ICELAND: The Wedding Day

I've been sort of putting off posting all of the photos from our wedding day. It's not that I haven't wanted to share them with you-- I haven't had a moment to really pore over all of them myself. I just wanted some time to soak it all in and enjoy them before putting them up here. Some time to reflect, some time to cry, some time to repeat over and over "I JUST WANT TO GO BACK!"

*All images by Violet Short



The morning of the wedding was an odd mix of excitement and overwhelm. Everybody was moving so quickly, like flashes of light. I didn't even have time to drink a cup of coffee. Brenden and I did hold onto each other tightly that morning and say "this is the day!" ... after hitting the snooze button one time. (What? It's not like they could have started the wedding without us.) I remember taking a few mental snapshots-- some advice from The Office. I remember being thankful that one of the bathrooms was about four times the size of a normal bathroom, since it obviously took the girls at least four times longer to get ready than the guys.

I didn't even have a "traditional" wedding yet the old adage remained true: time flew by. It went by so much quicker than the average day. This picture of me putting on lip balm? I don't even remember putting on lip balm. Glad there's photographic evidence of it. (This is one of the few attractive photos of me getting ready. Sorry for not sharing more.)
One thing I remember is being upset that I couldn't go see Brenden. "But he'll need help tying his tie! He's so cute when he struggles!" But no, we had to keep a few things traditional... and there was work to be done. My hair wasn't going to curl itself. (Although after going out into the wind and the rain, it didn't matter much.)

I wish I would have been more intentional about enjoying this time with my mom. It was so rushed. I don't know why, but it was. Of course it reminded me of being a little kid playing dress up. She'd help me get dressed and say "you look so pretty!" This was basically the same thing, right? Oh, and that headpiece? GORGEOUS-- but what you can't see if that it took about three or four people to put it on correctly. All that work paid off though, since it only flew off my head once. (Which is a big deal because it was SO windy on the beach!)

This picture was an unexpected favorite. I love how excited my mom looks. Also, she's crazy for going sleeveless in the Icelandic tundra. In a strange way, I came to love that tiny little Ford so I'm glad it made it into at least one photo.

I love my dad. He knows I'm such a crybaby and used this time to talk, joke around, and make commentary about the scenery so I wouldn't sob like a child and ruin my makeup. Still cried, just not as much as I would have otherwise.
The drive to Reynisfjara was the only thing that seemed to take a long time. I was excited albeit a little nervous. I just wanted to get there. When we finally did arrive, we were welcomed with 40mph gusts of wind and rain that was coming down sideways, somehow. (Ah, the wind.) I kinda freaked out because I thought we'd have to have the ceremony-- GASP-- indoors. My brother and dad volunteered to walk down onto the beach to assess the situation. In the meantime, Brenden took this photo to calm my nerves a bit. Boy knows I love a good selfie. After a few minutes, my dad and brother were excitedly running back to the cars. They found a cave! We were getting married in a cave. How cool is that?
We had my dad officiate and wrote our own vows. It was so special. The ceremony was perfect. Well, almost perfect. Right around the time we were exchanging rings, some lameass bro decided to propose to his girlfriend... standing right by us. She screamed. ON MY DAY. He could have waited another 5 minutes, or, you know, gone anywhere else on the humongous beach. I was pretty annoyed in the moment but it's funny now. It became a part of our special day.
I wouldn't change anything about that day. Not even the wind, or the rain. Or the cold. It was worth it. Entirely worth it. (Okay... maybe I would have worn a more supportive undergarment.)
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I mean... come on. I don't regret not having a big wedding and fancy party. I loved having an intimate, low-key ceremony. And the pictures are DOPE. Yes, definitely worth it.
After we got done on the beach, we decided to take some more photos in front Instagram-infamous Sólheimasandur plane wreck. (Don't worry. Nobody died in the crash.) Coming from a family of aviators, we thought taking some pictures in front of it would be neat. (Some people have been wasting their time talkin' smack about us on the internet for this decision. Whatever. I don't care. The pictures are dope.) We nearly destroyed the bottom of our rental car getting there (you have to drive slowly through about 2 miles of rocks to get to it) but once again... worth it.

