Where in Iceland do you get married if you’re a fun Canadian couple, who are thrill seekers, and have a love for earthy natural wonders?  …On top of the Mýrdalsjökull Glacier on the Southern rim of Katla Volcano, that’s where!

Ha =)  Thanks for coming back this week to see Tara and Landon hold their Iceland wedding ceremony on the top of a glacier in Iceland.  Hopefully you enjoyed their Thingvellir Engagement Session (Iceland Pre-Wedding Session) and Iceland wedding video over the last few weeks!

The early morning of Tara and Landon’s wedding day on June 27^th was spent at a wonderful geothermal hotel named Frost & Fire Guesthouse in Southern Iceland’s hot spring town of Hveragerði. The hotel grounds are full of geothermal heat vents and all the hotel rooms sit beside the gorgeous Varma River.  All of which made for a very dreamy backdrop as the bride and groom got ready for their day together.  Shortly after 9am, we all loaded up and drove about 1.5 hours west to Arcanum to meet the glacier guide and Icelandic pastor for the journey up to the top of the glacier.  The anticipation to get to the top of the glacier was off the charts!  The bride and groom could not stop swapping smiles, laughing, and taking an occasional fun shot of Brennivin through the bumpy ride.  They were too cute!

Tara and Landon’s Iceland wedding ceremony spot was on the top of the Mýrdalsjökull Glacier on the Southern rim of the famed Katla Volcano.  (Which as a fun side note… The volcano is actually way over overdue for an eruption (– last was in 1918).  Had they chosen to hold their ceremony one week later, they would have been forced to choose another location as they a week later did not allow any tours to the top, due to glacier flooding).  After a 40 minute climb to the top, we were there and in the clouds!

As soon as we arrived the champagne went in the snow… What better way to chill champagne than on the glacier itself!  To all of our surprise, it was hot (like 55 degrees!) on top of the glacier!  It was so warm the bride took off her Icelandic shawl!  During the ceremony the sun tried burning through the clouds during the ceremony and totally succeeded with giving us some blue skies.  The brides white ¾ length dress, red boots, yellow and red Icelandic poppy paper bouquet and the groom’s complementary accents really popped next to all of the white snow, it was gorgeous and so fun!

During their glacier wedding ceremony, three really sweet things happened… First they exchanged vow books to silently read, so special!  Second, they did a really unique unity ceremony which was a beautiful Australian tradition called the “Stone Unity Ceremony.” I sadly will not do it justice so I am going share verbatim…

“To be further united Tara and Landon, since you are both Geoscientists and share a love of the earth, you have chosen to embrace an Australian marriage tradition by casting a stone into a nearby river or ocean – thus symbolizing your marriage remaining together while the tides of time ebb and flow over your lives.  Since we are standing here today in Iceland on a river of ice, I invite you to bury 2 stones into the glacier today to symbolize your togetherness.  The two stones you have chosen are gemstone hearts made of Jade and Rose Quartz.

Jade is an ancient stone that is a powerful symbol of successful love, wisdom, beauty and serenity.  It is also protective stone that protects and supports loving energy and guards against misfortune.  Landon will bury the jade heart beside Tara’s heart, as today he pledges his love for Tara and promises to protect her and their love.

Rose quartz is often called the “Love Stone” and promotes unconditional love, forgiveness, infinite peace and compassion. It represents harmony in happy loving relationships and teaches us about the true essence of love.  Tara will bury the rose quartz heart beside Landon’s heart, as today she pledges her love for Landon and promises to nurture their unconditional love.

Once buried today, these gemstones will travel together in the glacier through time.  This action will symbolize how far you have and will travel together and how your love will always be steadily moving forward.  Tara and Landon, will you now bury your stones.”

As they buried their stones the Icelandic pastor, Egill read a special Eskimo Love Poem.  Swoon!!!!!  It was so beautiful!  The conclusion of the ceremony included a really sweet Icelandic blessing.  Once finished, the Iceland Wedding Planners popped open a bottle champagne and served them some delicious Icelandic treats.  They took some time alone to walk around hand in hand and explored the glacier together.  Several stops along the way down from the glacier top proved to be gorgeous spots for Iceland wedding photos!

