Weddingbee Blog

I’ve got a secret…

We’re married! Already! SURPRISE!!

Shh… no one but you is supposed to know. And don’t tell my family, because they don’t know either.

When we started planning our wedding, it was my dream to get married on the banks of Swiftcurrent Lake in Many Glacier. Look at it… isn’t it gorgeous?

But after a few months of bandying back and forth with the park, we established that a wedding in Many Glacier just wouldn’t work. For us, as planners, and for our guests.

First, the park has no formal infrastructure for ceremonies. They’d allow one where we wanted to have it, at the boat launch, or on the porch of the lodge, but wouldn’t guarantee a time or seating. There could be no decorations or props that couldn’t be put up or taken down in minutes and it’s likely that all of our guests would have to stand.

This wasn’t the real problem, however. The problem was that there was no space for a reception. Glacier’s facilities, with few exceptions, don’t have private rooms that can be reserved for catered events. There’s no way we could have had a reception at Many Glacier, and for us, after making our guests come halfway across the country for our wedding, a ceremony and reception in very close proximity were critical. Good reception venues just aren’t available in plenty near Babb, Montana.

Plus, there was the whole issue of getting guests TO Many Glacier, which is about a one-and-a-half to two hour drive from West Glacier, which is half an hour from the airport. Just not feasible… so we ditched the idea, but my heart still longed for the splendor of a Many Glacier wedding.

When our Oregon friends made their wedding travel plans, they booked in extra time to explore Glacier. In particular, they wanted to spend a few nights backpacking. We’ve only been backpacking in Glacier one time (when we got engaged!) and we’ve always wanted to go again. And they picked a trip that started in Many Glacier! With a week of vacation planned in Glacier, a camping trip on the other side of the park from Lake McDonald seemed a perfect way to put some distance between ourselves and our impending nuptials while spending some QT with good friends.

Now, thanks to our friends, on Tuesday, we got to have the Many Glacier wedding I’d dreamed of.

Attendance at our secret ceremony was limited to the six close friends on the backpacking trip. Our friend Kyle (aka Pancake Slave… see below) officiated, and others witnessed and took pictures.

(Kyle in Pancake Servitude during an Oregon camping trip)

We let Kyle have free reign to make a simple (and funny) ceremony, and made up vows on the spot. The whole thing only took a few minutes and afterward, we celebrated with mini bottles of champagne, all while looking out at this gorgeous view.
So then we shuffled the six miles to Cracker Lake for the first night of our married life together, a little less anxious for the second ceremony, where we’ll smile with our secret tucked safely away.It’s true, we didn’t have our license yet and our “real” wedding isn’t until today. But technically, our secret ceremony was just as legally binding as the one we’ll perform today (!!). Of course, the one that will be recognized by the state is today’s wedding because that’s the date we’ll write and have our officiant sign for. But what matters is that we got to make our vows both in the way we wanted, and in the place we wanted.

It’s cheating, but sometimes cheating is so… worth it!

And now we’re off to get… um… re(?) married! See you on the other side!

<3 {Signing off as MISS Cherry Pie.}