I'm sure you're thinking, "Heck yes!!" I'm here to give you a clear path on how to create the elopement day of your dreams in Montana!
Let's toss that stress out the window and focus on what you actually want for your elopement day.
Let me do the tough work for you so that you can sit back, relax and get excited for your adventurous Montana elopement!
Eloping is a very intentional way of getting married. No expectations. No traditions you have to follow.
Imagine the two of you (and me!) in an epic location having the adventure of a lifetime!
Picture it! No matter if you want to go hiking, take a drive through a national park, or go on an epic helicopter tour, you can do it.
There are no rules for eloping!
Your wedding day should be something you look forward to and not something you worry about, am I right or am I right?
Stress-free. Wind in your hair. Huge smile on your face. Laughing your butts off. That's the way it should be!
I’m here to help you create the day that you want. An adventurous day that actually focused on you. I guarantee that it's going to be a day you'll want to do all over again!
You'll be able to focus on the two of you and celebrate EXACTLY how you want!
You get to enjoy the most important day of your life stress-free! WHOO-HOO!!
You'll be able to enjoy every single moment without worrying about a thing!
You get to start off your lives together on an incredible adventure!
Let's take away those expectations, relieve pressure and focus on how you want to get married.
If you're looking for an adventurous, meaningful and wild elopement experience then let's friggin' do this!!
Courtney helped us to turn our dreams into reality, and we hardly had to do a thing. She allowed us to be in control of our day, but gently took all of our wants and needs into consideration while making everything happen!
I highly recommend having a weekday elopement - especially if you want to elope in a more popular location like Glacier National Park! All of the gorgeous locations in Montana attract all the outdoor enthusiast so choosing a weekday will help you to avoid all the crowds and have more privacy for your epic Montana Elopement.
Eloping is an extremely intentional way of getting married and it's one of the most important days of your life. Think about this - Someone who has a traditional wedding will typically have their photographer there for 8 plus hours. Why should elopement be any different?! THEY SHOULDN'T! I believe you deserve to celebrate your marriage in the same way and have full day elopement that's crafted around the two of you!
Before you hop into choosing a specific date for you Montana Elopement be sure to consider the seasons and what they look like here in Montana! Winters are a bit longer and last from November to March and even into April depending on the elevation you're at. If you're a fan of the snow and are dreaming of a wintery elopement then it's the place to be! Summers are definitely popular as temperatures are ideal and everything is green and blooming! If you want epic fall colors opt for a September or October elopement in Montana!
I always try to plan elopements around sunset or sunrise as it's the best lighting! In the summer sunset can last past 10pm and are incredibly gorgeous. Planning your Montana Elopement around sunset or sunrise is another great way to avoid crowds and have a more private and intimate ceremony!
I'm so friggin' stoked you landed here! I'm an Adventure Elopement Photographer, but my role is so much more than just an Elopement Photographer.
I DON'T JUST BOOK YOU, SHOW UP AND SAY BYEEEEEE!
Getting to know you is so dang important to me so that I can create the best elopement experience for you! I'll be working closely with you to help plan out all the details of your adventurous elopement.
I'm here to make your life SO much easier and I'm so excited to do so!! I'm all about keeping your day and planning process as simple as possible!
I'm not about stressing out and I especially don't want you losing your mind on your elopement day! I'm here to guide you through every single step.
There are loads of incredible locations in Montana! I'm here to help you find the perfect location that fits what you're looking for.
Here are the main general areas to consider when having a Montana Elopement! I've written a complete guide on the Best Places to Elope in Montana so be sure to check it out!
The most popular location, but for a good reason!
A great alternative to Glacier if you want to avoid crowds!
Right outside of Missoula and full of amazing hikes!
Home to Gallatin Nation Forest and right near Big Sky!
A great place to hit the trails and enjoy views all to yourself!
Full of gorgeous views, beautiful hikes and lush forests!
Contact me & schedule your call with me!
Secure Your Date
WHOO-HOO!!
Let's turn your dream
into reality.
Live out your dream elopement.
Time to "OOH" and "AHH"
at your pictures.
I can’t thank Courtney enough for the breathtaking day we had! I have seriously been obsessing over the photos since I’ve got them. We had the absolute best time with her! Her work is phenomenal and she’s so personable!
