Iceland Elopement in Winter Escaping a Blizzard | Iceland Elopement Photographer
Iceland Elopement in Winter Escaping a Blizzard // Vanna & Kevin
Iceland Elopement Photographer
Vanna and Kevin’s winter Iceland Elopement was the epitome of adventure and a great story they will be able to tell for the rest of their lives.
These two traveled all the way from warm Florida to elope in the cold winter of Iceland. If that doesn’t say that these two are adventurous and up for anything then I don’t know what does. They traveled with two of their friends for a few day journey, coming from Reykjavík and driving all the way to the South East. We were staying at FossHotel Glacier Lagoon where the initial plan was to get started. Couples come to Iceland to see the amazing nature around them and get married in the vastness and epicness that Iceland has to offer. My initial itinerary for us was to start at the hotel and make our way further east stopping at Jökulsárlón, Diamond Beach, and a few other areas along the way where we would finally end up underneath Vestrahorn.
Well, we almost made it.
The day started as planned, Vanna and Kevin would be getting ready together in the hotel room, with helping each other with their finishing touches on their outfits. Him helping her zip her amazing, shimmery dress and her helping him with his boutonnière before putting on their hiking boots together. I really love when couples get ready together before their elopement ceremony. There is something so intimate and a representation of their love and closeness to one another that they want to spend such an important part of the day together. After they got ready, we took some photos of them coming down the stairs and then out of the hotel. After we took some photos, we went back inside to wait for their two friends who would be joining their ceremony, and that’s when I realized we would have to COMPLETELY change course and literally change every plan we had.
This is typical for Iceland.
The weather always has it’s own plan, and the weather always wins.
I checked the forecast and roads before heading out in a big group, as you should always do in Iceland. This elopement was a bit rare than the typical Iceland elopements I document. We were a group of 9 people including videographers Kostas of Arte Cinematica from Greece, Katie of 97 Films from Michigan, and Molly & Luke of Love Story Films out of Arizona. Then we realized- there was a big blizzard heading it’s way to us, coming from the east, and would be shutting everything down. The blizzard was coming directly from where we were heading and were going to stay the night. I knew I had to make a tough decision. I was going to have to COMPLETELY change our plans, from ceremony location, to itinerary of the day, to where we were going to have to end up that night. The only option was to literally cancel all plans we had, cancel hotel rooms, re-book hotel rooms, and drive AWAY from the blizzard and all the way back to Reykjavík.
Thankfully, Vanna and Kevin are the embodiment of adventurous. They understood their day was now a spontaneous adventure driving away from a blizzard and we had no idea how the rest of the adventure was going to unfold.
So, all 9 of us changed our plans, changed our course of the day, and headed back towards West Iceland. These are the moments when I am so thankful that I have an endless list of locations and knowledge of Iceland. I had so many spots in mind to stop at so I was not too worried that we would not find another epic spot for their ceremony. However, the blizzard had other plans. We made a few photo stops but the weather was changing fast. The sky went from visible to one giant cloud that started sprinkling snow in the distance. The temperature was dropping and dropping fast. Vanna and Kevin were troopers, but we all knew it was only a matter of time before it was above us and we did not want that. I had to think on my toes on where we could have their ceremony, where could 5 cars park safely, and where we could easily get in and out as we were losing daylight and safe weather. I stopped at Fjaðrárgljúfur hoping that we could possibly do it there, but the areas were closed for flora rebuilding and the river was also closed because of the fish inside. I always put Leave No Trace in top priority and I never, ever, ever go over ropes or in areas that will damage the nature. So, we took off again.
We eventually had no choice but to pull over and have the ceremony right then and there. We had a matter of only a few minutes to have their elopement because the blizzard was above us, starting to snow, and the temperature was almost too cold to bare. We found a nice little rocky hill underneath some mountains and next to some trees (which is not a common thing for Iceland, so that alone is special). These two walked up to the hill together, read their vows to one another, had their ceremony, and it was so wonderful. They got married in a spot that is all theirs, for forever. I can’t imagine anyone else had been married on that specific hill before.
This Iceland elopement was full of adventure, love, blizzards, and fun. And we wouldn't’ have it any other way.
Florals- þórdís zophía
Hotel- FossHotel Glacier Lagoon
Hair & Makeup done herself.
Check out their films from the day, they are epic!
Film by Arte Cinematica
Film from 97 Films