When Lauren and I first touched base they still had not nailed down all of their wedding plans. They were either going to get married here in Whitefish, or in Northern California. What they were certain about was wanting portraits in their wedding attire, in Glacier National Park. I was more than happy to oblige.
If you've read my blog before you may recognize Unique & Luke from their spring wedding at Snowline Acres in Kalispell.
They still really wanted some epic portraits in Glacier National Park as part of a "day after" adventure portrait session. The thing about Glacier though, is that in May, not very much of the park is typically accessible. So right away we made plans to meet up later in the summer to capture the amazing mountain portraits they wanted. Thankfully, we experienced a relatively smoke-free in August, and everything from the sky to the wildlife performed beautifully for their portraits.
Editors Note: The header image above ended up on the cover of the 2023 My Montana Wedding magazine. You can read it online here, or pick it up for free at any number of locations here in the Flathead Valley.
The idea of "day after" portrait sessions seemed to have gained steam over the last several years. At least here in Northwest Montana where you might be getting married at a particular venue, but still want portraits done in Glacier National Park.
What may not be as popular, but just as sound in terms of destination wedding planning, is the "day before" session. Natasha and Aaron were traveling from out of state, and the way the travel schedule was working out, plus just the basic logistics of hair & makeup, etc. we opted to schedule their portraits in the National Park the day before their wedding at Whitefish Mountain Resort.
It was a perfect opportunity to spend some time getting to know each other in person, while also getting some of the wedding day and portrait jitters out of the way ahead of time, and it worked out beautifully.
This was one of my favorite days all summer, even though it was very much my longest day of work. My previous post featured Natalia & Ben's sunrise Glacier National Park portrait session. Well, that very same day I got to hang out with Paige & Chris again for their adventure session. It truly was a day that cemented in my head why I love doing what I do. The weather was perfect and we simply took our time meandering our way through the park and stopping when the opportunity presented itself. Prior to that, we did stop just outside the park to take some photos with their dog who was unable to attend their wedding day. That way he could be let off leash briefly which is generally frowned upon when inside the park, and explicitly denied on trails.
Paige & Chris once again proved themselves to be more kind than I could've imagined, and I can't wait for our paths to cross again.
Northwest Montana is an almost unbelievably beautiful place, and Glacier National Park is a perfect illustration of that. And sunrise pretty much anywhere usually provides really great light for photography. That said, in this part of the world devotion to that morning light comes at a cost. The cost of waking up very, very early in order to arrive at your destination for said light. It's bad enough living in Whitefish and traveling to the Western entrance to the park, but it's even worse when you live about halfway down the Western edge of Flathead Lake like Natalia & Ben do.
They had to get up and on the road a solid two hours before I did in order to make it to our session on time but I'm so thankful that they made the effort and were good sports about it all.
