DIY Rainy Alaska Wedding With Kayaks

This rainy day wedding took place in Alaska, Tessa and Dillon met at an 80s themed costume party, fell in love while adventuring around Alaska, and spent three more years sleeping under the stars while traveling from Alaska to Argentina in their 1975 VW bus. That’s why Alaska as their wedding place was natural. From kayaking in their wedding attire to a costume party on the beach (naturally!), their big day was the perfect representation of their deep connection and adventurous spirits.

Why did they choose this location to get married? Picture massive glacier covered mountains jutting straight out of the ocean. Kayaking at midnight with whales surfacing and the sky on fire with a midnight sun sunset, and you’ll understand, why! As Dillon proposed on kayaks, they decided to include this fun into their wedding, too. The ceremony and reception were on a raw piece of property at Miller’s Landing, right on the ocean.

Most of the wedding was DIY. From friends helping to hand-tie every silverware set, to making their own napkins, to decorations, it was all from the ground up. It was fun gathering driftwood, harvesting accents for the bridal party bouquet and ferns for a “live wall”, and things leading up to the special day. Many things that people would typically pay others to do, the couple chose to do themselves with people they love so there was an extra touch of thoughtfulness. A good friend of them drew a logo of the exact mountains and ocean we would stand next to at the ceremony and another wood worker friend of them got that logo made into a wood burning stamp, cut and sanded 200 rounds of birch wood, branded and stained each one for coasters on the table and as the take home gift.