Micro Wedding Overlooking Flathead Lake

Wade + JoAnn’s Montana Destination Wedding + Adventure Session in West Glacier

Videography + Photography by Montana Diaries

WATCH WADE + JOANN’S MONTANA ELOPEMENT VIDEO:

Wade + JoAnn’s Flathead Lake Montana Destination Wedding + Adventure Session in West Glacier

Wade + JoAnn’s Somers, MT Micro Wedding

Wade and JoAnn are two of the raddest people ever — seriously so hard working, hilarious, and family oriented. They opted for a destination Montana micro-wedding with their loved ones, and I’m so honored they trusted me to put together a team to capture/let me edit their big day! They ended up having the most beautiful destination wedding at a cabin in Somers, MT overlooking Flathead Lake. Montana Diaries put together an associate videography + photography team to serve W + J for their micro-wedding, and it was the best experience getting to know this incredible couple through the planning process all the way through delivering their photos and film. They put so much emphasis on celebrating with their loved ones and showing them an amazing time, and they also wanted to explore NW Montana while they were here, so the team got to serve them for their wedding AND day-after adventure session in Glacier National Park. Read on to learn more about how they pulled off their micro-wedding!

Somers, MT Cabin Wedding Timeline

When it comes to your wedding, give yourself permission to think about HOW to make what you truly want POSSIBLE — don’t say “no” to what you want before you explore the possibilities.

For W and J, they felt strongly about including their closest loved ones in their big day with a Montana cabin wedding complete with an intimate dinner and dance party on their deck overlooking Flathead Lake.

They also loved the idea of eloping in Glacier National Park.

It seemed like the two ideas just wouldn’t fit together logistically, and as soon as I caught wind of the timeline problem, the answer was obvious — let’s do both.

My team freaking made it happennnn for this incredible couple with a two day extravaganza — day 1 was their intimate cabin wedding, day 2 was their adventure session in the park.

Getting ready in a Somers, MT cabin

Wade, JoAnn, and their families all got ready at their cabin rental in Somers, MT — the bride and groom got ready on separate floors of the house. They spent the morning hanging out with their siblings before JoAnn’s mother zipped her into her dress and Wade’s sister helped him with the finishing touches on his attire.

First looks on balcony overlooking Flathead Lake

JoAnn knew she wanted a special moment with her father before he walked her down the aisle — he hadn’t seen her in her dress yet, and so she opted for a first look with him on the cabin’s balcony overlooking Flathead Lake. The look on her dad’s face when he saw her for the first time was priceless!

After giving JoAnn and her dad a few minutes together to chat, it was Wade’s turn to see his bride. These two were so sweet during their first look, and I don’t think they stopped smiling the rest of the day! I’m so glad they opted to have this private moment together; both were nervous for the ceremony and it ended up calming their nerves a ton.

Ceremony on-site in the woods

The ceremony plan was probably the trickiest part about planning Wade + JoAnn’s micro-wedding long distance. We obviously couldn’t scout out the rental cabin beforehand because it’s private property and they were planning long distance, so they weren’t sure if we’d find a nice spot to do the ceremony on-site or not. As a backup location, JoAnn chose Pine State Park — every public site has different rules, but it’s always worth it to inquire about the process of getting hitched in a park! For this particular location and group size, our photography permit would have covered us, but after seeing their AirBnb they were happy to have their ceremony in the woods on-site. I was happy they went that route because it was convenient for their guests and a stress-free option, and they had planned to do adventure photos on a separate day anyway, so photography aesthetic wasn’t really a priority for me for their actual ceremony. You can’t really go wrong with Montana greens in the woods anyway!

Montana micro-wedding portraits

After their ceremony, Wade and JoAnn popped open some celebratory champagne to share with everyone and the team busted through the photo list right after. Part of our planning process includes a group photo form where our couples list everyone’s names + desired group photo combinations, so this usually goes super quickly. After portraits, it was time to walk back to the cabin and party!

Reception at Somers, MT Cabin

Wade and JoAnn’s vision for their reception started with one specific moment they imagined: their first dance on the balcony of their rented cabin after the sun went down, surrounded by their family and friends. Uhm, done, deal, no problem!

We knew that they didn’t want to plan their party minute-by-minute or do many traditional reception activities — their priority was truly to settle into the evening going with the flow, and having the most fun possible with their loved ones. I personally LOVE when couples leave space in their timelines to do whatever feels right and fun in the moment — when we chatted about coverage for their evening, we just wrote down some ideas of what might be fun and left it at that. I told my team to just *document* and not nudge them in any sort of direction, but to be sure to remind them to do their first dance before it felt right to leave haha! I know it is weird in this industry that I don’t define specific hours of coverage, but I truly feel like we get the most out of our days with our couples and tell the best stories by doing it this way. Literally nobody has ever taken advantage of this policy, ha — I just have incredible couples.

On the actual day, everyone sat down for a steak dinner prepared by Zeb and Joren, and when I tell you the footage of the toasts that happened at dinner made me tear up…oh my goodness. In my defense, I was pregnant while editing their wedding!