In order to receive a marriage license in Montana you'll have to pay $53 and fill out the application. Montana doesn't have a mail in option to get your marriage license so both of you will have to show up in person at a county clerks office in Montana. You can fill out the application online and then show up a few days before your elopement to pick it up and and pay the fee.
Also, in Montana if you're a female under 50 years old you'll also have to take a blood test or the both of you will have to sign the Informed Consent/Waiver of Requirement of Blood Test form along with your application.
Here's what you will need to bring with you to your in person meeting:
-Valid picture identification (driver's license, passport)
-Birth Information including City, County, State or Foreign Country
-Social Security Number
-Fathers' first, middle, and last name, current residence, and birth state
-Mothers' first, middle, and maiden name, current residence, and birth state.
-Any information regarding previous marriages including date, county, and state of dissolution or death of spouse
Do you want to have a legally binding ceremony or a symbolical ceremony? Here's the breakdown!
You will also need an officiant to marry you legally! Here's who able to marry you legally in Montana.
-Clergy and/or Ordained Minister
-A Judge or Public Official given specific solemnization rights by their office
-Justice of the Peace
-Mayor
-A Tribal Judge
Montana also recognizes officiants and marriages ordained within the context of any religious affiliation. Meaning if you're having your closest loved ones with you on your elopement then they can simply get ordained online and perform your ceremony! You can also hire an officiant if you're looking to have a 'just us' elopement in Montana as well!
Courtney made the process SO easy! She does more than just photograph your day. She cares about you having the BEST elopement experience possible! I'll never be able to thank Courtney enough for making our dream day happen!
While the process to obtain a marriage license in Montana isn't too difficult it does add another thing that you have to worry about as you get ready for your elopement. You have to show up early in person and make sure you get back in on time.
If this sounds like a headache to you you absolutely have another option! A symbolical ceremony just means that the ceremony you have on your elopement day isn't legally binding.
If you go the symbolical route you will get all the legal paperwork done where you live so that you don’t have to deal with the legalities of getting married in another state.
When you plan out your ceremony you can 100% still have a regular ceremony and exchange vows and rings, or include whatever aspects you want!! You can customize every aspect to the two of you!
Couples who do this, to them the day they say their vows to each other is the day that they actually get married and not the day they sign paperwork.
The great thing about this is that you don’t have to worry about going to the county clerks office or mailing in paperwork and getting it in on time allowing your elopement day to be even more stress free!!
I'm here to help you plan out your dream elopement! However you want to celebrate and spend your Montana Elopement, I'm here to help you make that happen!
Give me your thoughts on your elopement!*
Tell me about the best adventure you've been on!*
date & location*
Where do you currently live?*
Phone Number*
How'd you hear about me?!*
email*
You & your fiance's full names*
Courtney was an absolute pleasure to work with throughout the entire planning process. We knew we wanted an elopement that still included some of the traditional aspects. After our first call with Courtney, we knew she would help guide us in the right direction in planning our perfect day.
Courtney made planning easy by always providing us with ample information so that we could choose what worked best for our vision. She gave multiple options for our ceremony location along with recommendations for a local florist and bakery. When we had questions or uncertainties along the way, she always had so many ideas that we could choose from. It really helped us in creating the stress-free day that we dreamed of.
The actual elopement day went without flaw. Courtney provided us with a detailed timeline and helped keep everything on schedule. Courtney is so personable and makes you feel comfortable. She brings a positive and fun energy and wealth of knowledge and experience which helps create beautiful pictures.
Not only did she help in the planning process, but our photos are absolutely gorgeous! We were beyond impressed with all of our pictures and love showing them off. We would totally recommend Courtney to anyone looking for an adventure elopement!!
Read More Reviews!
Courtney has a very warm and bubbly personality that shows through her work! She made my husband and I feel SO comfortable throughout the whole day.
We were very confused on how to start planning our adventure and she was there to answer a lot of our questions in the beginning and honestly with a very short time frame! We planned and got married in 6 weeks, because we knew we really wanted her there for our day and that is what she had available! It was a challenge well accepted for all three of us.
Our day was perfect. She captured our true essence of love and laughter and each photo shows it. There weren't very many set up photos unless we asked for them. She just gets you in the moment!
