Michelle and Chad’s Knik Glacier Elopement

Elopements

We get to know our couples well through the planning process, and it’s always fun to meet in person when the big day comes! Often, one partner in a couple will take the lead and be our primary point of contact throughout the process. With Michelle and Chad, we enjoyed getting to know them both as they contributed equally to communications during planning. These two are a true team! We loved hearing their perspectives and crafting this day that rings true to them both, individually and as a couple. All details came together naturally for this stunning Alaska glacier wedding.

Fuji 400h | Pentax 645 Zeiss 80/2 Lens | Richard Photo Lab

Michelle and Chad’s dear kitty was not able to join for their Alaskan adventure, so they brought some Polaroids to include her in the story of their day. Creating and photographing flatlay arrangements to highlight special details is a passion of ours! We carefully select a backdrop that complements the style and color stories from your day for this important aspect of the storytelling. For Michelle and Chad, we chose a handpainted backdrop from the talented Ultraviolet Backdrops. The handpainted background is both a standout element of the images and fades away to highlight Michelle and Chad’s details.

Michelle and Chad got ready together, which we absolutely loved. It was a sweet way to start the day together, untraditionally in just their own style.

Once they were ready we departed for the helicopter company, where an AStar was waiting to take them away!

Cori loves incorporating film throughout the day when possible, like many of the above photographs of Chad and Michelle and many more throughout this gallery. Sometimes it’s her small 35mm camera that lends it’s lens to grainy goodness, and at others it’s a larger medium format, 120 film camera, which blend seamlessly with her digital. It all works together creating a cohesive, artistic collection of images to tell the story of your day in colors and tones that are true to life and timeless.

Landing in a few different places, Michelle and Chad explored, decided on glacial ice to stay their vows, found the perfect spot, and soaked in all the beauty of the wilderness we were in.

Michelle and Chad shared inspiration images to convey their imagined tone of the day and cake table details. This collaboration lead to the table pictured below, with simple, textured cake crafted by North Star Bakery. This tablescape included Persian cookies brought up by the couple from San Francisco as a subtle nod to Michelle’s Persian heritage.

The smokey cake plates are handmade in the Atzompa region in the South of Mexico where there is over 3,000 years of pottery tradition. These bring both a hint of neutral color, pattern and texture to the minimal tablescape. We layered these on top of a charcoal linen tablecloth, paired with stainless steel flatware with muted finish and grey linen napkins with a delicate fringe edge that reads as clean while providing some texture. Beautiful coordinating florals in white and desaturated tones bring the table to life and tie it in with the surrounding landscape.