Stay tuned next week for more of their Iceland wedding adventures… some pretty EPIC images coming your way!

With a smile, Ann (Iceland Wedding Photographer & Planner)

© 2002-2014, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Iceland Glacier Wedding: Mýrdalsjökull Glacier (Katla Volcano) appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

Thrilled you stuck with us through our little blogging break =) We have been going a million miles an hour photographing some amazing Iceland weddings, finishing up wedding details for our remaining 2014 fabulous couples, and excitedly planning with our 2015 & 2016 couples.

Some sensational news we’d like to share: Did you know we have added someone tremendously awesome to our Iceland wedding planning team? Beth Golden, has a decade worth of experience in the industry and has proved to be a positive asset to our growing team. Her vision, creativity, attention to details is remarkable. Frankly she is our right arm in day of organization, so we can focus on you and capturing your amazing wedding moments in Iceland! As I am sure you know the enthusiasm never ends around here and Beth fits right in. So please warmly “Welcome” her to the Iceland Wedding Planner team!

As promised, today begins several extraordinary posts we will be sharing with you and all will surely make you swoon in envy! First series that is up is Atlanta, Georgia couple: Kim + Chris. I have 100’s of “favorite” images and have decided I don’t want to blow up one blog post with them, so we’re going to break up their adventurous Iceland wedding day into several pieces so we can all savor it and take notes! So please be sure to check in often over the next few weeks to see their Iceland wedding story unfold…

Can I let you in on a little secret? Summer Iceland weddings rock; there is nothing better than having the option of getting married at 6am or 11pm and holding a crazy epic adventurous wedding day under the midnight sun. Sooo… After driving 85km west in Southern Iceland on Sunday, June 22nd, it was time to get married!  Kim and Chris met their Icelandic pastor, on the shores of Reynisfjara Beach (sometimes people refer to it as Vik Beach).

They walked happily hand in hand to the basalt rock cave (Hálsanefshellir Cave) and held their spiritual Iceland wedding ceremony inside. Kim and Chris declared their love to each other by simply stating, “I promise to always love you more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.”  [Swoon!] The bride was so happy she shed a couple of joyful tears and the pastor immediately gave them both the biggest hug ever!  We popped a bottle of Domaine Chandon and served the bride and groom several tasty Icelandic baked goods to start the celebration right then, right there.

It was stunning in every way… and did I mention blue skies were abound? Yup, that always seems to happen for every wedding we photograph in Iceland, no matter the season =) Chris and Kim drank their bubbles, laughed, smiled and frolicked throughout the beach giving us tons of amazing opportunity’s for unforgettable Iceland wedding photos! So today, please delight in the beginning of their fabulous adventure: Chris and Kim’s Iceland destination wedding ceremony…

A note to my lovely couple:

Kim and Chris,

You give me goose bumps, that simple. The love you exude for each other made me cry with joy and I am not a crier, ever. You are soul mates and no one can deny it when they see you together. It was such an honor to design such a monumental day from start to finish for you both and being the lucky one, who got to photograph it too. Thank you for choosing me! So how about we plan an Iceland vow renewal adventure for your 5 year anniversary? ..Next time in Northern Iceland or with Northern Lights! Until then lots of hugs, Ann (…and Beth)

To the rest of you fabulous people: Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to come by next week to see more of Chris and Kim’s Iceland wedding day!

With a smile,

Ann Peters (Iceland Wedding Photographer and Planner)

© 2014, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Iceland Wedding Photographer | Kim + Chris | Reynisfjara Beach (Vik Beach Cave) appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

We hope this finds you well and super excited for the fabulous week ahead of you!  Working in the wedding industry for more than a decade now, has given Chris and I a lot of insight into all different types of wedding locations and situations.  That is one of the reasons why we planned to have a destination wedding -we personally wanted somewhere different that most.

Specifically, we were interested in a location we had never photographed before, that none of our guests had been, offered dramatic backgrounds for our wedding photos, and a place that would have more natural wonders then we could count –this was Iceland for us.  In April 2012, we flew in 40 of our closest friends and family from around the world for our Iceland destination wedding at Seljalandsfoss waterfall.  Following our Iceland wedding ceremony, we had planned a wedding day adventure for our guests that included a fun champagne toast at the famous black sand beach –Vik Beach, a stop at the powerful Skogafoss waterfall and an amazing 5 course wedding dinner alongside of the Ranga River.  During our adventure wedding in Iceland, we were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights too <yes even in April>!

