How to plan a hiking elopement in Iceland.
What is a hiking elopement?
By exchanging vows on a hiking trail, you can enjoy the beauty of nature and create unforgettable memories with your partner. It's a chance to step outside of the traditional wedding day routine and experience something extraordinary together.
Not only will you have the opportunity to celebrate your love in a tranquil and peaceful setting, but you can also share the experience with those who matter most to you. A hiking elopement is an unforgettable way to make memories and begin your journey together as a married couple.
So why not consider a hiking elopement for your special day? It's a perfect way to celebrate your love and create memories that will last a lifetime.
Let’s get things started; how to plan a hiking elopement in Iceland!
The best hiking elopement
locations in Iceland.
Here are some of the best hiking elopement locations in Iceland to have your adventure elopement and inspire you to elope in Iceland:
Laugavegur; for very experienced hikers, the hiking trail lasts even a couple of days
Hornstrandir; easy to moderate, the duration is up to you
Landmannalaugar; from easy to moderate, and the duration can be from 2 to 6 hours depending on which hiking rail you choose.
Fimmvörðuháls; from 10-12 hours of hiking and its activity scale is moderate.
Þakgil; mostly 1-2 hours and it’s a very easy hiking trail
Glymur; hiking takes place from 3 to 4 hours and it’s easy or moderate depending on part of the hike
Kerlingarfjöll mountain rage; the duration is max 14 hours and is considered to be moderated.
The Snaefellsjökull summit hike; is from 7-12 hours depending on the trail you will choose, it’s from moderate to challenging.
How to plan a hiking elopement in Iceland.
Top things you should know before planning a hiking elopement in Iceland:
Iceland’s weather. Iceland’s weather is super famously known as unpredictable and it can still change many times from what it was when you checked it in the morning. Do not go hiking under the bad weather; if it’s foggy, or the winds are strong and a storm is on its way. Heavy rainfall can make the hiking trails muddy and you might slip on the trail and hurt yourself. If you try to hike under this weather, you will be putting yourself in danger and potentially forcing emergency services into a rescue that could have been avoided.
Dehydration. Dehydration can be an issue with longer hikes. Learn about the hiking route you're going to take and count how many water bottles you will be needing for the hike.
Day length. During summertime in Iceland, there is more daylight even during the nighttime which allows hiking longer. Wintertime isn’t the best time for longer hikes because of the much less amount of daylight and for more snowstorm possibilities.
Learn geography. Even if you would be hiking with your photographer and officiant, you still need to be also knowing we you are going. What is the route you will be taking to reach your ceremony location, how long will the hike take, will there be river crossings, will there be some difficult path parts ahead or lots of pupils?
Have a guide or not? Ok, let’s put down some basic lines. Depending on what kind of hiking elopement you are planning to have; there are specific locations you need to have a guide. For example, you can’t hike on the glaciers or enter the ice caves without a professional guide. It’s not allowed for safety reasons and you need a trained guide to enter the locations. With other hiking, let’s say the highlands, you can easily enter and hike without a guide especially if you are not completely a newbie to the hiking world and have skills in navigation.
Let’s start planning your hiking elopement in Iceland!
How does one start planning a hiking elopement in Iceland? The first thing you need to be deciding is the time of the year you will be eloping since many hiking trails will be closed during wintertime because of the snow. The second thing is to choose the location.
Here are a couple of tips when you are choosing the location for your hiking elopement:
What is your fitness level? Is your fitness level good for shorter hikes that don’t require many uphills or do you have a lot of experience with hiking and are comfortable even with many uphills?
The popularity of the location. Since an enormous amount of hiking trails are open only during the summertime, they can be popular with other hikers. The more access there is to the location, the more popular it can be. Your local photographer will know best how popular the hiking trail can be.
Research, research and research. Some hiking trails do have river crossings that will be done by walking through the rivers and you need to be knowing of these before starting to hike so you are prepared for it.
Is your photographer and officiant up to the hike? Well, luckily Lisa has experience with hiking and works with an officiant who does hiking for his eloping couples.
What kind of accommodation is offered at the end of the hiking trail or where will you be starting your elopement day?
Any activities for your hiking elopement besides hiking?
