Hiking elopement at Portage Glacier | Alaska wedding photographer

The longer we’re in Alaska, the more it seems to amaze me. I mean, this day was truly a dream…

Let’s back up a little bit. Sarah & Cody flew up to Alaska from Texas and decided that this would be the perfect place for them to elope (their original wedding plans were…well, Covid. You know the story). Alaska decided to pull out all of the stops for them to make up for it. Sunshine, blue skies and idyllic summertime weather greeted us on the other side of the Whittier tunnel. I met up with Sarah at the trailhead for the Portage Pass hike early that morning, and we started the hike up with her (soon to be) mother in law and officiant for the day (shoutout to Say Yes Alaska! They’ll climb a mountain for you, literally!)

Sarah foraged along the trail to add to her bouquet on the way up, and upon reaching the top of the pass, we spotted Cody wayyyy across the landscape waiting for her. He had climbed up a bit earlier to scope out the perfect ceremony spot. Spoiler alert, he totally found it.

They said their vows perched between epic mountains, numerous glaciers, a lake and the ocean - I almost can’t believe that this type of place is real and easily accessible for an elopement day. The dream. So darn excited for these two! Also let’s pause for a second to talk about Sarah’s incredible Essense of Australia gown that she trekked around in for photos. SO GOOD.

After they were pronounced husband & wife, we moseyed around the top of the pass for a little while and then…they asked if we could hike down to the lake next. Something along the lines of “heck yes” was probably the answer here. So, we journeyed down to the lake, picking some berries along the way, and were greeted at the Portage Lake beach by a crazy array of colorful wildflowers. I’m telling you guys, Alaska pulled out ALL of the stops for Sarah & Cody’s elopement day. All of them. Portage Glacier was really the most amazing backdrop for the rest of their elopement morning exploring.

Cannot possibly thank these two enough for having me along to capture this adventure for them - what an epic way to “officially” start your lives together :)