DESTINATION ELOPEMENT PHOTOGRAPHERS KEEPING MARRIAGE AT THE CENTER
THE CHAFFINS PHOTOGRAPHY
ABOUT US
We’re passionate about creating intentional experiences while capturing artistic images that showcase true emotion.
We’re travel-obsessed and in love with experiencing different cultures, exploring God’s beautiful creation, and sharing our love of travel with our couples.
We’ll help you feel comfortable and authentic, creating not just pictures but memories that will last forever.
sammie and Micah Chaffin here!
We're here to be your
biggest supporters.
sammie and Micah Chaffin
Between the two of us, we’ve been to 22 countries (and counting!). On our free time, we're often browsing flights, AirBnb’s, and train schedules for other countries, and dreaming up new trips to take.
So needless to say, when you book with us, you’re not only getting two photographers - you’re getting two new friends who will lend our expertise and help you with the questions you didn’t even know you had!
for the explorers
countries we've visited so far
Whether you're getting married 3 hours from your hometown or in multiple countries across the world...
Consider us your travel besties - you can ask us any questions: big or small, there are no silly questions! (Or if you're already a seasoned traveler, we're here for ALL your stories!) We’re here to support you and share our help and experience!
22
years we've been photographing
6
trips we've daydreamed about taking
923587
years we've been together
5
We’re here to help you
navigate your
traveling elopement.
Wondering what’s the best way to pack a wedding dress for a flight? Or how to navigate trains and metro stations in another language? Or how to figure out wedding permitting in another country?
Road trips with friends
Art
Long flights (I know, we're crazy!)
Good books
Traveling to pretty much anywhere
things we love:
Our Honeymoon in 2019
quick fun facts about us:
(we both answered these questions separately and laughed when we saw how similar some of our answers are haha, clearly we love Thai food and LOTR)
Favorite country I've been to:
France
A meal I could eat every single day:
Pad Thai
Favorite movie:
I could watch Lord of the Rings 10 times a year and never grow tired of it.
A country I'm dying to travel to:
Iceland. (and also Greece). (and Thailand).
Favorite country I've been to:
Switzerland
A meal I could eat every single day:
Pad See Ew
Favorite movie:
Lord of The Rings trilogy
A country I'm dying to travel to:
Japan
One of the things I love most about Micah:
His goofiness, his heart of service, and his steady kindness and love - he’s my biggest supporter and always points me toward Jesus.
Why I love being an elopement photographer:
Being able to serve/impact people on one of the most important days of their lives. I love helping our couples slow down and connect with each other, soak in the beauty of each moment, and have the best wedding experience possible!
Dream elopement to photograph:
Any multi-day elopement that takes place in three or more countries.
(One of my most formative travel experiences when I was 19 was solo-traveling through 9 countries in Europe and experiencing many cultures in a single trip. So a wedding where our couple does just that - experiencing the beauty of cultural and scenic variety by traveling to multiple countries!).
I think it’s the most romantic thing to celebrate a love so boundless, a single country can’t contain it.
One of the things I love most about Sammie:
Her heart of incredible kindness. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as loving as she is.
Why I love being an elopement photographer:
Getting to help people slow down, truly be present, and soak in their day, then providing them with beautiful documentation of their wedding experience that they’ll cherish for decades to come. That’s awesome.
Dream elopement to photograph:
Any multi-country elopement involving a big city + incredible nature, i.e. Paris + Swiss Alps, or New York + Norway fjords. Something like that!
Sammie and Micah are extremely talented photographers (their work speaks for itself!) but they also go out of their way to make the process comfortable and so fun! They are professional beyond words, and go above and beyond. Sammie and Micah captured all of our special moments in gorgeous photos. We cannot recommend a more talented, fun, and hard-working duo to capture such important memories. They put so many special touches into the work they do, which really adds to the whole experience. We can truly say that through working with them we made two new friends, and have already recommended them to other friends who are getting married. Working with them was THE BEST experience.”
"they go out of their way to make the process comfortable and so fun!"
