Althouse: "At 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, Hailey Moore and Dr. Kristopher Hansen stood in the dark at the Mesa Arch trailhead inside Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah."

February 16, 2020

"At 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, Hailey Moore and Dr. Kristopher Hansen stood in the dark at the Mesa Arch trailhead inside Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah."

"The half-mile to the arch was snow-covered and wound past prickly bushes, boulders, frozen puddles, cactuses and dead-but-still-standing trees. Ms. Moore, 40, and Dr. Hansen, 38, were eloping, with no guests.... Their only companions were Jess and Austin Drawhorn, a married team of photographers... The Drawhorns, who were dressed like backcountry hikers, wore headlamps and handed the bride and groom metal cleats to pull over their shoes...."

From "An Unexpected Path Leads to a Fresh Start/An elopement in Moab, Utah, provided a wedding site as big as all outdoors for Hailey Moore and Kristopher Hansen" (NYT).

Nice. The only thing missing was the absence of the photographers.

ADDED: Overheard at Meadhouse: "I like the way he's using her..."/"I know! Chest as a lectern!" Speaking of us, here's the story of our wedding, which included the absence of photographers.

37 comments:

mccullough said...: They look older than their age.; 2/16/20, 9:05 AM
Patrick said...: You're right. The addition of the photographers seems unnecessarily complicated for what they purport they were trying to achieve. Better just the two of them, following in the simple footsteps of you and Meade.

The photographers just make me think they wanted an angle for the NYT wedding section rather than a simple wedding.; 2/16/20, 9:08 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: The only thing missing is not hearing about it at all.
Now this will become yet another thing and yet with more traffic and people.; 2/16/20, 9:15 AM
Ralph L said...: Ruth was a Moabite who married two Hebrews. Her grandson Jesse was the father of David.; 2/16/20, 9:19 AM
reader said...: Our wedding was larger than I ever wanted it to be and the cause of the only fight my husband and I had prior to getting married. But I’m glad that I have pictures to look at and remember the day. My two favorite pictures were taken by friends and not the photographer.

If I were to elope now I wouldn’t take a photographer but I would take my camera stand with my wireless remote. Easy to set up and I’d have at least one picture of the two of us.; 2/16/20, 9:23 AM
JML said...: Now they are the cool couple who eloped in Moab and we’re featured in the NYT. Low key? Not so much. If they divorce, will they hike back there and fling their wedding certificate over the cliff?; 2/16/20, 9:24 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "If I were to elope now I wouldn’t take a photographer but I would take my camera stand with my wireless remote. Easy to set up and I’d have at least one picture of the two of us."

No, don't even do that.

Meade and I only have a picture of us from just after we got married and only because I young woman happened to walk by and a conversation led to her doing a photo of us (and we did one of her). Spontaneity.; 2/16/20, 9:27 AM
Big Mike said...: Speaking of us, here's the story of our wedding, which included the absence of photographers.

There was a photographer at your wedding, a pretty good one. She was the bride.; 2/16/20, 9:27 AM
Temujin said...: Overheard all week at yoga studios and gluten-free/vegetarian restaurants: "Well...yea...I'm going to tell him we have to get married in the mountains, or whatever they're called, out there in Uta, or whatever it's called. I mean- that just looks so invigorating. Plus, we can do it better. With a caterer. And a band. Give everyone cleats. He could have his dog carry the ring down the rocks to where we're stahnding. I mean, like, he loves his dog, ya know?"; 2/16/20, 9:30 AM
Ann Althouse said...: We're all photographers now.

Meade is pretty good.; 2/16/20, 9:31 AM
tcrosse said...: Doesn't a legal wedding require an officiant and two witnesses? We were married in judge's chambers and two of his clerks were called in to witness. No photos.; 2/16/20, 9:32 AM
Ralph L said...: Not in Colorado, tcrosse. We learned that from Meadhouse.; 2/16/20, 9:35 AM
tcrosse said...: A marriage that starts out on the rocks.; 2/16/20, 9:39 AM
whitney said...: I was ambivalent until I saw the picture and now I think that is the stupidest thing I've seen this week.

I was going to say 'ever seen' but the hyperbole in these incredibly stupid times was just too much; 2/16/20, 9:40 AM
David Begley said...: “he knelt down and said, “Do you want to do this?”

Isn’t that romantic?; 2/16/20, 9:40 AM
AllenS said...: I can't imagine why the two of them decided to get all dressed up for the marriage that nobody knew about.; 2/16/20, 9:48 AM
whitney said...: That article! Why are they in the New York Times, they both sound insufferable. Maybe that's why. They deserve each other.

The article says they both been "Both had been married before and divorced, neither happily." What the hay does that mean? Nobody happy gets divorced; 2/16/20, 9:51 AM
Bob said...: And who took the pictures of the four of them? An automatic camera on a tripod maybe?; 2/16/20, 9:57 AM
Charlie said...: We need to nuke the NYT wedding section from space. It's the only way to be sure.; 2/16/20, 10:06 AM
Ryan said...: My sister is a wedding photographer in Moab.

https://www.angelahaysphotography.com/

Maybe we was the photog on this...; 2/16/20, 10:16 AM
Ryan said...: I mean maybe she was... I'm gonna ask her.; 2/16/20, 10:17 AM
Ryan said...: Wait no, it was some imposters from Boulder. Lol.; 2/16/20, 10:19 AM
William said...: My next big ceremony is my funeral. I won't make fuss about not making a fuss. I didn't prohibit it in my will, but I'd prefer just a small gathering. I specified burial in a veterans plot and a with a cheap casket. Funerals are downers. Worse than weddings in many ways.; 2/16/20, 10:23 AM
Ryan said...: Well Ann and Meade were older on second marriages. For a younger couple eloping, at least the bride is gonna want sime nice pictures to show her friends.; 2/16/20, 10:23 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "For a younger couple eloping, at least the bride is gonna want sime nice pictures to show her friends."

