-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Caution: Sappy Personal Post Ahead.  The holidays always fill my heart with endless amounts of gratitude for situations that have happened, moments in time, and it’s a beautiful yet meaningful time to reflect and be with the ones you cherish most.  For those who have followed our blog since 2012, you know my history, my struggles, my growth both personally and professionally.  It’s been an incredible journey and today I can confidently say that I’m a wife to a man who is better than me and I am proud of (and love) it.

Davíð Geir Jónasson, looks at me the way all women want (and deserve) to be looked at by a man.  I’ve never laughed harder, never travelled farther around the world with anyone and still left smiling by the end of it.  To put it raw and frankly, I’m addicted to him. His energy, book to street smarts, risky wit, infinite positivity and the way he brings out the best in everyone he encounters.  He adventures at the same level as me (some might even say higher and I might agree).  Enough gush.  Go back HERE to read more about how we met (super GOOD story), our relationship and proposal.

But! Back to today’s topic: Meeting in Iceland to Having a Lofoten Islands Elopement Adventure.  We chose to elope.  Why?  It felt right for us.  Being an adventure wedding planner and photographer (and Davíð in the film industry), we look at wedding days way differently than most of the world.  Much like what my clients come to me for, we were looking for something DIFFERENT and a place that had enough beauty and adventure in it for us both.  Have you heard of the Lofoten Islands?  It’s a spectacular place in Northern Norway.

The shapes, the tones, the textures of the vivid mountains of the Lofoten Islands cannot be found anywhere else in the world.  They come chock full of mystery and unforgettable romance.  So come along with me today as I, my super talented friend (and colleague) Jean Smith and her brilliant cinematographer husband Travis Smith share with you the unbelievable documentation from our Lofoten Islands, Norway wedding day.

The winding roads of Norway, led us to one of the prettiest areas of the Lofoten Islands for our wedding adventure.

I’m a firm believer that even if you elope, you should still have gorgeous details to compliment your adventurous love story.  This also means I had to have a Norway wedding welcome bag for our photographer and cinematographer guests.  Having local treats (like chocolates, a guidebook, wool gloves, dried fish, etc) enhances the experience and makes people smile upon arrival!  Plus, um did you see the bag and the lunchbox?!  I’m still in cuteness overload!

Having an adventure wedding anywhere in the world, it’s a good idea to have two wedding dresses.  Mainly because you never know what the weather will be doing and one may look better better in rain or wind, etc.  Since I preach this every day to my adventure wedding clients, I actually planned 3 wedding dresses and 3 pairs of shoes/boots (and my husband brought two suits/shoes as well).

Fun Fact from our Lofoten Islands Elopement: Davíð handcrafted my destination wedding bouquet.  We actually filled up a suitcase full of flowers/ greens and this is in the end what my fresh flower bouquet looked like… Side Note: Having so many dresses, I actually had 3 wedding bouquets as well.  Having planned and photographed hundreds of weddings over the years, fresh flowers never withstand the adventure aspect of our weddings so it’s nice to have a backup or two that are fake, but real looking.  My favorite vendor who accomplishes this is Southern Girl Weddings.

Lofoten Islands Norway Elopement Tip: Leave superstition / tradition behind and get ready together.  It decreases the any stress you might have and gives you fun memories like these!

We scouted and chose our Lofoten Islands wedding locations very carefully because of the way the light falls on these magical mountains.  It falls fast, deep, and runs out quickly.  Each spot we chose not only had a meaning, but at each we held part of our Norway wedding ceremony.  Since we had already been “legally married” on paper in Iceland earlier, we could focus completely on each other, the meaning behind each part, and the adventure. First up was us reading our wedding vows.

We’ve moved mountains together, so naturally we have to dance around in front of them!

Entrance of dress #2: The beach was WAY too windy and the other dress would have looked lame!  Norway always provides a dreamy amount of wind for a wedding dress!

What Lofoten Islands Norway wedding would be without a token ceremony?  Davíð is not a fan of rings so we exchanged a watch (JS Watches Reykjavik) and a ring.

…and would a adventure wedding planner have a Lofoten Islands wedding ceremony without it being styled?  Nope!  Nordic Love is the inspiration on this setup.  Thousands of petals from my favorite folks at Flyboy Naturals.

We decided to incorporate our “first drink” together and have it be out of a Viking horn.  Champagne of course!

The beauty of the time of day when the light turns so quickly into darkness in the mountains is being able to have gorgeous Lofoten Norway wedding photos like these…

The day could not conclude without having a stylish dinner for two during our Lofoten Island elopement.  Our theme: Romance and Adventure Collide.

Hello Waffle Cake, You Look Delicious.  A must have for your Nordic wedding (or Lofoten Islands elopement)!

Beef filet and whale were on our Lofoten Norway wedding menu!