- Heather + Ben
And what better way to love on people than by being their support system/cheerleaders on the most important day of their lives?
We’re passionate about helping your wedding day be as stress-free and peaceful as possible (that was one of our main priorities when we eloped!), which is why we help our couples with so much of the planning process. Our heart is for you to enjoy the experience and have confidence and peace entering into your marriage!
"The day you get married should feel like the best date ever."
We became wedding photographers not because we love photography, but because we love people.
prioritizing your
connection...
This is the moment you've been waiting for. You deserve to experience, savor, and remember the day you get married.
And it should feel like the best date ever.
We help couples slow down and be present on their wedding day - to truly soak in the beauty of each moment.
... for an experience you will remember.
"Choosing an elopement style wedding allowed us to play and laugh and enjoy an entire day of being husband and wife.
Sammie and Micah as a team of photographers are patient and extremely skilled in the way that they can gently encourage you to play and be joyful and forget everything else in the world, like it is just the two of you. Their skill with capturing beautiful and sweet moments that will last forever is truly unparalleled.”
once in a lifetime experience."
"This was truly a
Brooke + Aaron
A California Coast Wedding
we believe marriage is life's greatest adventure
Falling more and more in love with them every single day.
All the simple moments in life become infused with beauty and love and adventure.
Marriage is life’s greatest adventure - we believed this before, and the longer we’ve been married, the more certain of this we are.
There’s something special about being married to your best friend.
Our experience on our wedding day made us so passionate to help other couples have intimate, unhurried, meaningful experiences on their wedding days.
Nothing makes us happier than seeing our couples fulfilled and ecstatic over their wedding day. Many couples don’t know that getting married another way is even an option! We love encouraging you to identify exactly what would make your dream day, keep all the traditions you love and let go of all the ones you don’t, and say yes to the adventure wedding experience of your dreams!
This is why we do what we do.
When I (Sammie here!) dreamed of my wedding day growing up, I didn’t imagine centerpieces and color schemes. There were really only 2 things I dreamed of:
I really don’t know where I got these ideas, as I had NEVER heard of a wedding where someone did this. But I also didn’t yet know that there were “expectations” and “things you should or shouldn’t do” for your wedding. I just thought that being barefoot on an ocean cliff would be the most perfect way for ME to enter into the adventure of marriage.
And years later, after meeting the love of my life, we did just that.
Our wedding day was wild, windy, and adventurous, and we loved every bit of it.
We got married on a cliff overlooking the ocean in 2019, in the same place where we got engaged and where our relationship began over a year prior after meeting at a bible study. Needless to say, this destination held precious memories for us and made our ceremony location incredibly meaningful as we pledged our love before God and our closest family/friends.
And yes, I ran around on the cliffs barefoot!
The photos we treasure most from this day are the ones that hold memories of moments and authentically tell the story of our wedding day (in all of its barefoot, windy, messy-haired glory!). Our wedding day was untraditional, unhurried, meaningful, and adventurous. It was PERFECT for us.
We love elopements so much, we did it ourselves.
I wanted to get married on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
And I wanted to be barefoot.
I wanted to get married on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
And I wanted to be barefoot.
“Have you ever met people that you just know are genuinely good hearted people with the best intentions and their presence puts you at complete ease? That’s Sammie and Micah. We’ve worked with other good photographers before but truly, working with Sammie and Micah is incomparable. From the communication before, during, and after the shoot to the direction and encouragement the day of, 10 out of 10. I recommend them to anyone and everyone. They are professional, kind, personable and simply lovely people to work with.”
"Working
with sammie and micah is incomparable."
- Adriana + Koen
- Your two new best friends/your personal cheerleaders on your wedding day (who will also help carry your stuff, fix your dress, pin that boutonniere, give you snacks, pull out hand warmers when it gets cold - you get the picture! We’re here for YOU!)
- Your elopement experts who will help you through the process of planning your elopement with tons of personalized recommendations and advice!
- Your experience creators - your MARRIAGE is at the forefront of everything we do, and we create space on your wedding day for you to experience connection with each other and fall even more deeply in love.
