A bride in a frothy white gown. A groom holding a ring. An endless desert landscape of canyons against the open sky.
Now imagine, says the Texas wedding photographer Anna Claire Beasley, construction noise, bulldozed roads and a steel border fence as a backdrop.
Bipartisan opposition to the Trump administration's plans to construct a border wall through the Big Bend National Park in West Texas is growing, and the concerns are coming from business owners like Beasley; hunters and outdoor enthusiasts; local residents and both Republican and Democrat elected officials.
Beasley, based in Terlinqua, says she leads couples into the park for "adventure elopements" that capture a Texan spirit of "carving your own path," which the landscape reflects. A petition she started on Change.org opposing the wall has garnered roughly 40,000 signatures in a week's time.
"We are seeing people from all sides of the political spectrum who are saying no to the wall," she said. "We rely on tourism dollars to make a living and live out here. There is a real fear that if construction proceeds, we'll have to leave."
