Patricia & Joe: An elegant wedding at Grouse Mountain Lodge

Patricia and Joe's beautiful Whitefish wedding at Grouse Mountain Lodge was classic and elegant, but the days leading up to their date of September 8, 2018, were full of smoke and haze. With the Howe Ridge Fire in Glacier National Park igniting weeks before, the chances of mountain views and the blue Montana Big Sky showing off were slim. Find out what happened in their story below. Photography by Joanna Adams Photography.

Their Story

Joe and I may live in Nebraska, but the two of us fell in love with Montana. Joe, originally from Great Falls, Montana, took me to Whitefish to visit the lodge that his family frequents. Knowing my love for mountain towns and vistas, he thought it would be a fantastic option for our wedding location. It took just one night at Grouse Mountain Lodge for me to agree that it was the perfect place to be married. The venue was perfect, and I knew that we were meant to be married there.

A few weeks before our wedding date, a lightning strike started the Howe Ridge Fire in Glacier National Park. Due to the close proximity to our venue, we were concerned that the smoke may take away from the experience of our wedding. So I spent the remaining days till our wedding looking up interesting ways to pose in the presence of smoke and fire. In fact, this was even inspiration for our first dance song "WildFire" by Seafret. That being said, I was fully ready to embrace whatever mother nature had planned for our wedding.

After our arrival in Montana, the smoke cast a constant heavy haze across the sky at the lodge. We joked and laughed with our family over the irony of traveling so far for a mountain wedding. I even fell asleep the night before my wedding wondering if I could at least get an outline of mountains in my photos, but then something amazing happened.

A small storm had moved in very early the next morning, and I woke up to an amazingly clear blue sky! The mountains were clear, and there was no smoke in sight! It was a lovely 71 degrees, and a gentle wind blew across us during the entire ceremony. A crazy bright ray of sunshine was persistent, but I suppose I didn't mind being temporarily blinded in payment for the other blessings I received that day. Even after the sun went down, it never got too cold during our outdoor reception.

I'm not sure how we managed to get so lucky, but I sure am thankful for such a perfect day with my friends, family, and new husband.