Gorgeous Sawtooth Mountain Wedding | Jordyn & Ethan

The officiant and guests alike remarked that this celebration felt like the perfect mountain wedding for this mountain-loving couple. Watching how happy and at ease Jordyn & Ethan were throughout the whole weekend, I couldn’t agree more. Even when the skies turned grey and the wind threatened to overturn their natural wedding arch - they improvised and found something to love about every twist and turn.

Grand Jean, a town that isn’t really there besides the Sawtooth Lodge, has always been a favorite mountain getaway for these two nature lovers. Hiding on the less popular side of the majestic Sawtooth Mountain Range, it offers many similarly stunning views as well as a lack of cell service and a general feel of just being out in the middle of nowhere. Which is how Jordyn & Ethan love to spend their free time!

Most guests joined the couple for the weekend by camping or renting the various buildings & yurts available at the Sawtooth Lodge. I joined the camping train and found a cozy spot to pitch our tent under a couple of big fir trees - which ended up being really great cover when the rain rolled in the night of the wedding. Everything that we could need was nearby - including amazing breakfast options from the Sawtooth Lodge staff and a variety of natural hot pools along the river, named Sacajawea Hot Springs.

The whole celebration felt like a real community with guests stepping up to help with set-up, clean-up, sudden logistics problems due to covid cancelations or the everchanging weather, as well as a plethora of adorable dogs running wild together. The pups definitely had as much fun that weekend as their owners did. The couple included their own two dogs, one being a newly acquired puppy, in their ceremony and everyone treated them as additional guests of honor as they roamed free, tried to steal food when no one was looking, and just had the time of their lives.

The couple’s go-with-the-flow attitude made the day so relaxing and fun. While guests got up to go on hikes, I started the day by checking out the hot springs (where we would later head to take wedding portraits) and the couple slept in to make up for their late-night celebrations from the night before. Mariah, the hair & make-up artist of Mariah’s Village gave Jordyn the dreamiest flowing braid interspersed with flowers and a glowing natural beauty look. Then we headed just behind the getting ready yurt for the couple’s first look, with their dogs in tow of course. We quickly jumped between two other locations on the edges of the property to create a variety of wedding portraits that feel natural, fun and truly capture the love that Jordyn & Ethan hold for each other. Plus, the views of the Sawtooth mountains felt unreal even when we were in the moment.

Even with the weather turning to rain by the time the reception began we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to celebrate these two. Jordyn and the guests donned their rain jackets and just kept on partying while Ethan decided to live it up in his suit all event - eventually getting totally soaked through. He was having too much fun surrounded by his new wife, friends, and family to worry. That’s the kind of bliss that I hope for every couple on their wedding day. That no matter what happens, they have the absolute best time because they're surrounded by the community that they chose.