Winter may be your very favorite season… congrats for finding the best where so many of us find weary grey days. But to celebrate your favorite season, why not plan a very unique wedding day! Alchemy Events braved the extreme temperatures of Alaska to bring you this extremely unique wedding idea, an ice cave wedding! Beauty really does hide everywhere.
So cuddle up in a big pile of blankets as you admire the amazing colors and glittering lights at play in this shoot. And don’t forget to stop by the full gallery, it is packed with shiver worthy beauty thanks to Anne Marie Moran Photography!
Capturing Magic In Nature
Alchemy Events brought together vendors from around the country for a shoot in an ice cave inside the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska. We used opals as a nod to the famous aurora borealis of Alaska and although we were surrounded by snow and ice, we wanted to bring in those famous aurora pops of color. The jeweler provided $10,000 worth of opals and gold quartz jewelry for the shoot.
The cake featured ice paper flowers and both she and the florist brought in some beautiful pops of color into the white and blue backdrop around us.
The ring dish and vintage place settings both mimicked opals and the hand crafted invitations also picked up on those beautiful aurora colors that dance across the Alaskan sky.
Behind the scenes
We drove two hours outside Anchorage to the valley surrounded by mountains that the glacier sits in. After driving to the edge of the glacier, we loaded everything into sleds which were pulled by snow machines and went the last mile to the ice cave. Once there, we had to haul everything down into the cave ourselves and by the time we were done setting up, the clouds had rolled in and wind had picked up, cutting our shoot shorter than we would’ve liked. We got the model down into the cave then changed and started shooting.
Temperatures were around -20 that day so even with frequent breaks & long johns under the dress, our poor model, Carolyn Layne, was definitely tested to the extreme for this shoot! We actually started to worry about her when she stopped talking and seemed less responsive so we bundled her up and rushed her back to an outpost on the edge of the glacier and put her in front of a wood burning stove to get her warmed up again. It was an experience of a lifetime for all those involved!
