Mount St Helens is an active volcano located in Washington. The mountain erupted in 1980, wiping out all the life around it. Now, almost 30 years later, you can see the new life starting to sprout up amongst all the rock and ash. We felt like we were on a different planet for this ethereal Mount St Helens elopement.
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Mount St Helens Elopement | An Alpine Start
Jesse and Krystal wanted as much privacy for their elopement as possible. The surest way to have the mountain all to yourself is being there for sunrise, so that’s exactly what we did. We met them at the trail head parking lot at 4:00 am for a true alpine start. We were the only ones there and dense clouds moving in and out all around us, which added to the mystical feeling we already had from being there so early.
For more Washington mountain elopements, check out this North Cascades elopement.
After wiping the last bit of sleepy sand from our eyes and taking a few big sips of hot coffee, we hit the trail for the first look. We knew it would still be dark for the first look, so we lined the area Jesse would stand with LED string lights. The dim lights out in the dark, early morning really added to the intimate feel of it all.
Mount St Helens Elopement | An Other Worldly Experience
After the first look, we continued down the trail to their ceremony spot. Jesse and Krystal had been to Mount St. Helens before and knew of a perfect place to exchange their vows and say their “I-do’s”. Most of the way down the trail the mountain itself was completely covered in dense clouds. In fact, we were walking through dense clouds ourselves most of the time. At one point, there was a quick break in the clouds revealing just a small taste of the big beautiful mountain. We stopped for photos and just a few short minutes, it was covered again.
Want more mountain elopement inspo? Check out this Mt Rainier elopement.
After their ceremony we wandered along the trail and back stopping for portraits all along the way. By the time we were making our way back towards the parking lot, the sun was high and had burned off all the clouds, revealing Mount St. Helens. To cap off their elopement, Jesse and Krystal cracked the bottle of cognac they shared the day they got engaged and lit up celebratory cigars in front of the beautiful mountain that had just witness their marriage. Congrats to these two adventurous spirits!