Ah, love + Iceland, still gets me off track every time!  Now back to today’s Iceland wedding planning topic of the week…When Chris and I photograph each wedding, one of the “swoon worthy wedding moments” we always enjoy is capturing is the kiss!  It is such an epic moment that signifies so much and is frankly loaded with a ton of firsts.

• Usually the first kiss of the day!
• First kiss as husband and wife.
• First kiss of the rest of your lives <insert corny cliché, lol!>
• The culmination of so much awaited anticipation.
• Your first kiss in front of one of Iceland’s dramatic landscapes!
• Serves as the seal of your marriage vows.
• Your first PDA in front of all you love and adore!
• The foundation of your marriage and your wedding vows (Remember, each time you kiss your husband/wife it should bring you back to that moment in time).

*Disclaimer: Alright so the rest of this post is a tad bold… But we seriously hope it stirs some dialogue between the two of you as you plan your dream wedding ceremony in Iceland.*

One of things we like to encourage our destination couples to is practice their Iceland wedding ceremony kiss.  I know it seems totally silly, but you both need to be on the same page on when and how you will.  <Insert slightly awkward moment>.  Ha, yes I said “how!”  So now that I have you thinking about the big moment and picturing yourself in it, let’s go over some helpful guidelines from our perspective as Iceland destination wedding photographers.  Without further ado here are 10 tips to the perfect wedding kiss:

1. Know when the kiss is going to be.  Will it be at the end of the vows? After your unity ceremony?  At the end of the ceremony?  Will your Iceland wedding official make a formal announcement?
2. Whose nose will be towards the crowd?  Do you care?  I personally did because I’ll be frank and say I’m not a fan of my nose.  So when Chris and I practiced our kiss for our Iceland destination wedding at Seljalandsfoss waterfall, I was adamant about ensuring Chris’s nose would be towards the crowd.  Practicing helped this be totally natural the day of our April wedding day in Southern Iceland.
3. Don’t rush it!
4. Put your hands on each other, yes I said it!  Your kiss at the end of your Iceland wedding ceremony will be way more amazing if you go from standing side by side to holding hands or embracing.  Cannot stress enough how important this is for photos so we can document that amazing connection.  So grab her, grab him and bring each other in to really kiss!
5. Make eye contact, smile, do the “slow lean in,” and tip your head.
6. Close your eyes!
7. KISS!  Now, when I say “kiss” this does not condone “making out” in front of your wedding guests.  You need to find a nice balance between the above and the millisecond kiss.  Real Iceland Wedding Example: When we said “I do” during our Iceland wedding ceremony, we opted for holding hands and we went for the “1 one-thousand, 2 two-thousand, 3 three-thousand and complete,” kiss!  That route adds to the dreamy feel your wedding photos will have and also allow for your Iceland wedding photographers to get a couple of shots and angles.
8. Iceland Wedding Photographer Tip: Sneak in another kiss ½ way down the aisle.  This makes for a gorgeous photo opportunity with your ceremony site in the background!
9. Practice!  …and repeat!
10. Share with your photographer ahead of time if you plan to do something epic like a “woohoo” with the fist, jump for joy, or first kiss dip.

We hope our Iceland wedding blog post today, will prove to be catalyst of conversation between you and your soon to be so you can be ready for the sweetest kiss ever!  Below, we share with you some super sweet first kisses!

With a smile, Ann & Chris Peters

Iceland Wedding Planners & Iceland Wedding Photographers

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post 10 Tips for the Perfect Kiss from an Iceland Wedding Photographer appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

Outside of holding our Iceland wedding ceremony at Seljalandsfoss waterfall, one of my favorite “gives me goose bumps” moments from our Iceland wedding planning was arranging my husband, Chris’s day of wedding gift.

