that, you know, that support from the community and also, Getting to feel myself. And so similar to the level adventure, I think that the level that you want to kind of incorporate this identity is fully up to you. Like if you don't really wanna do anything like that, is totally okay. And there's also like super fun ways to like, maybe you're literally just like pack your pride flag and like get to take a fun photo with it. Um, or like, Maybe the inside of like the cupcakes you eat are rainbow. Like, there's so many little things and big things you can incorporate into your day that I feel like whatever makes you feel celebrated and makes you feel like you can be proud of who you are, like that's what you should go for. So yeah, just kind of like a fun way to sort of tie those two things together of like, yeah, do whatever activity you want. And also like, are there ways. That you can sort of make it feel more true to you. Settle. Yeah. Heck yeah. Those are all such good ideas. I love, thank you. Yeah. Um, yeah, so thank you so much again for like sharing all of your activity ideas. I feel like we're just, people are gonna walk away with so many ideas. Um, And I know we've sort of like touched on a lot of this, but kind of just like your last, your last sort of direct line of communication with a couple and thinking like, Hey, we wanna do something that's a little different and outside of the box. Like what would you say to them? Ooh, that's a great question. I have lots of thoughts around that. Um, I think the first thing that kind of pops up to my mind is, Do what you want, not what you feel you have to do or should do, or any of those, like really in the box thinking, um, kind of thought processes. I is, it's really easy to get hung up on things that you should do or, you know, I don't know. It's like those social norms, right? Like even if you are choosing to, you know, break off from those social norms and do like a smaller elopement or, um, you know, a small wedding or even a big wedding, um, but wanting to approach it in a little bit of a different way, it can be really easy to get lost in those. Well, we should invite this person, or we should do this, or, you know, we should save money and we should do, right? Like, like, fuck that. And lean into what feels the best for the two of you. And something that I always tell you know, or encourage people is to just really think about the best fucking day you've ever had and infuse that into your wedding day. You know, like think of all the things that you would love to do. Write it on a piece of paper if you have to, just to like organize your thoughts and. See how you can make it happen. Make like kind of reverse engineer your day and like, this is what we want and then how can we make all of this happen basically, and, and plan an activity. Plan something fun, because otherwise it's gonna feel like you're going from one step to the next step to the next step. And then it's the end of your day, you're married. That's awesome. But it's gonna feel so much more exciting. Meaningful, intentional, all of the things. If you find a way that you can connect even deeper to each other and create a core or multiple core memories on your wedding day and book more time, don't put, don't put yourself in this limiting space where you limit your time to like two hours or four hours. Really talk to whoever it is that you choose to have as your media team to document your day Really. Really speak to them on, on the level of how can you best serve me by telling our story. Mm-hmm. And really think about it. Like, I know it's really easy for me as a photographer to be like book all the time, right? Like it's mm-hmm. But it's not a money grab. I promise you that. It's not, it's, I've done this long enough to know that an hour or two hours or even three hours is not enough time for any wedding day e as as simple as it could possibly be. Even courthouse weddings, if you wanna have a day. Where the two of you have time to actually be yourselves, get comfortable on camera, get comfortable with each other. Get comfortable with the person who's documenting the date that already takes like an hour or two. Imagine you're meeting a stranger in a coffee house, and then expect them to photograph. Intimate photos of the two of you. That's not how it works. You know, there's gotta be that warmup period where not only are you comfortable with that person, but you're also comfortable with being photographed. Because then the more time that, you know, I've seen with couples that I've had with couples, even though it's extroverted couples, right, that are like, we love our photo taken, there's still this warmup period of getting to know how they interact with each other. You know, getting to know how, you know they feel with me. Things like that. We have to figure each other out, right? And, and. The real emotions and the genuine moments happen after like four hours together, five hours together. You know? That's just the nature of how humans interact with each other and get comfortable, you know, and I have a lot of, I'm introverted and I have a lot of introverted couples that can take a little bit longer. You know, we can do all the phone calls and all the Zoom calls. We want to try to get to know each other and we do on some level. But when you're. Thrown into this, this day where there's already a lot of emotions about, you know, nerves of getting married and nerves of everything's gonna work out. Maybe we're nervous about the weather. Then we have this basic stranger photographing us, like in a very vulnerable day, in a very vulnerable space, and in a very vulnerable way. So, yeah. Long story short, get to know your photographers. Get to know your media team. Spend a little extra time, um, as much as you really think you can, you know, accommodate. I understand that everyone's got different levels of, of, you know, costs attributed to their budget for their wedding day and things like that. And I know one of the big pressure points about elopements is sometimes people do that, you know, for the cost cuz it is a lot cheaper and things like that. And I totally respect that, but I definitely feel, um, you know, having a little bit more time. To experience your day with your, you know, with your media team to document. That is gonna be an incredible experience for everyone, cuz we can tell your story better and you get to relive your story, you know? Yes. Yay. Yes. Yeah. Book the 12 hours. Yes. And uh, like to your point too, of making the most of it, like make the most of having the opportunity to just like freely love out loud, like Yes. I think that's part of why sense coming out and since, you know, focusing my business to serve the community. I have been so drawn to ELO because it's like you. You have this opportunity to exactly like you've been saying, be full yourself. You know, be around either know people or the people that you truly like, trust and feel yourself around. And like that is such a rare and beautiful thing. So like, make the most of having the freedom to love out loud and like just, you know, not having any like worries or concerns about it. And like have that documented, like you deserve that. So yes, yes, yes. Oh, I love that so much. Love out loud. So freaking lutely. Oh, I resonate with that very much. Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I feel like, I don't know, I feel like we. Just convinced the whole world to elope. I mean, honestly, I don't, I don't know how you could not want to. Um, but yeah, thank you so much truly for, for sharing your experiences and ideas and wisdom with us. Um, yeah, I would love to just like wrap up now by like getting to know you quickly. Um, so yeah, like what would you say is your favorite way to spend a day? Oh gosh. Um, so I'm kind of, I'm kind of a nerd, so it's a toss up between being out in nature or like playing the new Zelda, like playing, uh, if I'm being told. And, and sometimes I'll even take my switch outside in nature so I can do both to both worlds. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Love that so much. Um, since you're such an adventurous person, is there any like place on your bucket list you're still really wanting to go or shoot at? Yeah, actually quite a few places. Um, but top of my mind is like Scotland or like the Italian Dolomites are ugh, ugh. It would just be unreal. Yes, I like, yeah, the greenery of Scotland and the moodiness, like I'm all about that. And then also like the, the Dolomites, because you know, they're giant freaking might, right? Yes. You not, right? Yeah, for sure. Oh, I, I agree 100%. Um, yeah. Last one just to kinda, you know, throw you fur a loop. What's your favorite color of the rainbow? Oh gosh. Oh, I don't know. Um, purple probably. Yeah. Good choice. Yeah, good choice. Wow. Well, thank you again, Cass. Um, I will link all of your stuff in the show notes, but where can people find you if they wanna check you out? Yeah, so I think we're on everything, um, at narrow leaf photography. Perfect. Yay. Beautiful. Yes, and more of the story. The Midwest is actually pretty cool. So come check us out really beloved, thank you so much for joining us this week, and we will see you all here back next week.