Feel free to ignore me down here and just go ahead and re-load this blog post and look at the photos again. It's okay, I'll wait. Okay, you back? You still breathing? Because Iceland was literally breath taking. Many folks who don't know Ingrid and Kris but knew that we were headed to Iceland to shoot a wedding always asked us two things: 1) Are they Icelandic? and 2) Why Iceland? To clear up those two things first; Ingrid and Kris are American and they chose to have a destination wedding in Iceland for many reasons, but the primary reason being the absolutely stunning landscape and beauty of the place. We knew going into the wedding that it was going to be an amazing experience, but we really had no idea how austerely beautiful the weekend would be. It was other-worldly in many ways. As we drove three hours north from the airport in Keflavik we were quickly greeted by stunning volcano-mountains and lava rock plains. Civilization seemed to lull to a place of prehistoric proportions, and we had to laugh when we entered a stretch in the drive where the only radio station that came in clearly was an abstract fog horn musical composition. So very cool and Scandinavian.

As if the landscapes weren't enough to get us excited; when we finally pulled into Ingrid and Kris' wedding location, Hotel Budir, we were greeted by a cozy hotel on the shores of the Atlantic. In many ways it was in the middle of no where - but it felt very idyllic and community-like with roaming dogs and wedding guests arriving with hugs and excitement for the weekend to come. Ingrid and Kris welcomed their guests with a twilight dinner (the sun doesn't really go down until 11:00pm or so, and even then it doesn't get truly dark) that we were able to enjoy with the guests. On the morning of the wedding Matt and I ventured out to see some scenic views (and take photos of course) while the wedding party started to ready themselves for the big day. When we arrived to photograph Ingrid and Kris getting ready for the ceremony, excitement was high and laughter was plentiful. Despite the drizzly weather conditions we managed to take some portraits of them outside amongst the stunning landscapes. We were in photo heaven! The ceremony was held in the cutest little chapel up the road from the hotel which ended with the sweetest rendition of 'My Favorite Things' from The Sound of Music on the small church organ. The celebration continued back at the hotel with some amazing food, heartfelt toasts, an adorable first dance and all ages of guests rocking out the dance floor. We had to take the opportunity to grab a few more couple portraits at sunset (aka, 10:45pm) and were so glad we did since the rain had stopped by then and we were able to see more of the snow capped mountains. Ingrid and Kris, we are so grateful for the opportunity to work with you and capture such a special time in your lives. Til Hamingju!!!