So many of you might be scratching your head right now wondering what I mean… So you ask, “Ann, what is a day of gift?”  A day of gift goes both ways: Bride surprises her soon to be and groom surprises the bride with a gift, showing the enthusiasm and anticipation of their wedding day.  This can be simplistic or elaborate; it’s all in how you are as a couple.  I’ll paint a picture for you on how we planned and exchanged our wedding day of gifts in Iceland so you may understand better.

Chris and I in a nutshell are “Type A” personalities in case you haven’t figured that out yet.  We are crazy detailed, thrive on adventure and we really seek it out in our travels and everyday life.  Fun fact: This is exactly why our Photos by Miss Ann tagline was coined years ago as, “Thriving on Adventure and Love…”  As cliché as it sounds, we truly do live life with no regrets and strive each day to do so as we build our personal lives together and individually, our businesses, and our bucket lists.  That being said, buying gifts for each other is really hard!  Neither of us wears jewelry nor have a burning desire for a specific tangible good, but we do both enjoy a challenge that is near to impossible.  So when we talked about whether or not we would exchange “day of gifts” on our wedding day in Iceland, we both agreed it would be fun and then swapped sneaky smiles!  Our marvelous challenge for Iceland wedding day of gifts commenced!

I racked my brain for a few days on what sort of everlasting sweet gift I could give Chris that could forever hold an impression on our marriage, make him tear up, and then it came to me!  One of our all-time favorite movies on the planet is “Somewhere in Time,” (circa 1980).  It’s a mushy time traveling film with Jayne Seymour and Christopher Reeve that is about two soul mates finding each other despite there being generations of time between them.  The catalyst of the time travel is a pocket watch from the early 1900’s and that simple element ignited my memory!  Chris had inherited one from his great grandfather decades ago, that he had always talked about getting restored to its original glory, just never had.  It was in really bad shape i.e., missing glass, hands, internal components, and needed heavy refinishing, so it took several months for the clock shop to find parts.

A week before we were leaving for our Iceland destination wedding, I picked up the pocket watch gift and was in total awe.  My gift to Chris was going to be time…Why?  Time is something we all run short on when we fall in love.  It seems like once we say, “Yes!” to “Will you marry me?” life gets jammed on the fast forward button and goes faster than we wish.  I think as couples in love, we forget to keep “dating” each other and do not always savor those small moments in the midst of all those big upcoming life moments.  Does that make sense?  Truthfully, I am not a woman of many emotions, but seeing and holding that watch, knowing what it represents, and then putting it inside the engraved box, immediately brought tears to my eyes.  The outside of the box was engraved simply with, “Today, I promise to love you until the end of time.”  There was no way I could have chosen a better wedding gift for him, it was truly priceless.  To top it off, I did add a super sweet card to his wedding day of gift that I had planned to hide in his tux pocket that playfully said, “I cannot wait to see your smile down the aisle!”  I packed everything in my polka dot carry on that night and did not even think about that he was going to give me a gift too!

Fast-forward to barely a week later, we had made it to Iceland, got our marriage license, checked out our wedding ceremony location at Seljalandsfoss, saw some rainbows at Skogafoss, and ran around Vik Beach just to make sure all three were our final choices for the following wedding day adventure.  After we finished, all of our to-do’s and were awaiting the start time of our Iceland wedding welcome dinner.  Chris suggested then, that this would probably be the last quite moment we would share together before the hustle and bustle of the wedding weekend had begun.  We decided to give each other our wedding day of gifts the evening before our wedding day.  I grabbed my special gift to him and gleamed with excitement as I handed it to him.  Chris gave me a curious look but still had no idea as he unwrapped the gift and read the outside of the special box.  Once he opened the box and saw his grandfather’s watch in its pristine glory, he instantly got choked up and shed a few tears even!  <Success! Bridal happy dance!>

After a few minutes he collected himself and told me to close my eyes <Eeeeek, I hate surprises, grrrr!> it was the longest 5 minutes ever!  I heard him fumbling around but didn’t really realize what he was doing until he said, “Open!”  Chris had spent months tirelessly building Photos by Miss Ann a new website from scratch, no templates, no predesigns, only him and the world of coding!  How incredibly thoughtful and such a unique surprise for him to give me!  All those months before our Iceland destination wedding, I had just thought he had been gaming on his computer until the wee hours of the night (Ahem, while I Iceland wedding planned, LOL) and really he had been doing a labor of love for my photography business!  <3

