06/16/2026
🌈A rainbow showing up during your Iceland waterfall vows already feels fake enough.
🥾 Finding out it connected back to the bride’s late father’s Appalachian Trail nickname?
Yeah. Magical forces had to have been involved in this one. ✨✨✨
Backstory straight from the photographer:
Just a couple of days before this elopement, we learned about the orange alert for weather in Iceland. We had to change the elopement date by one day and if we hadn't, we wouldn't get the experience and the photos they did.
Kirsten and Jared actually met while thru hiking the Appalachian Trail, which was especially meaningful because her father had also hiked the trail years before she did. After he passed away, that connection to the outdoors and the trail carried a much deeper meaning for her. Her father’s trail name had something to do with a rainbow, so when one appeared during their Iceland elopement, it instantly became emotional for them both. Kirsten told me she felt like he was right there witnessing their vow exchange.
What made it feel even more poetic was that Iceland mirrored so much of their story together: unpredictable weather, rugged landscapes, and the kind of outdoorsy adventure that brought them together in the first place. It felt like one of those rare moments where nature gave them something deeply personal back.
These photos became more than just beautiful landscape images, they became tied to memory, grief, love, and the journey that led them to each other.
--
Shot on Contax G2 // Kodak Portra 400 // Scanned on Frontier
