Emily and Zachary are avid hikers, and their plans for their elopement were amazing. They would be hiking from the West side of the park into the Many Glacier Valley, where they would meet up with family—and me—we would take some portraits, and then the following morning they'd exchange vows behind the Many Glacier Hotel.

The great thing about elopements is the amount of flexibility they afford you should plans go awry, and boy did they go awry this trip. A winter storm blew into Northwestern Montana—despite it being mid-August—causing a temporary closure of Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park along with dropping several feet of snow at the higher elevations.

Thankfully this happened early enough that they had not started their hike just yet, so they weren't stranded in the mountains. We still met up the evening before., and took some photos in the frigid rain with snow-covered mountains as our backdrop.

The next morning we met up as the sun rose, and they exchanged vows along the shore of Swiftcurrent Lake behind the hotel. After a lovely breakfast, I joined everyone briefly as they followed up breakfast with a hike to Iceberg Lake.