The Priority
By the time Kim and Cody got engaged, they'd already spent four years building a life together. Cody has a daughter, Aria. Kim has two sons, Braden and Mason. That's the family they'd already made, long before a wedding date ever got picked.
So when it came time to plan the day, they didn't want a guest list. They wanted the people who already mattered: both sets of parents, and the three kids.
What They Considered
Kim and Cody met in Wisconsin, near Appleton and Marinette, the kind of small-town area where a wedding turns into an event everybody hears about. A bigger wedding back home, with the friends and extended family they'd known for years, was a serious option on the table.
Why It Didn't Work
A wedding back home meant a guest list, a venue that could hold it, and a day built around everyone else's expectations. What Kim and Cody wanted was simpler than that: the five of them, plus both sets of parents, in one place, without turning it into a production.
How It Came Together
Instead of a wedding back home, Kim and Cody brought their people to them. Both sets of parents and all three kids flew out to St. George, and the wedding became one part of a longer trip: a few days of hiking, red rock, and reservoirs before the ceremony ever happened.
They didn't fly in the night before and rush straight to a ceremony. Kim, Cody, and their parents spent the days leading up to the wedding out exploring southern Utah together: the state parks and national parks in the area, the reservoirs, the hiking trails. By the time the wedding day arrived, it wasn't the first stop they'd made as a family in Utah. It was the last.
They stayed at The Ledges itself, a golf course community in St. George, and decided early on that the ceremony would happen right there on the lawn instead of adding another location to the schedule.
Kim and Cody kept their colors simple: black and white, all the way through, from the florals on the arbor to the sola wood bouquet to the cake at the reception. Against the green lawn and the red mountains behind The Ledges, it read clean and a little dramatic without trying too hard.
The ceremony space was a dark wood arbor draped in black and white fabric with white florals tied at each post, set up on the lawn with the mountains directly behind it. No rows of chairs to fill, no program to hand out. Just an arbor, an officiant, and seven people who mattered.
Aria, Cody's daughter, was the flower girl. And instead of a father walking Kim down the aisle, her sons did it: Braden on one side, Mason on the other, both of them in matching light shirts, walking their mom up to where Cody and the officiant were waiting.
It's the kind of detail that's easy to miss on paper and impossible to miss in person. These weren't kids standing around at their mom's wedding. They were part of it, in one of the most visible roles a wedding has.
Kim and Cody had Mike Foley officiate, a talk show personality and comedian based in St. George. He opened with a bit about how Cody was clearly out of his league, worked in the true story of how they met (a bar called Edgewater, a game of darts, a first kiss under a lamp over a pool table), and got the whole group laughing before either of them said a single vow.
Then it turned. Kim read her vows first, and by the time she got through them, she'd pulled a hand up to wipe her eyes mid-sentence. Cody's weren't far behind. Both of them talked about the blended family they'd already built, not the wedding they were about to have.
Their ring box had a message engraved on the lid: it was always you. It sat on a rock at Pioneer Park during their portrait session, rings tucked inside, before either ring made it onto a finger. Small detail, but it says as much about them as anything else on this page.
We started right there on the lawn, using the mountains behind The Ledges as the backdrop for the two of them alone. Then we drove over to Pioneer Park, a stretch of red rock inside St. George with sandstone hills and narrow slot canyons that don't look anything like a golf course lawn.
Kim's dress moved beautifully out there. It was light and flowing, which mattered more than it might sound like it should: St. George holds heat, red rock holds even more of it, and a heavier gown would have fought her the whole time. Instead, the wind caught it walking across the sandstone, and it worked with her instead of against her.
The whole group came back to the clubhouse restaurant at The Ledges for dinner afterward: both sets of parents, the kids, everybody still in their wedding clothes, water glasses and coffee cups raised for a toast at the table. It was casual in the best way, more like a family dinner than a formal reception, because that's what it was.
The cake matched the black and white theme all the way through: two tiers, white buttercream, black and gray sola wood roses tucked against the side. Kim and Cody cut it together at the end of the night, right before the group scattered and Kim and Cody headed off toward Las Vegas.
Kim and Cody left their kids with the grandparents and drove down to Las Vegas for a short honeymoon right after the wedding, about two hours from St. George. No flights, no extra travel day tacked on. Just a straight shot down I-15 into a completely different kind of trip after a week spent hiking red rock with their family.
Elope Your Way
Kim and Cody didn't shrink their wedding down to two people, and they didn't turn it into a production back home either. They built a day around the five people who already felt like family. If a big Wisconsin-style wedding or a courthouse afternoon doesn't sound like you, this is the kind of day I help put together.
Plan your own family elopementIt doesn't feel like a wedding venue. There's no rows of chairs waiting to be filled, no dance floor to plan around. Just a lawn, a view of the mountains, and a clubhouse dining room a few steps away for everyone to sit down together afterward.
It's five minutes from a completely different backdrop. The lawn gives you green grass and mountains. Pioneer Park, a short drive away, gives you red rock and slot canyons. You get two entirely different looks in your gallery without adding a full extra day to the trip.
It scales to your actual guest list. Seven people worked for Kim and Cody. The same lawn and dining room work just as well for a slightly bigger group, without forcing you into a venue built for 150 guests you don't have.
Yes. The Ledges is a golf course community in St. George with a lawn and clubhouse dining room that works well for a small, family-only elopement. Because it's a private venue rather than a park or trail, booking the ceremony space happens directly through the venue, not through a park permit desk.
As many or as few as you want. Kim and Cody kept theirs to both sets of parents and their three kids, seven people total, and it still felt like a full, warm day. The lawn and the clubhouse dining room both scale up from there if you want a slightly bigger guest list without losing that intimate feel.
We drove over to Pioneer Park, a red rock park inside St. George with sandstone hills, narrow slot canyons, and views that don't look like anything you'd get on the actual ceremony lawn. It's a quick drive from The Ledges, which made it easy to fit into the same afternoon without a long detour.
St. George runs hot and the red rock at Pioneer Park holds heat, so breathable fabric matters more than it would somewhere higher in elevation. Kim wore a flowing, lightweight gown for that reason, and it moved beautifully in the portraits instead of weighing her down on the sandstone.
About two hours by car, which is part of why it works so well as a pairing. Kim and Cody left their kids with grandparents and drove down for a short honeymoon right after the wedding, without needing to fly anywhere or build in an extra travel day.
Book Your Date
St. George's spring and fall weekends book up fast for a lawn ceremony that doesn't need a tent or a backup plan for weather. If you already know who belongs in the room, I'll scout the red rock, work the light, and build a timeline that gets you both the ceremony and a proper portrait session in one afternoon.
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Written by
Utah-based wedding, elopement, and proposal photographer since 2025. I've scouted these locations myself, so the advice here comes from firsthand experience, not guesswork.
