Intimate Glacier National Park Wedding | Kayleigh + JD

Surrounded by their closest family and friends, Kayleigh and JD traveled from Florida to Montana to have their intimate wedding in their home away from home. Read on to learn how they incorporated their favorite local spots and vendors into their perfect day. Photography and videography by Boettcher Films.

"J.D. and I were both born and raised in Florida and started dating at the end of high school in 2015. Since then, we have experienced the ups and downs of life and have become best friends in the truest sense. Traveling has been a big part of our relationship and our first visit to Montana was winter of 2018. We fell in love with the Flathead Valley and would continue to visit every summer and winter. In January 2023, we visited Whitefish for our yearly ski trip with some of our friends and J.D. proposed at Volunteer Park in Lakeside, Montana! It was the first place we stopped when we first visited back in 2018. When we got engaged there in January 2023, we knew deep down that we would go back to get married there and proclaim our covenant to each other and God while standing amongst his beautiful masterpiece of a landscape. With lots of prayer and thought, we came to the decision to elope with our close friends and family and get married in the backyard of a beautiful Airbnb on July 15th, 2024.

Since we weren’t having a traditional-style wedding, we celebrated with a send off party in Florida on June 23rd with all of our family and friends. It was a beautiful time just to soak everything in with our loved ones before heading off to Montana days later. On July 11th we flew out to Montana with seven of our closest friends for the best week of our lives filled with sunrise hikes, lake days, coffee runs, cold plunges, visits to Glacier National Park, and the sweetest, most intimate wedding day.

On July 15th the morning began around 5:45am for a magical sunrise at Volunteer Park on Flathead Lake. This was a special place for us because this is where we got engaged. We spent the morning together and decided to jump into the lake for a cold plunge. After our morning cold plunge, we headed to Lift Coffee Co. one of our favorite spots. It’s a drive through coffee bar with handcrafted espresso, house made baked goods, and breakfast sandwiches. We brought back coffee and breakfast for everyone back at the Airbnb before getting ready for our special day.

After getting ready, we had an intimate first look in the backyard where we read our vows privately to each other and washed one another’s feet as an act of humility and service towards one another. Our ceremony continued in the backyard with our friends and family. Our Pastor from Fresh Life Church officiated the ceremony as we looked out to the mountains and beautiful Flathead lake. After the ceremony JD and I got into our SUVs with our wedding party and headed straight into Glacier National Park. We drove Going to the Sun road and stopped along the way to take pictures.

When we all got back to the Airbnb we celebrated with a family style reception dinner at 11pm that night on the back porch of the house. We had a fully curated dinner menu designed by Rich Fridy (JD’s cousin and part of our wedding party). He designed everything with local Montana flavors and ingredients. The table was decorated with our beautiful wedding cake from Fleur, personalized match boxes, candles, custom menus, repurposed flowers from our ceremony and all of our favorite beverages.

We then spontaneously decided to end the night the way we started the morning, with a cold plunge at the lake with our friends! It was pitch dark and freezing but truly a memory we will never forget. It was seriously the best day of our lives!" –Kayleigh, the bride