After dinner and toasts, Wade and JoAnn cut their cake and signed their marriage license to make everything official before everyone moved outside to party on the balcony all evening. It was the most lovely early summer night for them!

Wade + JoAnn’s Timeline

Wade and JoAnn didn’t want a super strict schedule for their wedding — they literally just wanted to have the best time possible with their friends and family. I totally understood that because my personality is the same way! I told them we could just jot down a skeleton of a plan so that my team could guide them through the day, but they could still live in the moment and not have to look at a clock. Here is how simple your timeline can be and still have an awesome structured day with your photographer and videographer:

2:00 Associates arrive — have all details that you’d like photographed together in one place!
2:30 Put JoAnn in dress
3:00 First look w/ dad
3:30ish First look w/ Wade
4:00ish be done with photos/let everyone take a break to relax before ceremony
5:00 Ceremony
Directly after — formal photos w/ family
5:45- 6:00ish Appetizers/snacks while food cooks
6:00ish Dinner + Toasts
*Intimate reception, formal dances on deck when lighting gets twilighty, bonfire maybe, just fun vibes

See how the above has a solid structure for the day, but doesn’t include a minute-by-minute plan that doesn’t allow for spontaneity!? This is the beauty of micro-weddings and elopements haha!

Day-After Adventure Session in West Glacier

After having the best micro-wedding at their rented cabin in Somers, Montana, Wade and JoAnn met up with the team the next day for an adventure session in West Glacier. You can’t have a destination wedding in Montana without seeking out some sick Montana views, and I’m so glad we were able to make it work for them!

Why they chose west Glacier National Park for their Montana wedding photos and video

When JoAnn first reached out, she said she preferred “streams, timber and mountain views” for their wedding. That narrowed our options down to…well, literally anywhere in NW Montana haha! As far as adventuring in Glacier National Park goes, their wedding was in June, so Going to the Sun Road was closed and we needed to go somewhere in the park that was open — luckily, west Glacier is gorgeous enough well before the road closure!

How to get to the west entrance of Glacier National Park

Airport:

Glacier Park International Airport: 30 min (23.8 mi) via U.S. Rte 2 E

Closest major cities/towns:

Driving Time From Kalispell, MT: 42 min (32.9 mi) via Montana Hwy 206 and U.S. Rte 2
Driving Time From Columbia Falls, MT: 21 min (16.9 mi) via U.S. Rte 2 E
Driving Time From Whitefish, MT: 32 min (25.7 mi) via MT-40 E and U.S. Rte 2 E
Driving Time From Bigfork, MT: 44 min (38.6 mi) via Montana Hwy 35 W, Montana Hwy 206 and U.S. Rte 2

Belton Bridge

Wade and JoAnn started their Glacier National Park adventure session at one of my favorite locations on the Flathead River, Belton Bridge. It was a super rainy June in GNP, so the river was blown out and rushing wildly, and the Glacier Green showed out. W + J had so much fun exploring this area with the team.

Trail of Cedars

Next, we headed to the Trail of Cedars where we explored the trails underneath the large trees, climbed some rocks and trunks, and enjoyed being surrounded by the woods. This trail is so fun because it seriously feels like you’re being instantly transferred to PNW locations like Washington and Oregon with all of the moss and ferns.

Apgar Village on Lake McDonald

We had to end the evening at Apgar Village because there’s truly nothing better than a Lake McDonald sunset. Wade and JoAnn were truly so much fun and I’m glad we had a second day to get to know them and hang out in one of the most beautiful places on earth!

June weather in west Glacier National Park

Straight up, if you’re getting married in June in Glacier National Park, you need to be okay with whatever weather might come your way haha! June is typically our rainy season in NW Montana, but you could be hit with snow or a sunny 70 degree day. You really just never know. I maintain that there is NEVER a bad day in the park, every single type of weather is beautiful! Anndddd ya know…you might get every single type of weather during your visit, ha!

Flathead Lake wedding photographer and videographer

I absolutely loved, loved, loved that Wade + JoAnn chose a big cabin rental overlooking Flathead Lake for their venue — Flathead Lake is absolutely stunning, and their choice made it easy for their closest loved ones to all stay in one place. I’m from NW Montana and live by Flathead Lake, so as your photographer and videographer, I can provide expertise about the area and other amazing vendors you can work with here! I’m a full coverage wedding + elopement videographer and photographer and I curate the most incredible teams, as you can see in this post, so be sure to reach out if you’re thinking about planning a micro-wedding like Wade and JoAnn did! Click here for more info + pricing, or click here to contact me about your wedding photography and videography. Chat soon!!

FLATHEAD LAKE WEDDING VENDORS

PHOTOGRAPHY + VIDEOGRAPHY: MONTANA DIARIES

ASSOCIATE TEAM: Morgan from Elizabeth & Samuel Photography + Danny from Daniel Temme Studios

FLORAL: Sola Wood Flowers