There are any number pithy platitudes/anecdotes/cliches that communicate the idea that the real worth and substance of a thing is the journey towards it, not necessarily where you end up, so we’ll save you the read. That said, the road we traced through their engagement, and wedding week to be with Marilyn + Jowel, wonderful clients-turned-even-better-friends, on their first wedding anniversary in Iceland is certainly the story for us here.

A major perk of doing the work that we do is that we’re able to meet great people whom we might never meet otherwise; they come into our lives with a spirit all their own, and to a person, leave a mark on us in some way. For that reason, it’s always such an honor to share in our client’s lives, so when Marilyn + Jowel said they wanted us to shoot them for their first anniversary, we were honored. Then came the curveball of wanting to do it glam (great!) in Iceland (whoa.) in the winter (!!!). We warned them that it’s going to be literally freezing cold, it might hurt a little, and you WILL lose feeling in your fingers, to which they replied, “what did you want us to wear.” Troopers, the pair of them.

With wardrobe set and the trip planned, we arrived in Iceland and got our bearings with the limited time we had in/around Reykjavik, the Golden Circle and the path to Vik. Though we were greeted with the typical Icelandic winter cold/rain/snow, the country still undeniably beautiful, and the challenge was to try to convey that sense of grandeur as much as possible.

Iceland is notorious for weather that turns on a dime, and we became acutely familiar with that reputation on the afternoon of the anniversary shoot. While the temperature remained a nice, stable -3C, the wind would kick up to -30C sporadically, the sun would peek out from behind clouds, the snow would fall silently down or brutally sideways, or some combination of two or more of those all in the span of 20 minutes. When we finally found a spot to make our stand, we were in Thingvellir National Park, and dodged around the weather by jumping in and out of our trusty rental Rav4 AWD as the scene presented itself. Over the couple hours we shot, we had about thirteen minutes of shoot time in nine 60-90s stints. We’ve never worked harder, but loved the results.

We only wish that we had more time to shoot; shortly after what ended up being the last shot, blizzard-like whiteout conditions set in, reducing visibility to about three feet, and making it dangerous to have exposed skin. It took us about three hours to leave the park, when it was about thirty minutes to drive in, while we dodged other cars who lost track of the road and ended up stuck on the side. It took some intense team work de-icing the windshield, driving, and calling out road markers, and even when it got a little scary, we still felt lucky experiencing it with our dear friends.

Can’t wait for our next adventure!