Mikaila + Will - Iceland Elopement

Day 2 of 3 in Iceland! 

Mikaila and Will were actually the first couple to book us for their elopement in Iceland. 

It was an early morning getting up, to make the drive from Reykjavik to Budir. (I think we were awake around 5am) Once on the road we made our first stop of the day at a gas station to grab breakfast, yes we had those delicious gas station hot dogs for breakfast!

The drive was stunning, as it seems to be every where you go in Iceland. As we got close to Hotel Budir, we stopped to take some of the sites in for a bit. We are talking multiple waterfalls off the side of a mountain, in someones backyard, kinda sights! AMAZING! 

We stepped into Hotel Budir and wow, what a beautiful place. So much character and charm in there.

Mikaila and Will were getting ready in the same room, which was pretty sweet, as Mikaila helped Will get suited up, and all the feels started happening. Once he was ready, he left the room so Mikaila could get her dress on, and we could do a nice first look with them. 

With the first look out of the way, we walked over to the iconic Black Church. We've seen pictures of this place so many times on instagram but actually seeing it in person was something else! 

The ceremony consisted of Amanda and I, Mikaila and Will, and the officiant, as well as a few tourists eyes peering in through the windows. 

We wandered around the grounds nearby, walked down by the ocean, had some laughs at the cute dogs from the hotel and then made our way on our adventure for the day. 

We actually took a wrong turn when we left and ended up at Kirkjufell first, which was supposed to be our last spot for the day. No big deal. We did get to take some crazy roads through the mountains to get there. 

Just like the day before, we'd drive and find spots to shoot, however this time we weren't in the rain, and it was actually quite warm which was a nice little change.

We even made our way up the side of an old volcanic crater for some pretty ridiculously awesome photo's. From there we went to Hellnar and Arnarstapi for some more photo's and ended up back at Hotel Budir to drop them off so they could enjoy the rest of their wedding day with each other. 

We can't thank Mikaila and Will enough for giving us the opportunity to get to Iceland and capture their secret elopement. This was an experience we will remember forever!

Mikaila and Will wrote a little testimonial for us too that we thought we would share.

We are so, so happy we chose Corey and Amanda to be a part of our Icelandic elopement. They did so much more than capture the special day -- they added to the experience with their energy, spontaneity, and talent. Several times we stopped for unique shooting opportunities, including to hike to the top of a volcano! They put as at such ease during the shooting process with their tone in direction, and professionalism. (Professionalism -- which was complimented by a sense of playfulness and attention to even the smallest of details.) Every photo from our day affirms that we couldn't have made a better selection in who should take them! 

Corey & Amanda -- Thank you for delivering breathtaking photos that preserve not only the beauty of the places we went, but the emotion we felt and will cherish forever. We are so appreciative of the care and time you took to ensure such an authentic and stunning series of images for us to remember our first moments together as husband and wife.

 And then followed up with this after receiving their photos!

Wow! Wow! Wow! I am speechless. I had high expectations for these to begin with, but you've managed to healthily exceed them! These are phenomenal. So truly representative of the day and as someone who ordinarily hates photos of herself, I haven't found one that I dislike from this lot. I have to underscore my gratitude now. We are already picking out those we'd like to frame. (The one's atop the volcano -- holy crap!) Arnastapi's colouring is seriously beautiful too. I could go on and on about every single one of these! The first look one's in the hotel lobby-- my god!  If anyone I know announces an engagement, I'll be making a speedy recommendation for who should photograph their wedding.

Sorry for the long read, but now its time to enjoy the photos!

-C&A

Paris + George - Iceland Elopement

Well... here goes! 

First things first, Paris and George were actually the second couple to book us for an elopement in Iceland, but they managed to be the first that we shot in the 3 days we were there. We had already been booked to shoot another elopement (It will be posted soon) and crazily enough Paris and George were looking to elope in the same time frame that we were going to be there. 

Now with that out of the way, this might be a long post, so grab a snack, maybe a tasty beverage, and enjoy. 

We left Winnipeg Sunday afternoon, after shooting a wedding on Saturday. We flew through the night to get to Iceland, and neither Amanda or myself are much good at sleeping on planes. We arrived at 9am, grabbed our sweet Dacia rental car, and a delicious coffee and sandwich from Joe and the Juice and got on the road. We headed straight to Paris and Georges AirBNB, had a quick change of clothes and quickly freshened up before starting the day of shooting. 
They did their first look pretty much across the street from the AirBNB, and once we did that we hopped into the car and headed East! 

Here's the thing about Iceland, every where you look there's an epic spot to shoot. First stop was off the side of the highway after making our way over a mountain range. Second stop was just a few minutes from there in what appeared to be some kind of mining operation. 

We finally found ourselves at the office of the Wedding Officiant and were back on the road to our first Iceland waterfall Seljalandsfoss (try and say that, good luck!) This is where they had their official ceremony. It was wet, very wet, but 110% amazing in every way. We even got to sign as witnesses! We also had a crowd of people around that of course let out a big cheer for them. 

Next stop was another side of the highway location, we spotted an old grass covered house, or barn, or whatever it was. It was perfect! 

Waterfall number 2 for the day was Skogafoss. You may have seen it before, its pretty much the most amazing waterfall you'll see. Yet again, we got soaked, but let me tell you it was worth it. We took a few photo's of Paris and George there, and then handed one of our cameras to them to take photo's of us! haha. 

With Skogafoss done, we got back on the road and made our way to Vik, home of the famous Black Sand Beach. It was cold, super windy, rainy, and there was a lot of tourists, yet somehow we managed to make some magic there and get some beautiful photo's. 

By this time it was starting to get pretty late in the day, and we had a pretty long trek back to Reykjavik ahead of us. So we started heading back, but not without stopping in a few more of those off the side of the highway spots! Seriously you could just skip all of the super popular locations and just find places off the highway, its amazing out there. 

That pretty much sums up day 1 in Iceland, once we got back to town we had quite the adventure of finding our AirBNB and getting in there (thats another story in itself). Grabbed ourselves some Fish N Chips for supper and got some much needed sleep, as we had to be up at 5am for Day 2's elopement. 

Thank you so much Paris and George for taking us on this adventure with you. You guys were amazing, and we couldn't be more honored to have been part of such a special day for you both. Looking forward to the day we cross paths once again!