Adventuresome August Wedding: Elyse + Jeff

Couples that crave adventure, truly thrive on it!  Seriously, like their lives are not complete without it.  They love to discover new places together, action pack their days, and savor every single second while doing it!  Further, they are usually the folks in their friend group that are the trip planners, explorers, and limit pushers.  Care to meet a couple who sing along with this tune?  Allow us to introduce you to one of our favorite Canadian couples ever, Elyse and Jeff whose adventuresome August wedding may leave you green with envy!

Hometown Love

Let’s circle back to 7 years ago in 2012, Elyse had just moved back to her hometown to begin her Masters Degree.  And a mutual friend invited her to share a house as roommates.  Turns out Jeff was one of the roommates and with the mutual friend away most of the time, the connection grew!

When these two travel they love a mix of adventures together.  For example, trekking through national parks, anything on the water, volleyball, hockey, horseback riding, and traveling near and far.  Although they love traveling throughout Canada, places like Jamaica, Croatia, Costa Rica, and even trying van-life throughout the California coast has been apart of their history together.

Proposal, House, Family, and Hello Wedding Adventure!

This fabulous entrepreneur couple, own a plumbing company together and what better way to propose than having it be a surprise?!  Jeff had pretended their basement was flooding and Elyse needed to come home ASAP.  When she arrived there, it was flooding and Jeff surprised her with proposing a lifetime of unforgettable adventures ahead!  After the proposal, they focused on their business ventures, their lakeside home, and starting a family.

However, thinking about how large their wedding in Canada would be (100-200 people), they veered in the direction of eloping.  Since they already had their own sweet little family, their larger extended family and friends would be pretty sad to not be there beside them witnessing.  So conversations centered around an amazing place they could have everyone meet, adventure their way, and still have it be kid-friendly but totally THEM.  Elyse found our Iceland Wedding Planner team and feel in love with our experience driven wedding concept, how different our locations and style of photography is from others.

Turns out they were a perfect fit for our team too so soon began planning for their adventuresome August wedding!

Adventuresome August Wedding Begins

Early on into Iceland wedding planning, these two wanted to ensure the day had specific elements.  For instance, they were seeking a wedding that high energy, was an unforgettable experience for everyone (including the kids), didn’t have crazy long hikes so they could see more, and was truly a tailored adventure to the needs of their group.  As a matter of fact, this is exactly what we want to hear from our couples!

August 16th 2019 came quick after well over a year of planning together, but everything was ready and the excitement was off the charts!  Jeff and Elyse gifted their guests with the start of an awesome “go bag” the evening before to kickoff the journey.  Our lovely bride chose to do her own hair and makeup while our Iceland wedding photographer captured details.  Things like like the gorgeous wedding dress, groom suit, and the adorable children’s outfits!

Shortly before leaving, the soon to be newlyweds and their children had a few family photos taken and packed up last minute items.  Meanwhile, the group of 20+ guests met in the lobby of the hotel around 8am.  Very enthusiastically they loaded into super jeeps for the day, no idea where they were headed!

Highland Waterfall Wedding Ceremony

Just under 25,000 square miles are considered the Icelandic highlands spanning across the uninhabited interior.  In fact, if you’re a weekly reader of our Iceland Wedding Planner blog, you know this where our hearts reside.  Wild, untamed, and absolutely rugged beauty unmatched to anywhere else in the world!  Honestly, it is even more stunning than parts of Patagonia or the South island of New Zealand which we are also huge fans of!

Arriving to the highland waterfall for the adventuresome August wedding ceremony, Elyse, Jeff and their guests jaws dropped!!  Instantly, people were taking photos and marveling over the awe-inspiring views!  Our team went to work picking the ideal spot and setting up ceremony seating.  Guests grabbed their seats and Elyse took her fathers arm to make her grand entrance!  An intimate Iceland wedding ceremony began complete with personal vows and lots of smiles.

Following the ceremony, our Iceland wedding photographer took fabulous family, friends, and bridal party portraits.  Elyse and Jeff had the opportunity to explore by themselves a bit and also have romantic highland waterfall wedding photos!

Intimate Wedding Photos in Iceland

Woot woot!  Nothing adds to an adventuresome August wedding than splashing through rivers in super jeeps!  Well, that and adventuring beside your partner in crime discovering glaciers, mountains, and incredible waterfalls!!  Their energy was infectious and love contagious 😉

Dusty Desert Wedding Adventure

Much of Iceland is covered in black sand because of various eruptions.  These black sands often span into large deserts and during extreme weather in Iceland can create sand storms.  But that’s just it, the weather can create such magical and adventuresome August wedding photos!  Watch Elyse and Jeff rock it out like bosses!!

Experience Driven Wedding Lunch

Lunch!!  A lot of peoples favorite part of the day.  Especially when you’ve worked up an appetite during an adventure wedding in Iceland!  The newlyweds opted in for an experience driven lunch of traditional Icelandic hot dog BBQ.  Rave reviews from the guests and everyone had full bellies to last them through the rest of the days adventures.

First Dance in a Cave

Did you know that even though you may plan an adventuresome August wedding, you can still have traditional elements?  Likely, you’re wondering what that might mean?  Firstly, it could mean you share a first dance at one of your amazing Iceland wedding locations!  Secondly, maybe you also share a dance of honor with your father or mother too.  To illustrate, Elyse shared a dance with her father and Jeff honored his mum with a dance as well.  Having lunch and the dances in a natural Iceland cave was icing on the cake when it comes to the experience perspective as well!

Iceland Wedding Location: Private Black Beach

Black beaches are abundant in Iceland and one of our favorites can change daily from sand to stone.  Specifically this day our super jeep team brought Elyse and Jeff’s wedding group to the private side of Dyrhólaey it was full of basalt stones.  Note: This area is 100% on private property, which requires permission from the landowners and a super jeep.

Canyons and Waterfalls in Iceland via Super Jeep

Discovering Iceland through landscape types is one of the most inspiring ways.  Likewise the reason why Elyse and Jeff left the last location to us for it to be a surprise to them and the group!  Oh la la and we LOVE when our couples trust us to do this because we never ever disappoint!  We will just let you experience their adventuresome August wedding surprise through the photos!

The Berg Wedding Reception Dinner

The majority of our couples like to keep things more low key when it comes to how they plan their Iceland wedding reception.  No shame in being food, drink, and conversation focused reliving the days journey.  And Elyse and Jeff definitely fell into this category after a full 10 hour adventure wedding in Iceland.  Once returning to the Iceland wedding hotel, the group had about an hour to rest and refresh.

Lastly, they were invited to delight in a tasty four course meal together followed by a champagne toast!  Sad to see this adventuresome August wedding come to an end?  We would love to hear from you about potentially planning a similar experience driven wedding.  Please contact us for more information!  Don’t forget to go read Elyse and Jeff’s Google review too!

© 2019, Iceland Wedding Planner, All Rights Reserved.

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