Josepha & Kyle were originally planning a traditional wedding for September of 2020, but had to reschedule to September of 2021. After some thought and discussion, they chose an adventurous Waterton Lakes elopement, with just them and 2 witnesses. They didn’t want to wait another year to be married, and they wanted to start their marriage with an adventure! These two were able to include their family in their elopement by Facetiming their parents after their ceremony. Their original 2021 date is now their reception and party with family and friends, and celebrating all over again. Best of both worlds, I’d say!

Adventurous Waterton Lakes Elopement

Elopements can LITERALLY look however you want them to. If you’re planning a wedding and can’t decide how you want to go about it, you have so many options!!!! If we learned one thing in 2020 – its that there are NO rules when it comes to weddings. (There never were, but now, your parents and second circle of friends can understand it better ;)). You could do a full-on adventurous elopement, with you two, an officiant and a photographer, and wander somewhere wild to say your vows. You could have an intimate wedding in a destination new to you, with your closest family and friends witnessing your ceremony, and celebrate with dinner and drinks at an Airbnb later on. Or, you could do something in between, with an epic adventurous elopement where you say your vows, and then celebrate later!

This is exactly what Josepha and Kyle did. They got ready separately at home, and then share a first look along the shores of Waterton Lake. They had their ceremony in the Waterton United Church, with their pastor from their church at home officiating! After they were officially married, we wandered down the street to Weiners of Waterton for some hot dogs and yam fries for dinner because #whythehellnot! We then explored the amazing Waterton area until (actually, way past when) the sun went down! We popped champagne with their two best friends and witnesses, and Josepha & Kyle shared their first dance under the mountains to Spotify on an iPhone. More proof that you can involve traditional parts of a wedding into your elopement!

It was super important to these two to say their vows in a church, so they made it happen. On the other hand, it wasn’t important to them to have a formal dinner and reception, so, fries and hot dogs it was! My advice: find what’s important to you, forget the rest, and pop 2 bottles for good measure!

Your endless options

A lot of couples are unsure about how to proceed with wedding planning right now, as there is a lot of uncertainty with restrictions, finances, health concerns and wedding vendors availability. You have a lot of options with your wedding can look. You can take elements from big weddings, tiny elopements, small intimate weddings, or anything in between. If its important to you to have all your family and friends there with you, and to be able to celebrate without concern, wait! Take this time to enjoy being engaged, and when the coast is clear, you can then begin planning your dream wedding. However, if a big party isn’t your style, you don’t love being the centre of attention, you do love a good adventure, you have a smaller budget, or you just don’t want to wait, maybe an adventurous elopement is exactly for you!

This beautiful Waterton Lakes elopement was made possible with these vendors:

Florals: New Hope Floral and Botanical

Hair and Makeup: Katelyn Greep Makeup

Dress: The Bridal Boutique; Enzoani

Rings: Noam Carver

Accommodations: The Bayshore Inn

Videography: Viva Lux

Church: Waterton United Church

For more elopement inspiration, check out this Vermilion Area Elopement Styled Shoot!

If you think an elopement may be right for you, or if you’d like some help in finding what is right for you, feel free to reach out here. I would love to hear from you!