Noah and Kari had contacted me back in May of this year for an anniversary session. They celebrated 20 years together!! How they even look old enough to be together for 20 years, I have no idea! Noah is an actor and host of a few popular TV shows (like Carnival Eats)! Noah and Kari were going to be in Arizona for a month and wanted to take their anniversary photos somewhere epic that they had never been. Sedona has so many epic spots, so I sent them a few options. They were immediately drawn to Cathedral Rock for their anniversary session. I definitely don’t blame them! This hike, while still very difficult, has become one of my favorite hikes in Sedona.
We had set up our session on a weekday to avoid crowding, which didn’t work out in our favour. When we got to Cathedral Rock, we had a hard time finding parking. It was PACKED! I was so confused because I had never seen so many cars at this location on a weekday. As we were hiking up, we came upon over 50 Sedona locals DANCING and socializing on a flatter, open area of the hike. We politely declined when they welcomed us to join, as we didn’t know exactly what this event was for and only came to have our photo session lol! As we hiked up the mountain, we kept spitting out guesses as to what these people were here to celebrate.
Once we made it to the top of Cathedral Rock, I told them we were going to take a minute to catch our breath before we started our anniversary session and just take in the view. I try to get all my couples to do this, as it’s very easy to get caught up in having to be immediately photo-ready. I wanted them to take it all in. The views, the sunset, each other, everything. After they had a few minutes, I had them change into their session clothing. Luckily I bring a pop-up changing tent to all my sessions and it’s super convenient to be able to change wherever we are!
We started our session in what I like to call “the Spot.” The Spot is near the edge of Cathedral Rock, where you get the most panoramic view. It’s iconic for this location, and the views definitely don’t disappoint! After we spent some time at the top, we headed about halfway down for some photos with a different 180 degree of the Sedona landscape! I had planned out our session timeline so that we had the perfect lighting for sunset at this spot, and so that we wouldn’t have to climb down the mountain in complete darkness. A full moon started to shine towards the end of our sunset. Noah and Kari immediately gravitated towards how beautiful it was. It was truly the perfect ending to their anniversary session!
On our way down, the crowd of people had stopped dancing and were laying down and just chilling. We had then realized what they were there for… the full moon! It was pretty cool to see so many people come together to enjoy a pretty sight!
Noah and Kari were seriously such a joy to photograph. They are the people that you just immediately connect with because they are just so kind and personable. I felt like I could talk to them about anything! Noah gave me the inside scoop to some of his shows, and Kari had told me about their travels and how they love exploring new places together. These Canadians had the most perfect session with the best of everything. It has definitely become one of my most memorable sessions.
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