Denali National Park, Alaska

the hearnes » adventure elopement photographers

morgan + evan's intimate wedding on the denali airstrip | alaska destination wedding near Denali National Park and Preserve

Morgan + Evan’s wedding was literally the last thing we did in Alaska, so pretty much the whole trip felt like it was leading up to this weekend. We’d driven all the way through Canada, ventured into Hyder and Skagway, fallen in love with Valdez and Girdwood, explored all the way down to Seward (where an amazing insta follower reached out and offered us discounts on a boat tour to another epic glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park!!), and then ended our trip making our way north to Denali National Park. We explored a little portion of the park as we drove in, and then Morgan + Evan spoiled us with an adorable little trailer for the weekend, delicious food, and wonderful company! We had such a blast getting to know their crew of family and friends. They had their wedding on the Denali Air Strip, right next to the runway. Morgan works for Denali Air, so it only felt right to her to have their wedding on the gorgeous property. Her co workers and friends all worked together to create the most beautiful woodland wedding set up with tons of natural materials including alpine moss from the mountains nearby, real aspen branches, and various other flora and fauna from the land (all harvested responsibly and with legal permission). When everything was finished, it looked like an alaskan fairy tail!

The first day of their wedding weekend was absolutely epic; the four of us loaded up in a helicopter and flew out to a glacier for their first look. The helicopter tour over Denali National Park was by far one of the coolest things we did in Alaska, and I still can’t stop thinking about it a few months later. After the helicopter tour, we came home to a gorgeous welcome dinner for their friends and family who traveled for the wedding. Neither Morgan or Evan grew up in Alaska, so while they’d been living and working in Denali for a few years, their wedding was more of a destination wedding for most of their guests. Everyone got a taste of how amazing Alaska is, with a weekend of plane tours, bus tours of Denali, and even a river rafting trip! The day of their wedding was absolutely beautiful. Despite a rainy week, and some unusually hot weather before that, their wedding day was perfectly comfortable temperatures with a few clouds in the sky. They had the sweetest ceremony and then spent the evening sipping drinks and dancing the night away with their guests. The sunset came around 10:30pm and washed everything in golden light, and we ended the evening running around the airstrip soaking in the beautiful, seemingly never-ending, Alaskan sunset. It was such a treat for us to be a part of their wedding day and we’re so thankful Morgan found us to photograph their wedding on our trip to Alaska. 

We are so excited to be heading back to Alaska next summer, this time for three whole months! After our trip out there this summer, we have a long list of places that would be absolutely amazing for an adventure elopement, intimate wedding, or engagement session! If you’re considering eloping and like the idea of a destination wedding, but want to keep things relatively simple, Alaska is such a good option for your elopement! It was super easy to explore and navigate as a US resident (obviously) but felt like a far-off international destination! The landscape in Alaska is so amazing, you could literally have your elopement ceremony on a glacier via a helicopter and then be up on a gorgeous hillside for sunset wedding portraits within an hour. We found amazing iceberg lagoons, hiked some epic mountain passes, and explore some of the coolest terrain we’ve ever seen! We’ll be booking limited dates during our three months in Alaska next summer, so if you’re hoping to have your elopement or intimate wedding in Denali National Park, Girdwood, Valdez, or any of the other epic spots we explored, get in touch with us as soon as possible!

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The Hearnes Adventure Photography is run by Abbi and Callen Hearne, a husband & wife wedding photography team with an emphasis on adventure. They live on the road as full-time nomads, allowing them to serve a large portion of the western US. You can typically find them in Moab, Utah or Yosemite National Park, California, with side-quests to Patagonia and Alaska. They believe love is the greatest adventure and strive to create photos that are epic, romantic, true, and timeless.

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