Alaska Wedding Photographers | The Hearnes
Fall Elopement + Glacier Hiking in Alaska
When Liz and Rocky first reached out to us to photograph their elopement, they were hoping it wasn’t too late and we weren’t fully booked for the year because while they were quite flexible on where they wanted to have their wedding, they knew they wanted it to be as soon as possible and they wanted us to be their elopement photographers! We always love getting inquiries like this, especially when we have a perfect few dates we can pull out as the last ones available. I remember asking them if early September felt too soon being just a few months out, and if they were willing to travel to Alaska as their destination. Liz almost immediately replied to say “we’re in!” and we jumped right into planning from there. From our experience with Alaska, September is always a bit of a toss-up weather-wise and you need to be prepared for just about anything, even for an early season snowstorm! But for their elopement I chose to recommend an area that is known for good weather, and had my hopes set that the fall colors would be in full swing by the time we met up with them. Sure enough, it ended up being the perfect day with a gorgeous mix of sunshine and moody clouds, beautiful crisp fall air, and the most stunning fall colors we’ve ever seen in Alaska. We couldn’t have timed everything better!
When we started thinking up day-of activities, they loved the idea of hiking on the glacier ice, reaching some view points overlooking the glacier valley, and some closer portraits in the peak fall colors. After spending quite a few seasons out in the valley, we knew the best ways to make sure we got each of those experiences and as was the theme of this whole elopement, Liz and Rocky were down for whatever we had to offer! We ended up deciding to start their day with a helicopter tour over the massive glacier valley landing in three different places, then after a little lunch break at a local lodge we pulled on our boots and crampons for a few hours exploring the toe of the glacier.
We flew out of Sheep Mountain Lodge for their helicopter tour and decided to meet there for their first look and some portraits in the golden trees on the property beforehand. Their first look was simple and beautiful, and we knew within minutes this was going to be such a fun day with them. These two truly embraced the adventure together and had a lot of fun at every moment, which we always say is the only thing you really need to take great photos ;) Any nerves they had about posing for us or doing everything perfectly melted away and by the time our helicopter came in for landing, stoke was unbelievably high! They flew in an R44 which holds three passengers, so we opted to send Callen out with Liz, Rocky, and of course our pilot Mark, for this portion of the day. They had so much fun exploring the area by air, landing by a little waterfall on the glacier, then landing in front of a huge slot canyon (that you may recognize from some of our adventures last summer!), and finally up on a high-tundra ridge overlooking the glacier. The photos on the ridge are some of my favorites — the colors up there were stunning! Once they got back from the flight, we went to a nearby log-built lodge to grab some lunch and coffee before our next big adventure.
For the second half of their day, we met up with our amazing guides at their headquarters and after a meeting to go over our plans, discuss safety on the ice, and make sure we had all the gear we needed, we headed over to the glacier to hike onto the ice! This is always one of our favorite things we do in Alaska, and getting to share it with our couples makes it so much more special. By the time we actually made it onto the ice, Liz’s dress was already forming the most beautiful glacial silt colored Hearnes Ombre and it only got better over time :) We put on our spikes and hiked over a few talus-covered hills to get to the gorgeous white ice, and Liz and Rocky were in absolute heaven soaking in this new and beautiful landscape. Hiking on ice is so different than any other experience, it’s one of the most magical things to do! First, we went to a beautiful little “beach” at the base of the glacier so they could exchange vows with the stunning icefall behind them. They conducted their own intimate ceremony (which I officiated, witnessed by Callen and our guide Annie) with personal vows, rings, and a few happy tears :’)
After their ceremony, they celebrated with Truly’s (courtesy of our guides after realizing the champagne never made it out of the AirBnB) and then we took some time to soak in the beautiful views while taking a few portraits. I loved how Liz’s flowers in her bouquet and hair matched the pops of fall colors surrounding the glacier, and how her dress just looked more and more like the ice as our adventure continued. With all the “formal” things behind us, we hiked around the glacier some more exploring to our hearts content! We got to see a few little creeks and canyons, walk around a newly-drained lake, and even hike into an epic narrow slot canyon that had been too deep to navigate just a few weeks prior! It was so wild to walk through with the icy walls towering over us on both sides. We finished the trek at a beautiful little waterfall, filling our water bottles with the ice cold glacier run-off! Rocky even drank straight from the waterfall… which he may have regretted as the freezing water dripped down his face 😜
By the time we got back to our cars, Liz’s dress was thoroughly thrashed, our feet were sore and our muscles worked, but we all had big dumb smiles on our faces because the day couldn’t have been more perfect. It’s so special to us when our couples trust us to plan out the logistics and make their dream days come to fruition, and this was no exception.
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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.
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 cozy 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, throughout the American West, 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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