Chris and I dislike traditional things for the most part, but one thing in our wedding planning we did keep was ensuring he did not see me in my wedding dress until I walked down the aisle to him.  So after breakfast the morning of our Iceland wedding at Seljalandsfoss, we parted ways.  The really sweet thing was that we had saved exchanging cards until the morning of when we were both getting ready at Hotel Ranga.  I was getting my Iceland wedding dress on in the Royal Honeymoon Suite with my maid of honor and Chris was getting ready in another room with his best man.  Reading his card once I had my Iceland wedding dress on made it even more real and made me blaze with even more excitement!  Chris went to put his antique pocket watch in his inside tux pocket and was surprised to find my card while he and the rest of our guests loaded the bus for our surprise Iceland wedding ceremony location: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall.  Sharing our Iceland wedding gift moment with Chris, will be forever be that “somewhere in time” moment for us!

In our opinion, day of gifts set the tone of the wedding weekend or wedding day.  Every bride wants her groom completely enamored with her on their destination wedding weekend especially in Iceland!  This little detail of gift giving before your wedding day expresses the appreciation you have for each other and exciting captivation you both have for saying “I do!” that day.  We’d love to share with you some ideas for your day of gift to your soon-to-be:

Day of Gift Ideas for the Bride:

• A Heartfelt Card.
• Red Roses or her favorite flower!
• Diamond earrings or her birth stone (whichever she may prefer).
• A Bracelet or Necklace (ladies do not feel obligated to wear it on your wedding day).
• An item to complete your home (Example, A small bistro set for the porch or backyard to have dinner or coffee on together).
• Book an exclusive dinner for your Honeymoon (Example: Like what we did on our honeymoon at the Ayana Resort in Bali Indonesia: Pesta Lobster dinner on their private jetty).
• Something from Tiffany & Co.
• A sweet Souvenir from the destination wedding location you have chosen (maybe something that goes along with an inside joke you guys have?).
• Have the wedding night suite furnished before your arrival with a rose petal pathway, champagne, and fresh fruit (all the fabulous hotels we work with in Iceland offer this as an add on)!

Day of Gift Ideas for the Groom:

• A Heartfelt Card.
• A Basket of His Favorite Things.
• A Watch (Feel free to totally steal our pocket watch idea- just make sure you have your Iceland wedding photographer take a photo!)
• Book a surprise adventurous activity for your awesome honeymoon!
• That “must have” electronic he has been eying.
• An item to complete your home or to support his favorite hobby (Example, A workbench for him to build projects on).
• A World Map of your Travels Together (past, present, and future)!  This was actually Chris’s first gift he ever gave me.  Three years later, we still love plotting our travels on it, so much fun!
• Have a sweet saying engraved on the inside of his wedding ring. (Ideas: “Forever,” “Better Together,” “Fire & Ice,” “A Perfect Fit,” “Remember When…” “I Choose You, Every Day,” “Love Never Fails”).

If you’re having a destination wedding in Iceland and the wedding gift is too big, bulky, isn’t tangible to bring, it’s totally okay to print out a picture of your gifted item, put it in a small box, and wrap it for him/her to open.  In the end, it’s all about the thought and adding to the excitement of your wedding day!  We hope this blog post featuring our destination wedding in Iceland tip: “Day of Gift” has encouraged you and your soon-to-be to exchange special wedding day gifts!

Epically Yours as Iceland Wedding Photographers and Planners,

Ann & Christopher Peters

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Destination Wedding in Iceland Tip: Day of Gift appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

By planning a destination wedding, you are already committing to go outside of the general wedding planning “box.”  So why not continue with adding an element to your wedding ceremony content that is as unique as your love?

Since we’re local and destination wedding photographers and own, Photos by Miss Ann, we have witnessed endless amounts of ceremonies that draw in religious, cultural, and spiritual elements and have seen them done in a hundred of different ways.  Think: unity candle, tying the knot ceremony, sand ceremony, Irish braid, crowning, hand ceremony, etc.  When we were planning our destination wedding we were looking for an alternative for our Iceland wedding.

