Gorgeous Glacier Elopement | Ella + Todd

Beautiful blooms by Mum's Wedding, and the glowing Rocky Mountains of Montana set the scene for this stunning Glacier National Park elopement. Photography by Backcountry Imagery.

"Todd and I are your typical high school sweethearts — we met when I was in 8th grade and he was in 9th. He came up to me one day in between classes and said hi, clearly unknowing of what he was about to get himself into. We were in different grades, so we got to know each other more outside of school and spent a lot of our high school years supporting one another at sporting events. After high school, Todd began working and I went to a local University, so we got lucky enough to stay close to each other. For the next couple of years, he was focused on work and I was focused on school, but of course I would throw in the 'when can we get engaged?' every now and then. I mean, I knew I wanted to marry him and that was a step in the right direction.

Eventually, while I was busy being impatient, Todd was busy planning. One of my videographer friends, Maggie, reached out to me and asked if Todd and I would be interested in modeling for her to update her website. I remembering texting Todd and asking him if we could, and he was like “yeah, okay.” Little did I know, he was behind it. I told Maggie yes, so we planned a date and time, ordered outfits to wear, and discussed her vision. Day of comes, and it’s raining. I figured we would reschedule because what’s the big deal, right? No… Maggie was insistent we shoot that day, but I just thought she really needed the video for her site. Well, she found us a beautiful greenhouse to use with the help of another local photographer, who also ended up coming. About halfway through the shoot, she set up Todd and I in a way that prompted me to turn around and face him, and that’s when he did it. I had absolutely no idea that was his plan all along, and I was so shocked when I turned and saw him on one knee. Todd truly gave us the perfect moment, and I was so happy he thought to have photo and video to capture it. We had about an hour drive back home, which gave me plenty of time to send photos of the ring to everyone. Most of them acted like they had no idea and were surprised and excited, as expected. One of our friends even invited us over for pizza and so they could 'see the ring.' Turns out, unbeknownst to me, their invite also included both of our families and all of our friends. We showed up to a big party to celebrate our exciting moment and even though I don’t like to be the center of attention, I was grateful to have everyone we loved together in one room. It is still one of my favorite days ever. And here we are now! Eight years together with a lifetime to go.

Our day was truly everything we had hoped and wished it would be! We made the decision to elope with just the two of us, so all we had to focus on was each other. Our day was the most perfect mix of relaxing and exciting, with a quiet morning together leading up to getting ready looking out over Whitefish Lake, a scenic drive to a beautiful location at Glacier National Park, the dreamiest ceremony in front of the mountains, followed by lots of photos and video by our wonderful team to remember just how breathtaking our wedding was. After our time in the mountains, we enjoyed our ride home as newlyweds and picked up takeout from a local place near where we were staying in Bigfork. We ended our day with pizza and Netflix on the couch, and if we could do the day over again, we wouldn’t change a single thing. We give so much credit for how our day turned out to our photographer, Meg, and videographer, Bri, who planned everything for us and made our jobs so easy — we just had to show up. Meg was even behind my hair and makeup, she truly does it all. I am so glad we chose Montana for our wedding, it was the perfect place to start the rest of our lives together and I can’t imagine it any other way. –Ella, the bride