You can absolutely tell that Courtney loves what she does and wants your day to be perfect. She listens to you and really tries to understand you as a couple first and then uses that within her photography skills.
If you are looking for an adventure/elopement photographer I would highly suggest Courtney Lynn. We will be looking at and reliving our elopement forever thanks to her amazing photos. You won't be disappointed!
Courtney was so helpful during the whole process! She helped put together a wonderful day! She really wanted to make sure our wedding was just right for us. She made our elopement perfectly formulated for us, and I can't think of a more beautiful day!
One of our concerns going into an elopement was wanting to have pictures that let us remember the entire day. Courtney was there from start to finish and captured the whole day! Because of her outstanding work, we can share it with our loved ones, and they can experience the event almost as if they were there. We also really appreciated that she captured genuine moments between us instead of making it a photoshoot.
It felt like we were hanging out with a friend, and we think that helped us enjoy our day to the fullest.
If your dream wedding is an adventurous elopement day, I couldn't recommend Courtney more. She went above and beyond and was such a joy to work with throughout this whole experience.
She made us feel at ease and relaxed. Some wedding photographers are all about capturing posed moments that can be really awkward; that's NOT Courtney's style at all. Not only was she down to do whatever we wanted and go on little side adventures, but she made us feel comfortable.
She captured our true personalities and who we are as a couple! When looking at our gallery, our love for each other and our personalities can be seen in each image! She is extremely talented and did a phenomenal job of capturing the beauty of our wedding location. If you hire her, you will not regret it!
We are SO happy we decided to go with Courtney for our wedding photos! Originally we were supposed to elope in Italy, and she helped a TON with planning things like travel and what our day was going to look like.
Then the pandemic hit and we realized we probably weren't going to be able to go to Italy. So, we decided to change locations to Glacier!
She made it super easy and stress free, and helped plan what our new day in Glacier was going to look like!
Courtney was super easy to spend the entire day with, very friendly and fun to talk to! Even though our day didn't go exactly how we planned due to the weather, we all just went with the flow of it and it still turned out to be an amazing day!
If you're in doubt, just hire her!! You won't regret it one bit and you will get so many incredible photos to look back on your day!!
Courtney’s guide was VERY helpful! Everything from finding a place to stay/what to wear to how to explain to people “why” you’re eloping!
The experience was unforgettable! Courtney was very helpful and guided us where we needed to go within the park! She was very knowledgeable and helped us with our “awkwardness” when taking photos! She was very laid back but in a good/productive way! She makes you feel very comfortable!
She helped us get permits that I had no idea we had to have! She also was able to be flexible with the schedule. We had a hiccup by getting lost on our route to where we were supposed to meet her but we made it work! Her reassurance helped us make up for time we lost when we were lost on our way there!
Courtney is seriously the bomb. This is your sign to just go for it!
We really were not sure what we wanted for our elopement. We didn't need much: just the 2 of us in a beautiful spot enjoying the day. Courtney sent us a comprehensive list of locations that fit our needs, and when I asked follow up questions ("Would you go with location X or location Y? Here's what we like about each..."), she wasn't afraid to tell us which one she thought we'd love the most!
The location she helped us to choose was absolutely PERFECT for us. It was also located in a region that we probably never would have explored if it weren't for Courtney, and we absolutely loved the several days we stayed in the Beartooth Mountain region.
We felt like Courtney really did a great job of sensing what we needed. The photos she took were absolutely incredible, and I was really shocked by how many we got! I literally could not believe it when I saw it.
I would recommend hiring Courtney in a heartbeat. She was so helpful, flexible, and gave us a great final product. We're so happy we hired Courtney for our elopement!
When my now husband and I started planning our elopement, we were confused to the max. We didn’t know where to start or how to go about planning anything. We knew we wanted to get married in Ireland, but had too many options on exactly where. After doing some research of elopements, I was scrolling on Pinterest and came across some BEAUTIFUL photos taken by Courtney!
Courtney made the process so easy! She is organized, professional, sweet, and so so funny!! Courtney does more than just photograph your day, she cares about you having the BEST day! She helped us plan EVERYTHING! Even down to the little details, like what type of shoes to wear! She helped us narrow down where, giving us her informative opinions on each of our options! She gave us cool ideas that we could incorporate into our special day. No idea was too big! When the day came, we had the absolute best time exploring and getting married! After we exchanged our vows, we went to celebrate at a local pub (Courtney’s idea ;) ). It was a blast!!
