Jackson Lake Lodge Wedding Photos at Grand Teton National Park

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Ross & MIchelle’s Wedding

Flying back from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, I look over to see Capa pulling at Heather’s mask as she nurses him. When the mask snaps back it hits Heather in the face and she playfully whips her head back against the seat. Capa laughs. It’s his fourth flight in eight months and he’s been a doll through three of them: Falls asleep at takeoff, naps for two hours, then wakes up playing and trying to make friends. The one he struggled through we were taxi-ing for over an hour and a half. You learn to take the good times with the bad when you have a baby, and with Capa there’s been plenty more of the former.

We first met Ross and Michelle at Six Harbors Brewing Company in Huntington on Long Island. Heather was filling in for a bartender and I came in to keep her company with one of our favorite board games, Azul. Ross and Michelle sat right next to us and laughed at the way Heather and I talked smack to each other. We quickly invited them to play with us and we wound up laughing all night and closing the brewery down together.

Ross and Michelle are the kind of people you want to go on vacation with. They always bring a bunch of energy, love to goof around, and don’t take things too seriously. They know how to keep it loose while putting things in motion and they never lose sight of the big picture. When Heather and I met Ross and Michelle they weren’t sure what kind of wedding they wanted—actually—they weren’t even engaged yet. But once we told them about one of our couples eloping in Grand Teton National Park, their eyes lit up. “Now that’s something I can imagine us doing, Michelley” Ross said.

Ross and Michelle wound up holding an intimate wedding in Grand Teton National Park at the Jackson Lake Lodge. The morning of the wedding, Heather, Capa, Ross, Michelle and I piled into our rental car at sunrise and we headed for a few overlooks off the main road. Unfortunately, smoke from forest fires to the west clouded the atmosphere, hiding most of the national park’s dramatic peaks. We adjusted on the fly and hoped for a clearer afternoon.

The haze hung in the air through Ross and Michelle’s ceremony but we came up with a game plan to get them a view of the mountains. Once again we all piled into the car to head for Jenny Lake. Windows down, we blasted the radio as the mountains grew closer and closer. We all whooped and hollered as we climbed out of the car to get the shots that we all came here for. We then took Ross and Michelle to a secluded field to share their vows in private.

As we made our way back to their wedding at Jackson Lake Lodge, we all couldn’t believe that our connection came from a game of Azul. To share such a special time together in a place so far away from our homes. We were all riding high, enjoying an adventure with friends who decided to create a good time when the bad tried to cloud the experience. If Ross and Michelle’s wedding was any indication, there there will plenty more of the former rather than the latter. After all, another adventure awaits.