Words cannot properly express the emotions that stir when we watch this video (which is like everyday).  I strongly encourage you to find it in your budget to hire an adventure wedding photographer AND a cinematographer (not just a videographer) to forever document your love story.  Just do it.  It’ll pay dividends in happiness and forever newlywed status later.

Thanks for joining us on reliving our Lofoten Norway adventure wedding!  We hope it has provided you a little fun inspiration or at least made you smile!  Stay tuned next week for our Iceland Wedding Planner Best of Year End Review!

In the meantime, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

With a smile, Ann Peters + Team (Iceland Wedding Photographers + Planners)

© 2016, Iceland Wedding Planner, All Rights Reserved.

The post Meeting in Iceland to Having a Lofoten Islands Elopement Adventure appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

…and today I write you from the “bottom of the world” in Ushuaia, Argentina.  The furthest most Southern city of the world.  I find it slightly ironic since my business first started at the token “top of the world” in the Nordic countries.  It seems only fitting I begin my best year yet here at the bottom!

As many of my weekly followers know, 2015 was a big year of changes for me personally and also professionally.  But taking a big bird’s eye view back over the last several years (and maybe you will to?), I sit for a moment, smile and am reminded at how different each year has been for me as well.  Different in gratitude, grace, in mission, and adventure.  I am addicted to it, crave it, live it daily, and breathe adventure every day in my life and in my career.  When those two things aligned, my life changed to purely positive.  I learned how to love, live in the moment, embrace my passions, found where there is a will there is always a way, and a renewed respect and admiration for people and cultures, I frankly didn’t know was possible.

I committed to myself after my divorce was finalized in January 2015, I very would very bravely pack up everything I own, put it in a storage unit, and leave the USA to travel for a year in order to bring my Adventure Wedding concept to life.  I did and I have absolutely no regrets (even after flipping a car in Galloway, Ireland) as I come to the close of 2015.  The things I have seen, tasted, and experienced, I could write for years on (and I will, so please follow Your Adventure Wedding).  The new offbeat locations I have brought into my destination wedding planning repertoire are unbelievable!  Did you see my travel schedule I posted?  That was just a simple taste as to what I have planned… if you know me, you know I get down and offbeat, not mainstream tourism!  My travels continue on into 2016 and I will continue to live out of only 3 suitcases and a purse =)  It’s a lifestyle I have come to love and embrace whole heartedly with all my being.

Follow me on Instagram to see daily updates and/or inspiration!

Additionally, I am incredibly thankful to the couples who trusted me in 2015 to plan and forever document their Iceland weddings and elopements (and locations beyond), it was so amazing to be a part of history with you!  No one can rock out rainy, snowy, and cloudy weddings with a smile, like you!  I have the best most hardcore clients ever, THANK YOU for being so badass!  …and to my fabulous couples upcoming in 2016 and 2017, you have challenged me and more importantly, trusted me to step it up a notch and plan some indescribably unique things in some incredible places, I heart you!!  THANK YOU and I look forward to making it the best year yet!!

To my amazing partners all over the world… Without you I wouldn’t be able to rock out adventure weddings in some of the most obscure locations people told me weren’t possible!  Thank you for supporting and running with me in my crazy awesome visions!  I’m really excited to having you as part as our “A-Team” of vendors as we change the way the world views destination weddings!

So, I left you a little teaser from last week’s Christmas Eve post about some big news, right?!  In an effort to continue our mission of leading the change in the destination wedding industry to equal Adventure Weddings… I’m happy to announce that we have officially opened up our South American market!  If you’re an outdoorsy couple who loves to hike, be in the middle of epic landscape scenes, and be completely awed by nature then allow me to introduce you to the underrated: Patagonia.  ….wondering where it is?

Patagonia sits within the Andes mountain range in Southern sections of Chile and Argentina.  This is also where the mysterious and most intriguing “W” trek of mountains live and breathe.  There are volcanos, lakes, rainforests, glaciers, fjords, caves, penguins, bird watching, endless mountain views, and so many unique experiences to be had, you will not be able to sit patiently still!  We would love to chat more with you about this location being your unforgettable destination wedding location, please contact us for more information and if you’re up to the challenge of being the first!

Every year, must conclude with reliving some lovely moments in time, right?  Today, I’d like to share with you a few of our favorites from the 2015 Iceland wedding year (Note: We do not post the majority of our Iceland weddings or destination weddings on this blog because we respect the privacy of our high profile clients) but some of our clients love and allow us to share them with you, so let’s look back and delight in those today along with a few of my favorite travel photos!

Enjoy!  …and cheers (Skal!) to you and yours as we head into 2016 being our best year yet!
With a smile, Ann Peters (Adventure Wedding Planner and Photographer)

PS- Come back next time to see the most amazing elopement we planned and photographed at the Igloo Hotel in Lapland!

© 2015, Your Aventure Wedding / Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post 2015: We Came, We Conquered, and We Continue (Our Mission of Changing Destination Weddings to Adventure Weddings) appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.