They're a good option to add some things to your hiking elopement in Iceland, for example:
Having your ceremony during sunrise or sunset
Overnight staying in a campsite or a hut
Enjoying a natural hot spring
Having an outdoor picnic
Vendors for your hiking elopement in Iceland: One thing to keep in mind; if you are going to have a couple of days of long-lasting hiking elopement in Iceland, you might be doing your hair and makeup. If it’s just a couple of hours or 4 hours lasting hike, you can have a hair and makeup artist for example in the morning. Flowers do last very well during the hike.
Guests for your elopement. If you planning to have a hiking elopement and also elope with your family members, you might want to consider having your elopement in a more accessible location. And after the ceremony, hike on the trail you want to hike with your spouse.
What to bring with you to your hiking elopement in Iceland?
A map of the hiking trail, even a digital or physical map. Please note that in some hiking areas, there is no internet connection so it’s good to have the map downloaded to your phone.
First aid kit. It’s super important to have this with you during your hiking. If any hiker falls or ends up in any other way injuring themselves, a first aid kit can be handy. Of course after any injury, you need to be calling Iceland’s emergency number which is 112.
There is a downloadable app Safe Travel -Iceland where you can send your coordinates to the rescue crew. The app is available for Android, iPhone and Microsoft. With the app, you can also let a rescue team know about your hiking plans. If you have passed the estimated arrival time on back to your car, they will send a rescue team after you.
Learn to dress with layers. Cold weather layering is; long-sleeve shirts and pants or tights. These are called the base layer and dry layer. Over the base layer, you will put on a sweatshirt or fleece, pants and socks. This section is called the mid-layer or thermal layer. After adding these you will put on the jacket and bibs. This section is called the outer layer or shelter layer. The final touch is with the head warmer, gloves and boots.
What you also should have in your backpack: mobile phone, water bottle, food, headlamp, gloves and space blanket. Yes, a space blanket. Might seem a bit wild, but there is a reason; if something happens during the hiking (sudden strong and cold winds and you won’t be able to move), a space blanket will keep you warm until you will be rescued.
The best wedding dress for a hiking elopement in Iceland.
When your planning to have a hiking elopement, you need to have a wedding dress and a suit that are up to the upcoming adventure and will adjust well to the hike itself. While choosing the wedding dress, here are a couple of tips to find a wedding dress for a hiking elopement:
Are you fine with the dress getting dirty? If you scroll through the hiking pictures on this post, you can notice that the trail where the couple hikes is full of good chances to get the dress dirty. You don’t want to be stressing out about will your dress get dirty while hiking and whether will it look dirty and bad while pictures are being taken. Wedding dresses can always be cleaned up after the elopement!
How freely can you move with the wedding dress on you? Do you need to be adjusting the dress if you sit down?
Is the wedding dress material good for Iceland’s climate? Do you need to have sleeves on the wedding dress to keep you warm?
Remember that your wedding dress can be any colour you want it to be :) No need for a white wedding dress if you don’t want to!
Will I dress up before the hiking or at the destination?
The decision will be definitely up to you. Let’s start with that depending on the length and difficulty of the hiking trail, it can be better to change the ceremony location if the hiking trail is quite difficult. It can be much safer to hike in normal clothes. If the hiking trail is easy or moderate it’s safe to hike with your wedding dress and suit on, depending of course the hiking trail you will be choosing!
One option to change your wedding dress and suit after the hike is to have a tiny tent with you where you can change. Iceland doesn’t have trees at the hiking trails where you could have privacy while changing clothes.
Leave no trace while hiking.
When it comes to leave no trace, Icelandic people are passionate about it and protecting their nature. And since we are visitors to their nature, it’s important we respect nature.
Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help educate others on how to protect the lands we all play anywhere in the world.
You might ask why this has an effect on you getting married.
We need to protect the public lands. For example, Iceland’s tourism has grown like a rocket launch, that fast! This has brought many problems to the land: many tourists don’t respect nature and throw their garbage everywhere. Some places have been closed because tourists have been driving their cars over bird nests in the ground! Many lands have been broken and paths that once showed the safest ways to the location are now full of shortcuts that are not safe. Many parks their cars off-road destroying the land. And also some tourists tend to defecate anywhere and everywhere. The worst ending would be that some more public land spots would get closed and you wouldn’t be able to have your ceremony or portraits taken there. In America, you need to apply to get a permit to photograph in national parks since they have had so many problems with people not following or not knowing what Leave No Trace is.
Leave No Trace Center has listed 7 principles:
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