Beautiful Red Lodge Elopement | Madison + Bryce

A location change due to the Red Lodge spring flooding, and a quick return to overseas for the Air Force, made Madison and Bryce create a simple, yet intentional day eloping in Luther, Montana. Photography by Montana Bride Vendor Macy Spencer Photography.

"I mostly grew up in Montana and Bryce is from Pennsylvania. We both ended up in South Dakota. I moved there for college, and he is in the Air Force and was also stationed there. We met during a night out dancing, and then we didn't see each other again for a few months when we both ended up at a mutual friend's house. A few weeks later, we went hiking for our first date and continued to date for the next year and a half before I moved across the country to go to chiropractic school and he stayed in South Dakota.

I went to visit him during fall break from school, and he told me he had a whole day planned to go hiking and then meet up for dinner with friends. I was so oblivious to what exactly he had planned. We started our day by going on one of my favorite hikes in the Black Hills and when we got to the top, I started talking to the sweetest family. I found out they were from Montana (of course!) and visiting for the week. He asked the wife if she would mind taking a picture of us, and that's when he got down on one knee! After, she yelled to everyone around that we had just gotten engaged and they all started cheering. It was the sweetest thing! I was not so secretly hoping he would propose while I was visiting him but was shocked it happened when it did!

My husband is now stationed in England and had limited vacation days this year, so he came back for my graduation from chiropractic school, five days later we eloped, and he had to return to England five days after that. We had plans to stay in Red Lodge the week we eloped, but woke up the morning before to see that the town was under water so we weren't going to be able to check into our Airbnb, get our marriage license, or go to any other locations we had planned for our elopement because they were washed out. Macy Spencer was our photographer ( and officiant/elopement planner) who texted me that morning saying she was already scouting new locations.

We wanted to keep things pretty simple but intentional, so the following day when we got out to our new location, we got dressed, played fetch with our dog, exchanged gifts, then went down the road where we exchanged vows, had a little picnic, and shared our first dance before heading back into town where we had a private catered dinner. We knew rain or shine that we were getting married before he had to return overseas, and though it started out a little crazy, we couldn't have asked for a better day." –Madison, the bride