Our elopement was an absolute DREAM COME TRUE! I will never be able to thank Courtney enough for making it happen. So for anyone on the fence, swaying back and forth about whether or not work with Courtney on your big day, SWAY NO MORE! You’ve found your person!! My day couldn’t have been any better and my pictures are beautiful and capture the fun we had!!! I can’t wait to work with her again!
My now husband and I decided to elope for our wedding at Mt. Rainier NP, but we had NO IDEA how we were going to pull that off. After searching through many different elopement photographers, I came across Courtney’s website.
Her portfolio is what really drew me in – but her personality (as shown through her website) is what sealed the deal for us. Before our wedding day, Courtney offered us endless advice to plan our perfect day. She even has a guide that she gives her clients and that in itself was a lifesaver! I found some vendor recommendations on there that we ended up using for our wedding (example - an elopement makeup artist). It can be overwhelming to book everything but she helped us make sure we had everything set along the way.
Our wedding day was so much fun. Part of the day we were with family, but the later part it was just me, my husband and Courtney. We went on a little hike and had a little picnic and it was so relaxing. We are really glad we chose Courtney to be there to document our day with and for us. She is so much fun to be around, and she also makes you feel really comfortable throughout your whole day! Thank you so much, Courtney! Our photos are amazing!
"Planning for our day and the day itself would have been completely different without Courtney. We only knew that we wanted to share our vows in the Tuscan countryside and have beautiful photos, and Courtney planned the perfect agenda for that to happen.
She coordinated our timing around sunset, and not only were the photos breathtaking, but the actual evening was too. I remember looking out over the vineyards as the sun set, the view becoming more and more stunning by the minute. There were no moments that felt forced or posed, every shot was comfortable and fun and full of love.
Courtney is such a sweet, kind, fun person and we truly enjoyed spending the day with her. Courtney helped us to turn our dreams into reality, and we hardly had to do a thing. She allowed us to be in control of our day but gently took all of our wants and needs into consideration while making everything happen. Lastly, our pictures are just magical. Courtney is an incredibly talented photographer, and I feel so lucky that we were able to work with her. I would recommend her over and over again to anyone eloping."
"Let. Me. Tell. You. It's not the technical aspects of photography that are the most difficult. It's the human aspect. Remembering that as a Photographer, you may be behind the lens but you are still a human, in front of other humans, in some of the most raw and intimate of moments.
Courtney balances both of these necessities (but rarities) with poise, great direction, and an overall kind calmness that just makes you breathe a sigh of relief. If you've come across Courtney's page and see what you like already, BOOK HER NOW.
Don't spend another second looking for another Photographer that doesn't bring anywhere near the amazing light and spirit that this girl brings right here. Thank you again Courtney for allowing my husband and I to marry each other all over again! The images are stunning and I can't wait to blow them up and hang them in our home."
"Working with Courtney was an extremely easy experience, seamless, positive and obviously fun. My wife and I went on our honeymoon and wanted to surprise her with a surprise honeymoon adventure session.
Courtney worked with me to make that dream gift for my wife a reality. Meeting and posing for a photographer for the first time can be intimidating, but with Courtney it was anything but that.
Courtney is extremely positive and helpful and made us feel very comfortable in front of the camera. She played some of our favorite songs and before we knew we were just having fun and she was catching them every second. Perhaps the best part of our session was that Courtney knew all the characteristic and peaceful places of where we were, which made our photos even more extraordinary.
She kept the focus on my wife and me. When we shared our images with friends and relatives, everyone complimented on Courtney's aesthetics and the emotion she was able to capture. I can't thank Courtney enough for exceeding all our expectations with this photo shoot!!"
"Pick her -- she's the best! Courtney is amazing! Seriously! If you're thinking about eloping you should snatch her up to capture your day. She makes the entire experience fun and relaxed plus the pictures just blew us away. I will never forget our magical time in Venice and I'm obsessed with the gorgeous photos Courtney took of us. She's so so good!"
Glacier National Park Elopement Guide
How to Plan an Elopement Timeline
Ultimate How to Elope Guide
What to Do After Eloping
10 Tips for Planning an Elopement
11 Common Questions About Eloping!