Black Sand Beach Reynisfjara Iceland Destination Wedding

Iceland is more majestic than I imagined and holds a special place in Dyllan and Alyssa’s heart and love story. Dyllan and Alyssa planned a trip to Iceland over Thanksgiving break in 2017. They went in the winter to see the Northern Lights. They assumed the Northern Lights just appeared but that isn’t the case and they struggled to see them. There are forecast predictions that help determine when the lights can be seen.

Therefore, on the 20th of November, they drove to the Bridge Between Two Continents, where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. They were finally far enough away from the city that they were able to see the Northern Lights. While Alyssa was in awe of the lights, Dyllan got down on knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with him. She said she barely let him finish before she said YES!

In the middle of wedding planning Alyssa had a “crazy” idea to have her wedding in Iceland. She asked me if I would be willing to go and I think I answered before she could get the full question out. Before I knew it Alyssa was planning her wedding in Iceland, booking planes and AirBnBs. I loved the idea of taking her family to the country they both loved so much and to see Iceland in a different season.

Alyssa, Dyllan and their immediate families traveled the 5.5 hours to Iceland and had a week of fun adventures and majestic sightseeing. They held an intimate ceremony on Reynisfjara, a world-famous black-sand beach found on the South Coast of Iceland. They exchanged rings and personal vows to one another with tears of happiness from their families and myself!

Thankfully Iceland has 20 hours of daylight in the Summer which allowed for lots of portraits of these two. It was tricky in some places because the spots are tourist attractions but the tourists were accomodating when they saw a bride and groom. Alyssa and Dyllan posed like models on the basalt stacks as tourists watched. We traveled from the Black Sand Beach to the Cliffs nearby where the Black Sand Beach can be seen in the background. Our last stop was at Skógafoss waterfall.

It was a bit cold and windy even in the summer but it made for some amazing portraits with the wind blown dress! These for obvious reasons are my favorite bride and groom portraits. Iceland exceeded my expectations and I can’t wait to go back. But for now I relive the trip through these photos and the many personal photos I captured!