September 7, 2022

Going-to-the-Sun Road Adventure Portrait Photographer, Unique & Luke

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.

August 5, 2022

Glacier National Park Adventure Portrait Session, Paige & Chris

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.

August 1, 2022

Glacier National Park Sunrise Adventure Portrait Session, Natalia & Ben

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.

October 1, 2021

Glacier National Park Wedding Photographer, Shellie & Ethan at Izaak Walton Inn

Shellie & Ethan at a lovely, intimate wedding at the historic Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana kind of near the southern tip of Glacier National Park as you're driving around the park. It's a lovely Inn with historic train cars dotting the landscape in addition to the main building for a unique lodging experience. It was a particularly rainy August day, and I never know what sort of mental state the couple may be in when I pull up to a wedding on such a wet and gray day. Shellie and Ethan's temperament when I arrived made those concerns disappear immediately. Not only were they two of the kindest people you could ever hope to meet, but they also approached their wedding day with the perfect mindset: "We're getting married today, and that's all that matters."

From the absolutely perfect ceremony delivered by Kate Berry, and a lovely—if chilly—"Day After" portrait session that took place two days after, in Glacier, this was one wedding I'll remember for quite some time.

Venue: Izaak Walton Inn / Catering: Izaak Walton Inn / Bakery: Flitter Bee Buzz Thru / Officiant: Kate Berry / DJ: V-Team DJs

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Matt Wetzler is an editorial, motorsport, portrait, and destination wedding photographer based in Whitefish, Montana.

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