Stylish Iceland Elopement: Kennedy + Kirk
Stylish Iceland Elopement: Kennedy + Kirk
via
It's no secret that we really love elopements here at GWS and Kennedy + Kirk's stunning vow exchange in Stykkishólmur, Iceland was just about as good as it gets! True adventurers at heart, for their wedding day these two wanted the freedom to be spontaneous in the face of whatever would come their way. Knowing that would be a lot to ask of guests, eloping - just the two of them -allowed them to do things their way, and be 100% present throughout the whole experience! Here's a bit more from Kennedy about planning their elopement:
Kirk and I are a little adventure-obsessed by trade and at heart and we hoped that our wedding would be a completely new experience in a new place.We're both close with our families and have dear friends, but I think the first decision we made was to elope. Once that was decided, the next question was, "Where should we go?" The primary criterion was that it had to be a place neither of us had been. Our company, Discover Outdoors, recently started running a trip to Iceland but we had never been. We started looking at pictures and were hooked. The landscape was unlike any we'd seen and it felt so remote and romantic, even if we spent most of the time in hiking boots.Big thanks to the incredibly talented Pat + Claire of Pat Furey Photography for sharing these stunning images with us today! And awesome news for west coast couples or those of you planning a destination wedding in California; Pat is relocating to the west coast + is now booking CA / west coast weddings for 2015! Shoot him an email ([email protected]) for more info!
We may have eloped but in one way or another, everyone we loved was there with us. We FaceTimed with our parents the morning of our ceremony and my mom was on FaceTime with me as I got ready, cracking jokes. She and my 2 oldest friends supplied my something old, new, borrowed and blue. My friend Heather lent me the broach her grandmother wore at her wedding (borrowed & blue), which I wore on my dress. Elizabeth ordered a hairpiece made with dogwood flowers (new). The dogwood is the state flower of North Carolina, where I'm from, and the state tree of Missouri, where Kirk is from. My mom had a bracelet made (borrowed) using my grandmother's stones. My dear friend, Lauren Defilippo, is a designer and designed our vows, which we wrote. We collected dirt from our garden and our respective backyards in North Carolina and Missouri, and combined it with dirt we brought home from the peninsula where we were married. We plan to plant a tree with the soil. Kirk's wedding band is his grandfather's and he is so proud to wear it. 
Oh man... there are 2 that truly pop and they're so different. There was a moment a few hours before the ceremony - we'd had a quiet breakfast and a peaceful walk through town and we were back at Hotel Egilsen sitting in the cozy lobby, making my bouquet. When it was done I made Kirk a sandwich from the groceries we'd kept in the car throughout the trip. We're packed-lunch people, for better or worse. We were sitting there making sandwiches like we always do when we travel, but this time it was 3 hours before our wedding and it was just so us. I thought, "I am the luckiest woman in the world because we'll be eating PB&Js together on trails for the rest of my life."
The second happened as I walked towards Kirk. Our ceremony was on a very long peninsula, so I had a decent trek to get to him. As I approached, he started walking to meet me and at the same time we both picked up our pace and began to run a little. I think we just couldn't wait any longer.
Just love how happy these guys look!
Kennedy's Leanne Marshall dress was totally perfect for the setting. Not too fussy, but still so lovely!
When we arrived in Iceland, we popped into Harpa, the concert hall, where we bought a few roses. On our wedding morning, we combined these with wildflowers we'd found along the drive and that became my bouquet and Kirk's boutonniere. 
The Icelandic terrain is seriously unreal! And so are these portraits Pat captured of K + K!
Even though you're eloping, cherish and celebrate the fact that it is a wedding. It doesn't make it any less so because no one else is there. Take the time to make it exactly what you both want and make it last as long as you want it to last. There may not be a big reception, but there are so many ways to extend that moment between the two of you. Kirk and I are not the world's best planners, but we agreed early on that the details mattered, so we planned, organized, got creative and had fun making it as special as it was.
photography: Pat Furey Photography // location: Stykkishólmur, Iceland // lodging: Hotel Egilsen // wedding dress: Leanne Marshall // hairpiece: Amore Bride // shoes: Joie // hair + makeup: Dagny Hermanns, Hárstofan Salon // groom suit: J.Crew // officiant: Daði Jóhannesson
