I love micro-weddings. Actually I love all Alaska weddings, but micro-weddings are especially fun. I love throwing out the rule book with clients and brainstorming something very unique and entirely personal. A whole entire weekend of fun activities dedicated to celebrating! And this group of 28 people were all so fun!
Disclaimer: I want your attention for half a second!
Couples often look at blogs of real Alaska weddings for ideas of how their micro-wedding might look and to get an idea of the planner's style. Some planners have a specific style and all of their weddings look very branded.
OUR WEDDINGS REPRESENT OUR CLIENT'S STYLE.
This Alaska micro-wedding was this couple's style. It might not be your style. You can have a sunset glacier cruise micro-wedding in Alaska that looks completely different and personalized to you and your tastes. Our design process discovers and fleshes out our client's specific style and interests so that it represents them.
Emily called me and hired me about two years ahead. Her family had a history of destination weddings with lots of activities over multiple days. They had a lot of amazing memories from these family events and wanted the same for her.
All the guests stayed close to each other in several vacation rentals in Girdwood, Alaska. They went to the Girdwood Brewing Company one night, spent a day taking a train tour out to a remote spot and hiking and another day they went to the Alaska Conservation Center.
All guests received a welcome bag with Alaska made snacks, a local map, along with a bear bell, a wine key/ bottle opener and sunscreen.
My favorite part of the bag was the beautiful handmade printed timeline packet with personalized artwork from several different artists. The map was actually made by a local lady from Fairbanks.
This is Patrick the super swanky and sweet groom in his tweed vest and navy and orange plaid bow tie!
The couple opted to do a first look! I always recommend adding this into your schedule. It is a nice way to ensure time away for just the two of you.
I absolutely love the flowers that Tina did from Wild Poppy. The natural colors, greenery and oranges were perfect for this bride!
Emily and Patrick spent some time with Chugach Peaks Photography taking photos with Lena around the area, close to their vacation rental, along the river, and up the tram. Lena did an exceptional job getting a variety of terrain.
Guests met out at a meadow for a beautiful ceremony. For this bride, walking down the aisle was traipsing through nature, through trees and grass.
What you don't see pictured is the sound system, the tech, the live music played by Jared Woods and the generator that was brought out so guests could hear the vows.
It might sound like overkill or unnecessary, but any slight breeze and you wouldn't be able to hear anything. It wasn't very expensive and it made all the difference for a quality and beautiful ceremony in nature where guests could feel included and not feel like an after thought. And what is a micro-wedding if it isn't a celebration with your closest friends and family.
Please note *Moose Meadows is no longer available as a ceremony location in summer. It has been closed due to environmental concerns.
Emily and Patrick purchased these amazing monogramed rubber boots for all of their guests. One of the many reasons to hire a local wedding planner when hosting a destination wedding is the ability to mail a bunch of personal items up to your planner for storage and delivery ahead of time.
Guests were all transported along the Turnagain Arm and through the Whittier Tunnel (the longest tunnel in North America!) where they were met by a small cruise ship the couple had chartered for the whole evening.
We built time in the schedule for the couple to stop along the way for even more amazing couple photography!
Then it was time to board!
The first hour the couple celebrated with live music and an open bar. A specialty drinks menu was created specifically to the couple's personal preferences to include a glacier ice margarita featuring -ICE FROM A GLACIER!
I created, printed, framed and delivered most of their print materials and signage. I loved the Alaska feel they incorporated. All of their print materials had those cute little kissing bears, an icon the bride had made just for their wedding.
While everyone was downstairs enjoying the cocktail hour and the incredible view, I was transforming the upstairs for dinner.
One of my proudest moments with this wedding was incorporating a somewhat difficult color palette in a cruise ship that had loud colors that didn't match.
The bride choose navy, orange and pewter as her colors, along with navy buffalo check for a pop of fun pattern.
I had a lot of challenges with this design. The boat had really loud reddish-orange carpet and bright blue bench seating. We covered the seats upstairs with blankets guests could repurpose later in the evening. They were able to wrap up as the evening got cooler.
The tables themselves were exceptionally small. I basically had to get normal sized table clothes and then perform fabric origami around these tiny tables so guest's legs wouldn't get tangled in the fabric.
We couldn't use any kind of flaming candle, so it was battery operated all the way.
My favorite part of this entire wedding was this unique table setting. I had this vision of doing a high end placemat. I hadn't ever seen anything quite like what I was imaging and I couldn't find an example anywhere of something that looked nice.
Thankfully Emily was generous with her trust and believed in my vision for her.
We had a watercolor map of the glacier tour created. It was layered with a matching menu card between clear glass plates. It was like opening a present as you went through the evening. I also handmade the natural linen napkins.
All the papers were printed on beautiful hand torn natural paper. To include the table numbers and escort cards.
For dinner the boat settled into Blackstone Bay and guests enjoyed the amazing glacier views.
After dinner, guests went back downstairs for cake and dancing!
And in case you missed it! That is a very pregnant me in the background talking to the bride :-)
Woodrow rocked it and this little group danced the night away! Phillips Cruises did an amazing job accommodating this group. I highly recommend all of the vendors involved in this little micro-wedding! Everyone worked really hard to pull this off.
If you are thinking about hosting a micro-wedding, I hope I have inspired you. For the same cost of a basic full size wedding where you don't get a lot of the specialty items, instead you can put those funds toward hosting an incredible wedding weekend of amazing, fun and deeply personal selections.
THE DETAILS
Venue: Cruise ship by Phillips Cruises, ceremony in Girdwood
Planner and Designer: Rebecca Kopperud, La Boum Events
Florist: Wild Poppy
Cake: Midnight Sun Cakery
Photographer: Chugach Peaks Photography
Decor, Styling and Rentals: La Boum Events and Special Events
Planning: Full service wedding planning with design for an Alaska Destination Wedding of 28 guests.
I hope I have given you some inspiration for your Alaska destination wedding or special event. Like what you see? Feel free to leave a comment, I always try to respond directly. I would love to work with you on your Alaska event big or small!
Until my next blog post, here's to making your next event YOUR BEST BASH YET!
For more information about booking me for your MICRO-WEDDING fill out our MICRO-WEDDING INTAKE FORM to get started.
xoxo - Rebecca .
MEET REBECCA
Hey there! I am Rebecca Kopperud, a born and bred Alaskan, as well as the owner and chief designer behind
La Boum Events.
I specialize in micro-weddings because they are a unique and special type of event focused on bringing a small group of people together to celebrate a big life event. I have been witness to transformational and intimate moments among family and friends that I can truly say are nothing short of magical.
I love helping my clients find that perfect location, orchestrate great food and drinks, schedule out time for them to connect, and create a beautiful table setting. Each time I love hearing a collective whispered "wow!" I live for these moments and can't wait to work with you to find your perfect moment in Alaska or anywhere in the world!
I have been in business offering unique micro-weddings for years, long before it became popular. We have developed sought after industry connections, and a quality of service that is unsurpassed. You simply won’t find anything cookie-cutter here. Everything truly is about you, and your special day.
We take on a limited amount of clients, so we can focus on personalization and quality. We offer a completely unique, unbundled experience so you can have exactly what you want and nothing you don’t.
Does this resonate with you? To learn more about what it is like to work with us, fill out our inquiry form for our MICRO-WEDDING INTAKE FORM to get started, all other inquiries go here