Once you decide to prioritize the photography, you need to think about clothes and hair and makeup. Are you out for a hike in a magnificent landscape or are you fussing over how you hair and makeup are holding up? Are you primping and thinking of how you look when you could be thinking about love and beauty and the sublime? How much is lost! So sad!

One reason not to have other people is that you don't have to think about how they are thinking and feeling. You can be very much directed at each other and at what this means to you and the person you are connecting yourself to. So much is sacrificed when you turn your wedding into a spectacle for other people.

The idea that you've got to have photographs is that you're not truly present in the moment but in the future, where other people will be looking at you. Now, maybe that important to your reasons for marrying... but think that through. Are you making a mistake?!; 2/16/20, 10:48 AM
Howard said...: I vomited in my mouth when I saw the photo of them wearing the traditional Barbie and Ken wedding outfits. They desecrated that beautiful scene.; 2/16/20, 10:49 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "So much is sacrificed when you turn your wedding into a spectacle for other people."

And I don't believe that these other people are enjoying the spectacle very much. They're just fulfilling a duty and doing what they think they're supposed to do. Are they not bored? How can a wedding really be that great for the guests? It's something that made sense in the old days when everyone lived in the same town and it's another church ritual, further binding the community together, especially if it's understood that this is the way we get new members of the community (through this couple giving us all children, who will live with us and benefit us far into the future).

It's very hard to imagine a wedding that's truly exciting and rewarding for the guests, especially if they have to travel and especially if it's not about young people with sizable families who are marrying for the first time and promising to bring children into the world.; 2/16/20, 10:54 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: They win a Darwin, and maybe a Dawkins, for dysgenics.; 2/16/20, 11:14 AM
Bill Peschel said...: "How can a wedding really be that great for the guests?"

How alienated do you have to be from your family to feel this way? My nephew got married for the second time to a great girl, and they had it in a bandstand in a park overlooking a small Chesapeake Bay inlet.

I got to meet some of her family. Real nice people.

Yes, it's much better when everyone lived in the same community. I'm alienated from my brothers and sisters, who were all older than me. I never really got to know them, nor did they, me. My eldest brother's now gone and I miss him. So I try to stay in touch with everyone I can.; 2/16/20, 11:19 AM
Roughcoat said...: Scheduling an outdoor wedding at sunrise is obnoxious.

I'm required to attend two weddings in the coming months, one for a niece and one for a nephew. I'm not close to either and would rather spend the huge sums that travel and lodging will exact on trips to Greece and France. But Mrs. Roughcoat is excited about the weddings and says I have to go, and so go I will, alas.

The hardest part will be pretending I'm happy about it.; 2/16/20, 11:23 AM
chuck said...: Gotta be careful. I had a professor who took a friend and colleague from Germany hiking in Canyonlands. His friend fell off a cliff and was killed.; 2/16/20, 11:56 AM
Wince said...: Meade and I only have a picture of us from just after we got married and only because [a] young woman happened to walk by and a conversation led to her doing a photo of us (and we did one of her). Spontaneity.

That's how "Thruples" are born!; 2/16/20, 12:26 PM
tcrosse said...: My sister's kids vied with each other to see who could get married in the most inconvenient location.; 2/16/20, 12:53 PM
Ryan said...: Ann said: "The idea that you've got to have photographs is that you're not truly present in the moment but in the future, where other people will be looking at you. Now, maybe that important to your reasons for marrying... but think that through. Are you making a mistake?!"

You are assuming a photographer necessarily entails changing your natural appearance and behaviour. It does not. You can see some good examples of natural-lookoing people without any special hair or wardrobe at my sister's insta: @angelahaysphotography. A photographer can simply document what would happen with or without them present.

A young couple who wants to have children should also have some pictures of their wedding, at least to preserve the occasion for their children. To forego this is selfish.; 2/16/20, 11:18 PM
Traveltrap said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/26/20, 7:46 AM
Older than stated age bride didn’t fall off cliff said...: I came across this blog after my 15 year old daughter sent it to me. She was upset about the horrible comments that were posted here about a wedding that really no one knows about. No one here knows who was really at the wedding, how the NYT came to be involved or anything about any of it for that matter. Did we ask for them to come? No. Are we insufferable? Probably not. I gather from the comments here that some of you certainly are. You probably already know that though. Let’s be real here, who wakes up at 7am on a Sunday and then hate posts about a wedding involving two people they’ve never met and know nothing about. Is the article accurate and complete, nope. But you assume so. Or maybe you’re just bored to death and have nothing better to do. Maybe, just maybe, you could bring some positive into the world. Say something nice. Do something nice. Maybe one of those nice things will be read by a child one day and won’t hurt them. Or you can continue to spew negativity into the world and hurt people you don’t even know for the fun of it.; 2/26/20, 9:22 PM
Traveltrap said...: https://bustednewspaper.com/heffron-hailey-ariel-2019-02-27-002600-arrest-booking-mugshot-roanoke-county-virginia/

She's a criminal, and he's a cheater. Why would the NYT even use these 2? They are both absolutely terrible people.; 3/5/20, 8:34 AM