Jenna and Jason are adventurers at heart who love to travel. When they decided the time had come to marry, a local wedding in Texas was never even considered. “We love Texas, but we weren’t going to spend thousands of dollars to get married in Fort Worth,” says Jenna. “I’ve been to 20 weddings in Fort Worth. This [Iceland destination wedding] was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone.” Calling on their adventurous spirits, the couple decided to exchange vows in Iceland – a destination neither of them had been to before. Interestingly enough, the couple had planned to elope, but their closest friends and family crashed the party.

“We always planned to elope, but thought we should at least tell our mothers our plan and if they decided to come, we’d happily receive them,” says the bride. “It didn’t take long for parents, siblings and friends to start demanding to know a date, so they could book their tickets early. [Jason and I] were nearly the last people to book our tickets.” The couple went with the flow and was happy to be surrounded by their loved ones come W-day. While the couple rolled the dice in choosing a destination they had never been to before, they didn’t leave everything to chance.

They hired a local wedding planner, Sigga with Pink Iceland, to handle the nitty-gritty details. “Pink Iceland handled literally everything,” recalls the bride. “They even provided us with an itinerary for our two-and-a-half week honeymoon/RV drive around the country. [For the wedding] they booked the location, bus, hair stylist, food and alcohol, hotel, flowers, cake….everything.” Jenna and Jason were happy to give the power of decision making over to their planner and she did not disappoint. “We had zero issues, thanks to Sigga, who entertained all of our ideas. Many things we wanted (the antique bus, cave location, lights in the cave – 10 miles from electricity) they had never done before, but they were professionals at wish fulfillment.”

When it came to the exact ‘where’ to get married, the couple discovered a beautiful cave online. Once again, their local wedding planner came to the rescue. “Sigga tracked down the location and the land owner and got permission to use it (it was private property),” says the bride. “There are also not a lot of accommodations in that part of Iceland, so Sigga found us a great hotel three hours away from the location. Once we realized there’d be over 20 of us there, we knew we needed a bus. We found this amazing 1960’s baby blue Mercedes bus, and Sigga rented it for us. We said we’d like a Nordic Chieftain to marry us. Check. A cake? Check. Booze, snacks, donuts and scenic stops? Check. We’d just ask, and they would deliver. We got there and it was all done.”

The couple tried to keep the plans under wraps for their guests and sent them “bus passes” instead of invitations. When the big day arrived, the guests only knew that a “shuttle” would be provided and to plan on spending the day out and about. The entire event went off without a hitch and everyone got what they wanted – the couple got to say “I do” in a unique destination and their friends and family got to be there to witness it.

We asked the bride if she had any final words of advice for couples planning or considering a destination wedding and, not surprisingly, she had some helpful words of wisdom. “We asked our wedding planner for a few major things we knew we wanted, but for the details we let the wedding planners do their job. If you’re going to have a destination wedding, don’t try to recreate a traditional American wedding overseas. What would be the point in doing that? And don’t get married indoors, or you could have gotten married anywhere.”

Vendors: Photographer: Amy Zumwalt Photography, Ceremony: Hjörleifshöfoi, Iceland, Reception: Frost & Fire Hotel in Hveragerdi, Iceland, Wedding Planner: Sigga with Pink Iceland, Makeup: Alison Jonell, Gown Designer: Bridal Designs, Groom’s Clothing: Hugo Boss, Antique Bus: GJ Travel