When we started planning Bree and Beau’s elopement we had big plans for an epic helicopter adventure into a remote lake in the North Cascades. Unfortunately when the date we had picked came it was quite obvious that this wasn’t going to be possible as we just happened to have a major snow storm here in the Seattle area that dumped over a foot of snow! I know that probably sounds like no big deal to folks in some other places in the country, but that’s a lot of damn snow for here LOL.

So with our helicopter plans put on hold we had to figure out a backup plan, so we quickly jumped on the phone to discuss details and location options and decided on sticking to a similar idea but with a different lake! We decided on heading up to Rattlesnake Lake just outside of North Bend for their ceremony and primary photo locations and then stopping at Snoqualmie Falls and then back to Seattle to finish out the day.

I met up with Bree at her hair and makeup appointment with Jessica (www.jessicarockwellhmua.com) at her Greenwood area studio as she was just wrapping up. After gathering everything we’d need we packed up started heading east towards Snoqualmie Pass and Rattlesnake Lake. It was mostly just slush and wet roads through Seattle and as far as Issaquah but started getting into heavier snow and some sketchy conditions around North Bend and the final 5 miles or so to get to the lake. We actually saw two cars in ditches along the way! But thankfully Bree’s Expedition was up to the challenge and we made it without incident =)

We arrived to the lake just after 10:30am and were actually not the only crazies up there that morning as there were 4 other cars in the parking lot! Turns out the others were cross country skiing or snowshoeing and NOT clomping through the foot of snow in dress shoes like Beau was 🤣

It felt like walking through Narnia as the path leading to the lake is somewhat narrow and lined closely with snow covered bushes, but thankfully it is fairly short and only a couple of hundred yards from the parking lot, because it was FREEZING that day! The temperature was around 20 degrees but there was also an icy cold wind that day that made it even more brutal. Bree was definitely a champ for rocking a sleeveless dress and ditching her fur wrap for the first look and ceremony 😲

We found a perfect spot along the edge of the lake and just in front of “The Tree” for them to exchange their vows and ceremony. It was kind of alternating between lightly snowing and total blizzard which made for some interesting focus challenges but also made for some stunning photographs! My buddy Steve was the officiant for their elopement ceremony and was also slated to be the helicopter pilot prior to having to change plans! I’m really not sure there is anything that guy can’t do lol

We only stuck around the lake for about 10 minutes after their ceremony wrapped up because it was absolutely freezing and the wind was picking up. Basically enough time for Steve to pack up his video equipment and off we went to the next stop, Snoqualmie Falls.

When we arrived at Snoqualmie Falls we were once again surprised to not be the only people out that morning! We were also surprised that the wind was even stronger up above the falls than it was at the lake! It was absolutely howling which made our stay at even shorter than anticipated lol but it was definitely a cool and unique experience to see the falls covered in snow on your wedding day =)

We decided that we should definitely grab lunch before heading back to Seattle and found an amazing Ramen spot just a couple miles away to warm up in. I’ve always enjoyed Top Ramen at home, but having that authentic stuff is definitely a next level experience! Making me hungry again just thinking about it lol

Anyway after a quick bite we took the trip back down the hill to Seattle to wrap up our snowy photo adventure. We decided on visiting Pike Place and Seattle Center and got lucky snagging premium parking spots at both locations ~ Booya!