How to Plan your Iceland Elopement

How to plan your iceland elopement.

Everything you need to know for your Elopement in Iceland.

Iceland. One of the many places in the world, that thanks to Instagram, has become one of the most POPULAR destinations for young people to travel to, and for elopements to occur. It has quickly become a tourist peak destination and so I am here to warn you that one of the big hurdles of eloping in Iceland, is beating the tourist and crowds! Iceland is one of the many places you can go where during certain times of year, the sun never fully sets!! It never fully gets dark!! Would you believe me if I told you the photo above was taken at 11 pm?! Right. YUP. You heard that right, 11 freaking pm!! Because the sun did not set until around 2 am, and even then it never got FULLY dark. So here are a few things to consider when planning your elopement in Iceland!

May is around the time when all the road to the highlands West fjords open back up! So this is good to know, because those roads are closed down during winter and you cannot access those areas!!
June begins the high tourism season and this season typically lasts until around End of August-beginning of September!
August is when Iceland is most green and most accessible as there will hardly be any closures! The weather tends to be best, but hotels do book up around 10 months in advance for June-August so I would highly recommend either looking at airbnbs OR renting a camper van or van of some sort and traveling in van to see and explore of Iceland and not be limited on where you can and cannot go due to having to backtrack to your place of stay!
September begins the rainy season! so if you plan on a September Iceland elopement bring some umbrellas!
If you are wanting the Northern Lights or an ice cave wedding then the winter of Dec-March is going to be the best for you!! Ice caves and Glacier photos are going to be what you are able to access and brave!
Iceland also is rather pricy when it comes to eating out, or getting food on the go, so I highly recommend hitting up a local grocery store and buying some sand-which items and easy to cook meals that way you are not spending a fortune on food!
Iceland is one island, you could do a circle around in a car or van and see all it has to offer! What I have found is that the southern part of the island is where most of the tourist go because all of the famous locations (ie: waterfalls, plane crash, blue lagoon, glacier lagoon, etc) are down in the south! BUT the northern part of the Island, in my opinion is EVEN better. With painted hills and roaring canyons, far more ice caves (if you are a game of thrones fan, you will NEED to go to the northern part of the island, just saying!) and less tourist!

Pro Tips for your Iceland Wedding Photos

So let’s chat all about your wedding photos in Iceland. Iceland weather can be a hit or miss, and the lighting as well, so you want to make sure you are prepared for whatever may come your way!! I do not recommend buying a wedding gown covered in beads and embroidery, or wearing that favorite pair or wedges or high heels. Those are all beautiful, but a no go for Iceland. The terrain in Iceland is rocky, sandy, unstable and unpredictable and you want to make sure you do not break your ankle during your elopement or wedding photos! So let’s chat dress & shoes, heres a list of my top recommendations for these when it comes to eloping in Iceland.

Dress Designers:

Shoe Recommendations:

I promise you, you will want to be comfortable and able to move around freely! Your elopement pictures in Iceland are going to be full of adventure and life, you do not want to look stiff and lifeless and in pain because you wore the wrong shoes or your dress is too tight and fitted and you cannot bend down in it!

Best locations to Elope in Iceland

Now let me start by saying, I am only going to give you a short list and brief overview of each one, without giving away exact locations, because I hold those secrets for my couples!! So if you are ready to elope in Iceland and want the full list of locations & ideas chat with me here! But for now, let’s get on to the top locations to elope in Iceland!

A waterfall! Iceland has SO MANY different waterfalls to elope at, some of which are more popular, and some of which you can find off the side of the road! Some of them you can climb under the waterfall and get behind it, and some of them you can only run around in front of it!
Black Sand beach! Iceland has some of the worlds biggest and most beautiful black sand beaches, with soaring cliff-sides lining the edges and huge waves meeting the black rocks. If you love the look of an ombre wedding dress, there is no better place to create your own than roaming around a black sand beach in Iceland!
A canyon! Iceland has some of the most gorgeous canyons (yeah- you probably have seen the one in Justin Bieber’s music video- you know the one I am talking about!) well guess what?! That is not the only one! There are so many different beautiful ones, each with it’s own unique aspect to offer!
Ice Cave! Iceland is home to many of the worlds most beautiful and explorable ice caves, and yep you can even do your wedding photos in one of them!! Cue all the Elsa vibes! These ice caves are some of the most stunning features you can find in Iceland, with the bright blue ice surrounding you, imagine wedding photos with an ice arch as your alter!
A Steam valley! Yep, a valley that seems to constantly have ‘steam’ rising and around it, so you literally look like you are walking and exploring above and inside the clouds!! The valley hills are painted with pinks and yellows and orange colors all in the ground, making for one of the most surreal things your eyes have laid on!
Walking on water. YUPPPP. there is a specific mountain location in Iceland, it is more of a trek (around 6 hour drive from the capital) than the other locations, but it is the most stunning mountain overlooking a the most beautiful reflection on a thin layer of water, so your wedding photos could be out of this world as if you are walking on water in-front of the most epic mountain!

Iceland Elopement Packages and more info!

Eloping in Iceland is no joke, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of knowledge to pull off your perfect elopement! So your package and elopement photographer, make a HUGE difference on the experience you will have! Elopement packages for Iceland include months of planning, location details, travel details, and more! So For each elopement package in Iceland is a custom package, based on time of year and cost of travel, and how much of your own trip you want documented! Here are a few of my packages that I have offered in the past to couples eloping in Iceland!

Iceland Elopement package 1.

8 hours photography coverage
All travel and accommodations
second photographer
online gallery
printing/sharing rights

$8000

Iceland Elopement package 2.

2 days of photography coverage
All travel and accommodations
second photographer
online gallery
printing/sharing rights

$11,000

Iceland Elopement Package 3.

4 days of photography coverage
All travel and accommodations
second photographer
online gallery
printing/sharing rights

$16,000

Like I said before, each package is customized to my couples and what is important to you! Some couples want their entire trip documented, and each day explore a new location and some couples only want the one day in wedding attire for their elopement captured! These can be completely made to be whatever you are wanting and needing for your Iceland Elopement package.