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I love all these photos. I couldn't have asked for a better family and a better bunch of people to go away to a foreign land with. Not a bad looking bunch, eh? I especially love this adorable photo of my parents... complete with my sister Jenna lurking in the background. Even Violet and Grant became like family. I miss them. I think I need to start a petition for them to move to the East Coast. Who's with me? 
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We stayed and took photos for as long as we could handle it. It was somewhere around this point that I remembered I hadn't eaten anything all day, had to pee, and was SO COLD. 
After one last cute and somewhat predictable picture, we were off again-- this time in search of some grub. It wasn't a difficult decision, since Vík has a population of about 600 and only two restaurants. (One of which was closed.)
Lunch was, of course, fantastic despite the confused restaurant patrons who probably weren't expecting to see a wet and windblown bride walk through the door. Some guy was even taking subtle pictures from his table. Danielle said it's probably because he thought I was some kind of snow queen with my big 'ole flower crown. No matter. Best veggie burger and hot cocoa of my life. 
After it was all done, we went back to the house to play cards, share stories, and laugh. There was quite a bit of laughter. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Now... I can't wait to go back! And don't worry, I still have one more day of photos to share.

xo,
e.m.

See our video, first look, and photos from Reykjavik.

Check out Violet Short's blog and Instagram.

*Since we used so many small businesses for our wedding, I wanted to share them with you because they were ALL SO WONDERFUL:

Skirt: 2live2love (The top is by Asilio.)
Flower Crown: By Taylor Cordova
Rings: Brightsmith
Frigga oil: Haute Alchemy 

Frigga is the Norse goddess of beauty, love and marriage. We wanted to have something Icelandic on our wedding day. We also learned that Friday is the traditional day for Icelandic weddings-- which we did kinda accidentally!

14 comments

  1. How am I emotional looking at your wedding photos when I'm not even in the wedding? I got chills from how amazing these photos are! I hope they are getting published!

    The Adored Life

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    1. Aww thanks! I should probably see about getting them published. Hmm. Any ideas on where?

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  2. These photos are beautiful!!! I've never personally had a desire to go to Iceland, but that doesn't take away from the fact that your wedding looks and sounds like it was amazing! I can't think of a more intimate place to get married.

    We had an intimate wedding too - just us, two friends, our photographer and her husband, at their farmhouse in the Poconos on a snowy day in December. We almost crashed the car on our way to the farmhouse, and I had an epic nosebleed on our way there, but those are all just parts of the memory of that amazing day. Big weddings ain't got nothin' on intimate elopements. I don't think less people makes the day any less special!

    As far as getting the photos published, I think that's up to the photographer. Ours submitted them to a few of the major wedding blogs, and once they got up there, she started getting emails from other blogs about whether or not they could post the photos. Tell your photographer to do that!

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    1. That sounds so perfect :) I wish I could do this day over and over again, even the bad parts. Thanks for the advice as well! XO!

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  3. Omg I'm tearing up, these are sooooo pretty each and every one, and I love the black and white ones of you by the plane! I cant think of why people would heckle you for taking photos by it psh!

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  4. What a gorgeous day! It looks so perfect and you look stunning! It definitely all goes by too fast but to be honest I wouldn't ever want to plan another one. So many things to do and coordinate. I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

    Also what a brother thing to do on your wedding day. Neither of my brother's came to my wedding but if they did I can imagine they would have done something annoying! Although that is top level annoying!Of course it's much easier to laugh about now.

    One more also... Don't worry about those giving you flack said, You know what those b*ches are like ;)

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    1. It was absolutely perfect. You're right about not wanting to plan another one. We had minimal planning and it was still crazy stressful, especially when it came time to get everyone to the airport. Sweet baby Jesus.

      And haha! Those bitches weren't the only ones! I was like... ??? (You know that meme of the guy who's making that face with the question marks... that was me.)

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  5. I ugly cried THIS WHOLE POST. Seriously, the photos are just fucking out of this world. (Sorry for language, but DAMN!)

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    1. Awww girl!! Never apologize for language. They're just words that we assign arbitrary meanings to. I'm a-okay with cussin' -- it's just raw emotion with letters ;)

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  6. My mouth was like this :O the whole time I was looking at your pictures. What an amazing location to celebrate love and commitment! And you look amazing. This is my first time visiting your blog but I know I'll be back to see more pretty things :)

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  7. Amazing post! I loved reading it. This wedding is truly iconic and everyone seems to have so much fun. Can you also share video of their wedding ceremony? Well, I want to have destination wedding and looking for some exotic wedding venues NYC. Please share some good suggestion guys!

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  8. You are really getting the complete package when you have a wedding at New York wedding venues: a unique space, with an incredible view; and amazing food from start to finish. The best decision one can made is to book this place.

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  9. I've used this Flower Delivery New York service for business and personal orders and they nail it every time. Great arrangements and great people! Huge fan.

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