After researching back into historical wedding ceremonies, we found it: The Love Letter Ceremony.  It gracefully combined our affection for history, our love for each other, and provided a piece of our own history with our parents as well.

The idea:

You and your soon to be write a letter to each other talking about the following:

1. How you felt when you met.
2. Your favorite adventure together.
3. How much you have grown from then to now.
4. Your feelings as you anticipate your wedding day.
5. Your wishes for your future together.
6. Your promise to him/her.

The Parents:

1. The bride’s parents write a letter directly to her only.  Expressing their excitement for her arrival, her childhood, successes, how proud they are, advice, etc.
2. The groom’s parents write a letter directly to her only.  Articulating their excitement for his arrival, his childhood, successes, how proud they are, and advice, etc.
3. Each set of parents then write a letter addressing the couple together stating their excitement for finding each other, the marriage, wishes for the future, and words of wisdom.

This is how described the Icelandic love letter ceremony to our guests on the back of our Iceland destination wedding timeline card:

“During the wedding we will perform a ‘love letter ceremony.’  This entails the bride and groom writing heartfelt love letters to each other prior to their wedding day.  Each of the parents have also written letters of encouragement, future wishes, and advice to make the couple’s marriage strong.  The wedding officiant will then lock the letters in a box.  The letters will be opened at a later time as a celebration and reflection of their marriage.”

How amazing, right?  It gives me goose bumps just thinking about reading them as we celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary when our parents may have passed and we may have a family of our own!  This is a very special ceremony I believe has an enormous long-term impact to all.

We hauled the box from Plymouth, Michigan to Hella Iceland to our wedding ceremony at Seljalandsfoss waterfall, then to Skógafoss waterfall and finally out to Vik Beach for Iceland wedding photos and a champagne toast!

How to create your own local or destination wedding love letter ceremony:

• Buy or build a box that will be big enough for letters and additional mementos.  We had an 8×11 box that was ~3 inches wide.  This was big enough for our letters, vows, speeches, our bouquet/boutonniere when it dried out, etc.  It was travel friendly.  We brought from Michigan to Iceland with no problem.
• Some people like the idea of it being large enough to house a bottle of wine/champagne and wine glasses – your choice!
• Have your names painted or engraved on the front.  Example, we had the following:

Chris & Ann

Iceland

April 14^th 2012

• Purchase super cute acid-free stationary.  Ours was white with a simple red heart at the top and a matching red envelope- Our Amazon Storefront may be a good source for you on this.
• Plan what you are going to write at least 30 days in advance!
• Give your parents time to plan and write too!
• Get the letters in advance and put them in the box for safe keeping until the ceremony.
• Our wording for the love letter ceremony follows below:

Wording for a Destination Wedding Love Letter Ceremony:
“Christopher and Ann have chosen as a couple to unite together in a Love Letter ceremony.

This box contains a love letter from each to the other.   The letters describe the good qualities they find in one another, the reasons they fell in love, and their reasons for choosing to marry today in Iceland.   Ann’s mother, Irene and Christopher’s parents, Donna and Bill have also written the each a letter individually and a letter to the couple expressing their hopes and advice for their future together.  The letters are sealed in individual envelopes and the couple has not seen what the other has written.
I recommend that you keep the box in a place of honor prominently displayed in your home as a constant reminder of your commitment to each other.

Christopher and Ann, should you ever find your marriage enduring insurmountable hardships, you are to as a couple, open this box, reflect while reading the letters you wrote to one another when you were united as a couple, in marriage.   By reading these love letters you will reflect upon the reasons you fell in love and chose to marry each other here in Iceland today.

The hope is, however, that you will never have a reason to open this box.   And if this is the case, you are to open this box to share and enjoy on your 25^th wedding anniversary!”
All that being said, Christopher and Ann, you may now lock the box and be forever bonded.”

Hope you enjoyed and will pass the word around… Let’s get more couples inspired by doing a love letter ceremony as part of their wedding ceremony!  ::Also see our update to this love letter ceremony here::

With a smile, Ann & Chris Peters (Iceland Wedding Planners & Iceland Wedding Photographers)

© 2012, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Alternative Unity Ceremony Idea: Love Letter Ceremony appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.