Amanda and Brandon first contacted us in the Spring of 2019. At the time, they had been together for 5 years and were both finishing up school in Indianapolis while also converting their Ford Transit into a campervan. They already knew that a big wedding wasn’t a good fit for them and they dreamed of eloping in the mountains. At the time, their dream location was New Zealand (how can you blame them?), but as time passed, their vision slowly evolved into the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. They planned to spend their elopement day exploring mountains and rainforests in their campervan. But we all know what happened in 2020, and this ended up forcing them to postpone their elopement until 2021. With this postponement, came an entirely new set of elopement plans.

With their elopement postponed from November 2020 to August 2021, they had an entirely new set of available locations in Washington! Amanda and Brandon ended up falling in love with the North Cascades, and we couldn’t agree more! The North Cascade Mountains in Washington are magnificent. They rise straight up and have some of the “sharpest” peaks we’ve ever seen! And while we LOVE the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, we have to say that sunsets in the North Cascades are hard (if not impossible) to beat.

Amanda and Brandon got ready in a gorgeous cabin in Glacier, Washington that was surrounded by forest. After getting ready separately, they had their first look in the forested backyard of the house. Being together helped calm some nerves and we all jumped into our cars and drove deeper into the mountains. When most people think of Washington, they think cloudy and raining, with mild temperatures. But this was not the case for Amanda and Brandon’s elopement day. Their elopement was right in the middle of a cloudless day during a heatwave. Luckily, Amanda hired her hair + makeup artist to come along for the entire adventure to do touch-ups throughout the unusually warm day.

For their ceremony, Amanda and Brandon chose a beautiful lakeside site overlooking a snowcapped mountain. They had a simple, self solemnized ceremony and then celebrated with a fancy picnic afterward. So many companies offer “catered” picnics and we love when our couples choose to have one! It adds something special to the elopement day as well as takes the responsibility of creating a picnic off the couple’s shoulders.

After everyone had eaten their lunch, we spent the rest of the day hiking and exploring. One thing we love about the North Cascades is the variety of views that you can choose from in such a small area. Blue alpine lakes, dense forests, mountaintop views, amazing hiking trails, and even some ice caves, if you’re lucky. After sweating down at the lower elevation, we were all excited for the sun to start to go down as we headed up to higher elevation. Most years, Artist Point can be accessed by vehicle. Unfortunately, the road up required repairs and we instead had to hike up to the top. But it was worth it!

Amanda and Brandon had their first dance as the sun started to sink toward the horizon, causing the most beautiful alpenglow to light up the surrounding mountains. Amanda and Brandon laughed over the awkwardness of dancing on uneven rocks, but still managed to get some great twirls in! After their first dance, we spent the rest of the sunset exploring and admiring the views. We love sunset elopements because by then, everyone is calm, content, and able to really take in the moment.

This elopement took place on Nooksack, Coast Salish, and Nlaka’pamux Land.

Photographs

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