Mountain Elopement on Lake McDonald

As a Montana wedding and mountain elopement planner, Big Day Celebrations is constantly in the Glacier mountains, and we have absolutely zero complaints! The mountains of Glacier National Park still take our breath away and we always encourage our couples to take their wedding photos in the park.

While some couples choose a wedding venue adjacent to the park entrance, others decide to get married right there on a mountaintop!

Take Tara and Adam for instance. They chose to have a mountain elopement on Lake McDonald with just eight guests. It was a clear August day with the sun illuminating the lake and radiating off the mountains. After tying the knot lakeside, the newlyweds celebrated their new marriage with cake and champagne followed by an epic adventure session throughout the rest of the park.

Their intimate mountain elopement is proof that your wedding doesn’t have to be large or traditional to be beautiful. The only requirement for your wedding is that it is true to you.

No matter what type of wedding you choose to have, we are here to help guide you, assist with your plans, and execute the wedding day of your dreams!

Take a look at what we did for Tara and Adam’s mountain elopement!

Mountain Elopement Design Details:

There is sometimes a misconception that you don’t get to choose wedding colors or have a design scheme for a mountain elopement. We’re here to reassure you that that is absolutely not the case!

While you might not have traditional wedding elements like floral centerpieces, you’ll still get to design your personal floral! This means the bridal bouquet, boutonnieres, and corsages (like if you have your moms or grandmas there).  

For their mountain elopement, Tara and Adam chose a timeless wedding color palette of blush and ivory. Tara’s bridal bouquet was a stunner! Consisting of white orchids, fluffy pampas grass, and blush and ivory roses, it was beautifully designed and elegantly made. It also had long, blush ribbons that trailed down from the bouquet’s stems.

Adam’s corresponding groom’s boutonniere was a simple white orchid with natural greenery. It was the perfect complement to his gray suit!

When you have a mountain elopement, you can also still have a wedding cake!

Tara and Adam’s cake was two tiers and was made to look like the bark of a white birch tree. On the day of the mountain elopement, our team picked up their cake from the baker and brought it to the elopement site at Ryan Beach. We also set up their cake display table at the adjacent Apgar Picnic area.

This couple’s wedding cake also featured delicate white ivory dahlias and ranunculus as accents. We set it on a white cake stand that we provide complimentary to our couples and decorated the picnic table with an ivory gauze table runner, also from our inventory.

As the finishing touches, we set out Tara and Adam’s personalized champagne flutes and cake knife set. Each of these pieces were wrapped in twine with a blush rose bud accent. They also had the newlyweds’ last name and wedding date emblazoned on them.

Ryan Beach at Lake McDonald:

Tara and Adam selected Ryan Beach for the site of their mountain elopement. As one of our hidden gems within Glacier, Ryan Beach is one of those special spots that you might not necessarily find through a quick Google search.

As your resident local experts, it’s our job to help you find only the best spots in the park for your wedding! That’s how we steered Tara and Adam to Ryan Beach.

Located on the shores of the immaculate Lake McDonald, this site features a panoramic view of the Glacier mountains. The banks of the beach contain large, smooth, gray stones, which means no heels sinking into any sand!

Since it is off the beaten path, it is also more secluded and private than other more well-known spots in Glacier.

All of these things combined made Ryan Beach the perfect spot for Tara and Adam’s mountain elopement!

The First Look:

On the day of this mountain elopement, Tara and Adam got all dolled up while our team picked up both their floral and cake from their vendors. We then met the nearlyweds, their photographer, and their videographer at the entrance point to Ryan Beach just before their 2-hour access time began.

The couple wanted to hold a first look prior to the ceremony. We set them up for this amongst the towering, emerald forest trees. Adam stood with his back to Tara, and she slowly made her way up to him. She was a striking bride in her strapless, white gown with its sweetheart neckline and corresponding sheer veil.

It’s no wonder that when Adam turned around to see his bride for the first time, we could see deep emotion in his eyes, as he was taken aback by the moment and Tara’s beauty.

Then, it was time to get married!

The Mountain Elopement:

At this point, we escorted Adam, their officiant, and the rest of the guests down to the water’s edge for the start of the mountain elopement. There, we set up the couple’s cross unity ceremony. When it was time, everyone took a collective deep breath and turned to the trees to await Tara’s grand entrance.

A few moments later, Tara emerged from the forest trees on her father’s arm. A huge smile flashed across her face. This was the moment she had been waiting for!

Arm in arm, the pair walked towards Adam and when they arrived, they shared an emotional embrace before the ceremony commenced.

With their family surrounding them, Tara and Adam braided the ropes of their unity cross and exchanged rings and vows. Before they knew it, their officiant pronounced them husband and wife!

Oh happy day!

Cake Celebration & Epic Photos:

Following their first married kiss and pictures down by the beach, the group headed up to the Apgar Picnic area for cake and champagne! The sunlight filtered through the trees so beautifully as the newlyweds cut into their wedding cake. We couldn’t have asked for a better backdrop!

As per tradition, they served each other the first bite of cake and then intertwined their arms for their first sips of champagne. After celebrating with their family and enjoying their cake, Tara and Adam took off with their photographer to capture epic photos around Glacier!

If you know us, you know that we LOVE a good adventure session! Every time we get a gallery back from our photography partners after a mountain elopement, our minds are blown at the majesty of the park and the beauty of our couples!

Glacier really showed off for Tara and Adam for their adventure session! The golden hour light shone on the mountaintops and reflected off the rolling green pastures. They even found a meadow of pink wildflowers that epitomizes the splendor of Glacier in the summer.

Check it out!

A Word from Katie:

Tara & Adam, congratulations on such a gorgeous mountain elopement! Your love truly shone through on that beautiful day and I couldn’t be more thankful to have been a part of it all. Thank you for trusting me with your big day!

-Katie

P.S. Your photos turned out amazing!!

Vendor Team:

Venue: Glacier National Park – Ryan Beach

Coordinator: Big Day Celebrations

Photographer: Marianne Wiest Photography

Videographer: LoveLife Creative Media

Florist: Rose Mountain Floral

Baker: Montana Wildflour

Hair & Makeup: Melanie Hobus

Let’s Plan Your Mountain Elopement!

Big Day Celebrations offers full-service wedding planning, coordination & design services, and micro-wedding packages, so no matter how you envision your wedding, we will make it happen and have a whole lot of fun along the way!

Ready to get started? Drop me a note below and let’s do this!