When Vivian first wrote me last summer asking if I would be interested in coming up to photograph her wedding in her hometown of Cordova, Alaska, my first thought was simply, “Alaska? Heck yes!” Ten months later, I was on a plane headed to Alaska to capture Vivian and Jared’s big day!

The day of their wedding, it poured buckets. Vivian and Jared, along with their wedding party were all troopers though and went with the flow and totally made the best of it! They had initially wanted to have their ceremony at the gorgeous Boswell Bay since Jared is a bush pilot and could have flown us down there, but weather pushed them to change locations and do it in a cute little local church. However, I did get to go for a plane ride with Jared and Vivian the morning of my departure from Cordova, which was awesome! I’ll be doing a separate post on that soon.

I lucked out so much because Vivian is friends with a local photographer, Chelsea Haisman (Haisman Photography) and she came and assisted me the day of the wedding, not to mention showed me around Cordova the day before! With all the rain, she was a huge help the day of and I was so grateful for all her assistance and positive personality. Thanks again Chelsea!

Vivian and Jared have known each other since they were little kids. Vivian told me, “With both our families in aviation, we grew up together, but it wasn’t until after I came back from college that I said those 4 special words….”I don’t date pilots.” Jared responded, “Well, I ain’t lookin’.” Two years later we married.”

Click here to see photos from the rest of my trip to Alaska!

The ring pendant below has a really sweet story that goes along with it. Here it is in Vivian’s words: “My grandparents met back in Minnesota. I remember my mom telling me how my grandpa used to tie nanny’s ice skates when they were little kids. They started dating around college and eloped before WWII. The gold band was my grandmother’s original wedding ring. Being very poor, my Papa Jack sold a pint of blood in order to pay for the simple gold band, before going off to serve as a medic. Later he had it made into a pendant.”Ringing the church bell.

Photo below by Chelsea Haisman. : )