Adventure Elopement on a Mountain in Iceland: Laura + Chris

An adventure elopement is an experience driven wedding day.  By definition, it means an authentic day of exploring together (no guests) and it’s a badass, no apologies way of celebrating your relationship!  Furthermore, you deserve a unique way to honor your relationship that is 100% true to the way you travel, explore, learn, and LOVE each other!

On that same note, some couples even say the words together are exactly what they didn’t know they wanted until they stumbled upon our site.  Meanwhile, there is no shame in escaping tradition to plan the kind of wedding that EXCITES you and one you’ll always remember as a once in a lifetime EXPERIENCE!  Sound like fun to you?  Laura and Chris thought so too!  Come along and witness their adventurous elopement on a mountaintop in Iceland…

Hallmark Meeting Story to Adventure Elopement

Originally Laura is from Florida and Chris from Anchorage Alaska.  Curious how they met?  Chris and Laura’s meeting story is one of our all time favorites!  Seriously, it feels like a story line out of a Hallmark movie!   Well here goes… Firstly, Laura was in the airport waiting for her plane, she passed the time perusing on a dating app.  Secondly, Chris messaged her and witty dialogue ensued… However, Laura was on her way to live in a very remote village named Bethel which is only accessible by plane or sea.  The area is home to the tribe of people named, Yupik within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

Being 100’s of miles away from each other could complicate things for most people.  But to these two lovers, it only made life more exciting and interested!  Each week, Laura would go on a medical supply run.  During one of those times, they met for coffee and both of them would tell you that was it!  That was the very moment they fell in love!!  A whirlwind of dating adventures built their relationship and little family up!  Their days together include taking their German Shepard and Alaskan Husky out on hikes, doing anything outdoors, and Seattle Seahawks games!

Proposal in Alaska

Happy to report that a romantic proposal happened before they began planning their adventure elopement too!  Picture this… Laura was still living in Bethel so she made her way down to his cabin for a little weekend getaway.  Chris snuck champagne into his bag along and a gorgeous ring and met her there.  The weekend was spent doing glacier fun, whale watching, eating smores, and Chris proposing a lifetime of love and adventure!

Both not having huge families, they decided that planning a hiking elopement would be the best fit for celebrating their relationship.  Iceland had been a point on their travel map they were dying to go, so they Google Iceland adventure elopement and found our Iceland Wedding Planner team and never turned back!

Southern Iceland Elopement Hotel

Next, things that were important to Laura and Chris during their adventure elopement was that they have an unforgettable EXPERIENCE together ALONE.  Not just playing dress up and getting pretty photos.  They wanted to hike, climb, and push their limits a bit.  Therefore, they also liked the idea of shaping their experience around the Icelandic mountains with moments of slower pace so they could savor it.  Also, having a picnic by a waterfall and a styled reception table for two was ideal as well!  Oh la la, their wish was our pleasure to put together!

Eloping in Southern Iceland has continuously become more popular each year.  Luckily our team does not focus on tourist locations.  Rather, we would like to show you the pure untouched sides of private offbeat Iceland with ZERO tourists!  Waking up on August 7t super excited they were getting married and embarking on an EPIC adventure wedding in the process!  Hotel Stracta was our base for the day before the wedding and day of.  At 6am our hairstylist and Iceland elopement photographer arrived thrilled to begin capturing the lovely details.  Further, when 8am came, Laura and Chris grabbed their adventure elopement “go bags” and loaded into the super jeep!

Backpacking to Wedding Ceremony Location

There is something really empowering about embarking on a hike to your ceremony location!  Our favorite Pastor and elopement photographer is thrilled to hike beside you two enjoying the view and cracking jokes!  Soon to be newlyweds, Laura and Chris took their time hiking up the side of a gorgeous highland mountain and savoring every single view along the way.  What is sweeter than a groom having his brides bouquet tethered to his backpack?!

Arriving to the Iceland ceremony location, pretty sure everyone’s jaw dropped.  Views of the mountains, glacier outlet, and blue skies were literally STUNNING!  Not to mention the nature based ceremony our Pastor performed and personal vows that Laura and Chris spoke to each other were utterly inspiring too!  Easy to say that backpacking to the wedding ceremony location was 100% worth it!

Mountain and Glacier View

Following the ceremony, these two got lots of warm up cuddles in!  On that same note, they thoroughly enjoyed the view from the mountaintop which unveiled a stunning view of a glacier outlet as they explored the area.  Our Iceland wedding photographer took opportunity to craft some incredible drone photos as well!

Hiking into a Canyon

Planning an adventure elopement does not mean you have to hike all day to get somewhere freaking gorgeous.  Especially since our Iceland elopement locations are only accessible by super jeep we are able to get you closer.  Taking a short hike into a canyon was next on the adventure elopement agenda.  Crossing rivers by foot these two geeked out with nature and looked oh-so good doing it!

Experiencing a Fern Cave

Ferns are interesting plants.  After all they grow from shady spots to desert rock faces and in water.  A special cave in Iceland is full of ferns and it just so happened to be Laura’s favorite plant!  Super fun to hike, visit and experience it during their adventure elopement in Iceland!

Hidden Waterfall Picnic

Woohoo it’s lunch time!  Can you believe they explored three amazing areas already before lunch?!  Chilling for 30 minutes during your Iceland adventure elopement enjoying a glass of bubbles and yummy food is a must do!  Once they were full, they hiked into the secret waterfall area explore it.  So many beautiful Iceland wedding photo opportunities.

Rushing Rivers

Rivers go in all directions.  Specifically spring fed rivers too as they come and go from inside the mountains.  Crazy cool thing about spring rivers like this one Laura and Chris trekked through is that you can drink from it… so bottoms up!

Highland Wedding Adventure in Iceland

Highland roads intertwine with rivers you must pass.  There are very few bridges in the highlands so you must pass the majority of them in a 4×4 truck or super jeep.  Crossing rivers in the highlands should be done with much care and experience and our super jeep team has it!  I fact, they are expert glacier river crossers!  To get to our next location during Laura and Chris’ adventure elopement we crossed at least 10 rivers!!

Southern Iceland Private Waterfalls

Private property waterfalls are our favorite kind of waterfalls to take our couples to.  They explore, sit, adore, quietly listen, and are fully in the moment with their partner.  It’s truly a cherished moment.  Ending the adventure portion of the day, these two ventured to 2 private waterfalls and marveled over them for over an hour!

Romantic Styled Table for Two!

Including a romantically styled table for two during your luxury adventure elopement just makes sense!  Really it adds another level of extraordinary to the experience.  Walking into not just a bistro dinner table, but a perfectly styled just for you table is an incredible memory to keep but the items get to be taken home too!  Needless to say, Laura and Chris really enjoyed their “Adventure Begins” themed adventurous wedding reception table!

Maybe you’re leaving this Iceland Wedding Planner blog post fully inspired and pumped up to potentially plan your own?  Our team would love to chat with you to give you more information on getting that planning adventure started!  Please contact us for more information!

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