Black Balsam Knob Elopement | D + C

   This past November we were blessed to be a part of Duke and Claire’s beautiful elopement session at Black Balsam Knob in the Blue Ridge Mountains!  Some of you may be thinking “November!?”  If you’re local or frequent some of these popular scenic locations in WNC, then you already know much of the Blue Ridge Parkway closes when the temps start to drop in the fall.  Throw in the recent devastation from Hurricane Helene on much of the WNC area and we thought our Parkway sessions were going to be a no go this year.  Well, as fate would have it for Duke and Claire, the Parkway accessing Black Balsam Knob was closed leading up to their elopement and just days after, but thankfully for these cuties we were able to time a perfect window for to celebrate their mountaintop love story!

When Duke initially reached out, he let us know that he and Claire had already said their legal I dos, but they were looking to do something more.  Like a lot of our couples that travel to the Asheville area for the beautiful mountain scenery, they were hoping to take advantage of that and commemorate their marriage with an elopement session.  As we alluded in the previous paragraph, their timing could not have been better.  In addition to the Parkway being open and Black Balsam being accessible, the day they picked was perfect!  Black Balsam was dead when it came to foot traffic so we ended up having the place to ourselves, which basically never happens.  Given the temps when we go to the top, it was easy to see why.  It was a chilly 30 degree day at the top and the wind was unrelenting.  Anyone whose ever visited this spot on a warm summer day knows that even then, it can get a little chilly as the sun goes down.  It didn’t even matter.  Duke and Claire were total troopers and toughed it out the cold as we hiked to the summit.  From our first interaction with these two, it was obvious they shared a beautiful chemistry.  The laughs came effortlessly and the romantic mountain top vibes set the stage for this sweet couple to fall right into place!  As always, we hope you’ll enjoy following along on this one as much as we did shooting it and a big congrats to Duke and Claire!