Snow Elopement at Hurricane Ridge // Olympic National Park

This snow elopement at Hurricane Ridge had us picking up our jaws off the snow the whole shoot. These two beautiful brides were treated to a glorious and rare sunny day on New Years Eve, with a crystal clear view the snowcapped Olympic mountain range for their magical winter elopement.

↓ Keep reading to for the full story + pics ↓

 

The first “fight” as a married couple ?

 

Snow Elopement at Hurricane Ridge

When Jessica and Rachelle first reached out to us about photographing their elopement, they were completely open to location suggestions. Their only requirements were snowy mountain views. With a date of December 31st, we agreed a snow elopement was a pretty awesome way to end the year. Washington has a plethora of options for snowy mountain landscapes in late December, so we sent them over a few suggestions to choose from. It didn’t take long for them to get back to us with their decision: Hurricane Ridge. Fine choice indeed!   The first time we visited Hurricane Ridge was in the summer, and it was a very different looking place. Returning in the winter was like seeing it for the first time all over again. Some very busy snowplows keep the road up to Hurricane Ridge open through the winter, and the summit get buried in snow. Meanwhile, the glaciated peaks of the Olympic mountain range become even more prominent with a heaping fresh coat of the white stuff. It was Jessica and Rachelle’s first time up to Hurricane Ridge as well, and they couldn’t have picked a more perfect day.

Want to see two other Washington snow elopements? Check out this Winter Elopement in the North Cascades

OR this snowy Gold Creek Pond Elopement

  Knowing that hiking around was going to be impossible without snowshoes, we all had our own pairs and strapped up before setting out for the elopement. This was the second snow elopement we’ve done where the couple rented snowshoes from REI. A little pro tip: while it’s nice and convenient to rent snowshoes from REI, we’ve come to the realization that they are really bad snowshoes. And at $25/rental, you could buy some way better snowshoes for keeps on Amazon for a little more than double that price. We have these ones and they’re awesome. But it was all good, and aside from a few snowshoe snafus, we all were able to trek around the snowy hillside with ease.   With the evening sun beating down on us, it wasn’t even that cold. And by the looks of Jessica, in her dress sans jacket, you might even think it was a balmy 70 degrees instead of just 35! These two brides were total troopers and even laid down in the snow to snuggle for a few photos. This was the third and final snow elopement of 2017 and we couldn’t imagine a better way to close out the year than adventuring around with these two. HUGE CONGRATS Jessica and Rachelle, pretty awesome way to wrap up 2017 and kick off 2018!