NEED TO KNOW
- A black bear appeared during Stephen and Kelly Joseph’s elopement photo shoot in Yosemite National Park on May 21
- The couple continued their shoot as the bear foraged nearby, with their photographer calling the encounter a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”
- Yosemite National Park is home to 300 to 500 black bears
A bride and groom’s elopement photo shoot was crashed by an unexpected guest.
Stephen Joseph, 37, and Kelly Joseph, 32, privately eloped last year. To mark their special day, they traveled to Yosemite National Park in California on May 21 for an adventurous photo shoot in their wedding attire.
Although the couple posed for daring shots on the edge of a towering cliff, their boldest photos ended up being from a situation neither of them planned for.
While they were hiking a trail to their scenic sunset photo spot with their photographer, Ariel Smartt, a black bear appeared off the side of the trail, seemingly foraging for food on downed trees.
“On our hike to Taft Point, we stopped along the trail quite a few times to take advantage of the lighting and environment. It is such a magical place,” Kelly tells PEOPLE. “While we were in the middle of a shoot on the trail, someone stopped us and said there was a bear sighting and that we should be careful. We laughed about it until it came up behind us!”
Despite bears being wild animals, the trio didn’t feel afraid or that their lives were in danger because the animal paid no attention to them.
“Luckily, it was docile, foraging without a care in the world,” Kelly says. “It was intimidating, but we never felt like there was any real danger. We kept our distance and kept the shoot going.”
She adds, “Ariel, our photographer, was such a professional. She said we should go if we wanted to. Stephen and I wanted to stay and make the most of it.”
The bear remained in the area for around five to 10 minutes, then moved on.
Smartt, who named the bear Cinnamon, wrote on Instagram that it was “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” She took the rare chance to quickly snap a few photos of the black bear behind the couple as they smiled and kissed.
“The day was so incredible top to bottom, and the bear encounter absolutely made the day more special,” Kelly says. “Standing on the edge of a cliff with a 3,000-foot sheer drop was much more intimidating than the bear, to be honest.”
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Yosemite National Park is home to approximately 300 to 500 black bears, but no brown or grizzly bears, according to the National Park Service.
Most of Yosemite’s black bears, despite their name, are actually brown in color. The black bears vary greatly in size, with the average adult male weighing about 250 lbs. and the average adult female weighing about 150 lbs.
Visitors who encounter a bear are advised to keep their distance for safety and respect for themselves and the animal. Attacks are rare, and there have been no reported fatalities or serious injuries by black bears in Yosemite.
