Alaska Elopement
Kelsey and Brendan reached out to me one day in May asking if I had any availability to join them near Anchorage for their late June Alaska elopement, and I immediately responded with dates I could make it work! They had already done quite a bit of planning, with Kelsey knowing the locations she was dreaming of and the general hikes that we’d need to do to get there. Because of the time of year (right before the solstice!) we were truly in the Land of the Midnight Sun, so we had quite the flexibility when it came to the timeline of their Alaska elopement. Follow along for epic glaciers, golden hour moose, a quiet lakeside ceremony, and vast fields of wildflower blooms, all of which Kelsey and Braden incorporated into their Alaska Elopement.
Below you’ll find the timeline for their Alaska elopement, but we started the day mid afternoon meeting at their Airbnb. I did some flat lays with details they brought with them and they enjoyed some pizza from a local pizzeria. They then got dressed in their wedding attire and we got the day going! Their Airbnb had epic views of the mountains near Girdwood so we played around in the backyard before heading off to their lakeside ceremony spot.
We headed into Chugach State Park (one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever done, and I live in Washington) where there are so many amazing locations to choose from. We had settled on a spot we’d scouted the day before that ended up being perfect: little hills, streams flowing down the side of the mountains, and colorful flowers dappling the shoreline. After their ceremony we focused on getting a lot of nature shots in (I’m a sucker for little people big landscapes) as I knew we’d get a lot of more intimate and emotional photos later in the day of their Alaska elopement as the sun began to set.
After their lakeside vows, we hopped in the car and headed off to the big adventure of this Alaska elopement: a turn and burn hike with some gnarly elevation gain that ended at some alpine lakes with sweeping 360 views. While parked for a tunnel to open up, we were next to a train so took advantage of some fun photos with that before it took off through the mountain! We then headed to the trailhead, started our hike, and put in the work to get to our destination. Kelsey had bought a gadget online that allowed her to scoop her dress up while hiking so it was out of the way and she could move her legs freely and I couldn’t recommend it enough!
We then headed off to our last destination of the day: wildflower fields! After a couple of days of location scouting between the three of us, we found some really beautiful wildflower fields on the side of the road that were public! We were nearing the peak of golden hour (close to 11 pm!) so the tones of the grasses and mountain light were out of this world! We played in the meadows, soaked up the last bit of light, then headed off for the evening. Kelsey called me as we were driving home to let me know that there were moose on the side of the road close to the town we were staying in! So I pulled over and took photos (with tears in my eyes) as my final time in Alaska ended with such beauty. Thank you so much K & B, for the most insane Alaska elopement that was entirely what dreams are made of!
Alaska Elopement timeline:
3:30 coverage begins – getting ready photos, EAT
4:30 leave Airbnb
5 lake ceremony
5:30 photos around lake
6:15 get in line for tunnel
6:30 TUNNEL
6:45 start hike
8:30 head back to cars
9 head to wildflowers
10 / 10:30 coverage ends
And that was that for this beautiful Alaska elopement!! Truly out of this world and something I’ll cherish for years to come. If you’re interested in planning your own Alaska elopement, contact me here to get the process started! You can also check out my other adventures on the blog or follow along on Instagram to see what I’m up to!