Mountains + Waterfalls in Alaska
the hearnes » adventure elopement photographers
Reece & May’s Adventure Elopement in Remote Alaska
As cheesy as it might sound, I felt connected to May and Reece from the very first email they ever sent us. On our inquiry form, we ask couples if there is anything in particular that makes them want to elope with us. I always love reading the answers because they are so varied, but May’s felt really special. She wrote, “Years ago before elopements became popular I had a dream I married Reece on a mountaintop, shortly after, I ran across a picture on Instagram that reminded me of that dream. It was you, that's how I found you. Because of this, I cannot see anyone else capturing this day.” and that honestly stopped me in my tracks! It’s moments like this that are my motivation behind our blog, our website, and our Instagram account. It’s the fact that a lot of our couples had never even heard of elopements, or never considered getting married in the outdoors, until they saw one of our photos and realized they resonated more with that image than any other wedding photo they’d seen before.
They were pretty flexible on their location, the only requirement was that they be surrounded by mountains and May really wanted a waterfall. It didn’t take us long to decide that Alaska was the perfect choice, and when we mentioned a small coastal town that we’d fallen in love with, May and Reece were in! The little town is off the beaten path, and honestly most Alaskans we talk to are pretty surprised when we say it’s our favorite area, but the mountain views, endless waterfalls, and the beautiful glacier lake just keeps us coming back! We kept in close contact with May and Reece throughout the planning process, and even got to meet up with them in person in San Antonio (a huge rarity for us!) so by the time their wedding came around, we felt like old friends. As is true for all of our 2020 elopements, COVID added a lot of stress to the situation, we spent a lot of the months leading up to their elopement wondering if we’d even be able to go, but we all remained positive and hoped for the best!
The night before their elopement day, Callen and I came by to drop off some walkie-talkies and ended up staying out by the campfire well past the bedtimes we all should have stuck with considering the 2:30am wake up call the next morning 😅 but it was so exciting to finally all be there, in Alaska, with great weather on the horizon and an epic day ahead of us. We started their elopement day with a sunrise first look at the top of a big mountain pass! The cold wind was absolutely invigorating and the sky lit up beautifully with pink, purple and orange clouds above us. There were more glaciers than we could count surrounding us, and beautiful views of the river valley below. We hiked around and took portraits until we were too cold, and then retreated to the camper for warmth. Then we drove down the pass to a beautiful canyon full of waterfalls for a few more photos! After that, we all went back for naps and for them to check out of their AirBnB, met up for lunch in town complete with delicious espresso martinis because we needed the caffeine but still wanted to celebrate ;)
Later in the afternoon, we hopped in our rental ATV and rallied down a beautiful dirt road along a creek — our only plan was to find a waterfall for their ceremony. Callen and I had been down the road before, so we knew there were plenty of options! After passing a few, we stopped at a little discrete trailhead and hiked 5 minutes up to a beautiful, hidden waterfall that May and Reece agreed was “the one.” Their incredible hair + make up artist also officiated their ceremony, so they got married right there in the middle of a beautiful waterfall. One really cool detail about eloping by a waterfall is that their officiant stepped away and let just the two of them read vows, and it was completely private for them. With the sound of the waterfall, they didn’t even hear us walking around or our cameras clicking, so it truly felt like a private ceremony.
After their ceremony and a few portraits at the waterfall (side note, May was so chill about her dress and I am officially in love with that photo of her wringing it out after the waterfall!) we drove to the very end of the road, where two rivers meet and there are glaciers in every direction. If felt especially fitting for these two. We hung out there and gave them some moments to really soak everything in before heading back to town to pick up a delicious picnic that we enjoyed at the glacier lake. They set up their picnic, shared a first dance surrounded by icebergs, and then we all feasted on delicious food! We were all so full we couldn’t even start on the cake, so we saved it for their adventure session on a nearby glacier the next day!
It was truly one of the best days, especially with all of the uncertainty that lead up to it. I feel like 2020 has been terrible and confusing to everyone, but one positive I’ve noticed is we have a much stronger bond with each of our clients, because we have supported them through this and they have put their trust in us. It’s been a really beautiful thing to see each of these couples keep hope through all of this and to watch their dreams come to fruition despite all the uncertainty. We are so thankful for our time in Alaska with these two! I’ll be sharing their day-after session on the glacier soon, you won’t want to miss that! Edit: Shared here!
Traveling Hair + Make Up Artist (and Officiant!): Pacific Brides
Groom’s Custom Green Suit: Bykowski Tailor & Garb
Bride’s Shoes: Frye Company
Bride’s Blush Dress: Willowby Watters via BB Lewisville
Bride’s Ring: Trumpet and Horn
Bride’s Bouquet: Bloomsbury Blooms
Bride’s Shawl: Cadena Collective
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The Hearnes Adventure Photography is run by Abbi and Callen Hearne, a husband & wife elopement wedding photography (and planning!) team with a major emphasis on adventure. Unless stated otherwise, all blog and social media posts are written from the perspective of Abbi!
We’ve completely built our life around adventures in beautiful places, and one of our greatest joys is sharing the adventure with our couples. We lived on the road full time for a few years and then fell in love with a little house in the desert of Moab, Utah; our favorite place throughout all of our travels. We still spend about half of the year living on the road, traveling to more favorites like Alaska, Yosemite National Park, and beyond.
We use our extensive experience and expertise in the outdoors to plan unforgettable custom elopement days for every couple. We usually work with couples to plan everything from their elopement location down to the vendors they’ll work with and the timeline of the day(s) we’ll spend together. We always shoot together and we have kept things intentionally small, working with a limited amount of couples each year such that we can bring our full value to every single planning email, phone call, and of course, elopement day!
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