Teton Valley Rainy Wedding with Handfasting Ceremony: Grand Teton National Park

I have to tell you have have never been part of a wedding with a rainy Grand Teton handfasting ceremony and it was delightful.

I ABHORED blogging weddings. One of the biggest joys of my life is being involved with people on their wedding day, seeing them surrounded by their loved ones, making promises to each other, and seeing the love. I take hundreds of photos. I get the big, wide shots to get the feel of the environment and I get the small intimate photos of the details. And hundreds of those photos end up on the cutting room floor when blogging weddings. And I think, “how will people know how special this wedding was without seeing them all?!” But Google doesn’t like me as it is with my oversharing so I have to just close my eyes and pick.

So, all of that is to say, I hope you can feel the emotions of the beautiful day with Amanda and Jon as they celebrated their love of each other and their kids, their heritage in the Teton Valley, and their love of the Grand Teton mountains with this very rainy Grand Teton handfasting ceremony.

Rain in the Teton Valley and Grand Teton Mountains

Amanda’s family has deep roots in the Teton Valley near Driggs and surrounding area before the Teton Pass. It is one of the prettiest areas. Her family has land with the family’s oldest cabin sitting on it and the original barn. It was meaningful to Amanda to be married on this traditional land and one that she spent much of her childhood enjoying. The lake, barn, and cabins were wonderful to use in the getting ready process and it was beautiful despite the rain coming down. Rain makes the colors deep and saturated and is actually good luck on a wedding day, since a knot tied wet is harder to untie. I love this especially since they did a handfasting ceremony.

The History and Origin of Tying the Knot: Handfasting Ceremony

One of the most beautiful things about Amanda and Jon’s rainy Grand Teton elopement was the handfasting ceremony, something that I had never experienced and was so beautiful and meaningful. Many cultures use knots as a symbol of unity and even use a physical tying of the knot to represent this unity in wedding ceremonies. This wedding tradition is called a handfasting ceremony, which is an ancient Celtic custom where a couple holds hands while someone else binds their hands together with a ribbon or cord. The tradition represents the couple being bonded physically and spiritually to each other to show one’s commitment to the other person. The cord’s color represents something as well, for example, blue symbolizes tranquility, patience, devotion and sincerity. Amanda and Jon intertwined colors and charms that illustrated things that were important to them in their wedding.

Rainy Bridals at Grand Teton National Park

It was getting dark really fast by the time that we arrived at Grand Teton National Park to finish up photos with Amanda and Jon and their kids. We were able to make the most of the time, despite the constant rain, fog, and mist in the air. It was a tricky shooting situation and difficult to see the Teton mountains. I knew how much those mountains meant to them though and I worked hard to try to make them pop in my editing. I love these two and I’m so grateful that their rainy Grand Teton handfasting elopement was so beautiful and special to them.

Check out this beautiful Provo Temple wedding.