Romantic Sunrise Crater Lake Elopement
When Ryan told me that he proposed to Rebecca while recreating one of their favorite movies, Joe vs. The Volcano (seriously, he proposed on a volcano), it made perfect sense why Crater Lake National Park needed to be the backdrop for their elopement. Proposing on a volcano and then ELOPING to the rim of a caldera? No brainer.
Rebecca tells it best, “On Valentine’s Day, Ryan arranged for a scavenger hunt at home, leading me each time to a gift card and a related packing list for a trip to an unknown destination. How cool is he?! The clues were themed around the movie Joe vs. the Volcano (we discovered early on that we both loved this random movie with a pretty limited following). Ryan only revealed where we were going the following day on the night before. Our first stop was New York, where we stayed at The Pierre (just like the movie)—wow! In NY, he revealed we were flying to LA the next morning (also following the movie)…still no idea where the final destination is though, oh the suspense!
We spent the day at the Santa Monica Pier and then he revealed we were flying to the big island of Hawaii! This isn’t quite like the movie, but it was as close as possible to the fictitious volcanic island of Waponi Wu. While hiking through Kīlauea Iki Crater in Hawaii National Park, Ryan proposed and I said YES! An old man was trail running through the crater and happened upon our special moment. He shouted…”Make it a great day….no matter what happens!”. Not sure if he was referring to the possibility that I would decline (not a chance) or that the volcano would erupt (which didn’t start until a couple months after we left). Either way…it made us laugh! We spent the rest of our trip hiking epic trails on Kauai. This was the trip of a lifetime!”
Their elopement at Crater Lake was just as magical. We watched the sun rise as Rebecca was saying her vows (chills), and popped champagne before the ceremony even started! We all were in the camp of, “It is your wedding day – you can have champagne whenever you want!”.
This is one of my new favorite spots that’s super easy to get to – I’d sit and watch sunrise every morning from the vantage point of the ceremony location.
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