Outdoor Wedding at the Athabasca Day Use Area with a side of Wildfire.
When looking forward to your beautifully styled and vibrant autumn wedding at the Athabasca Day Use Area in Jasper National Park, one does not usually have to consider a raging wildfire a mere 5 km from your ceremony and reception site. But that is exactly what Heather and Patrick were up against as the Chetamon Wildfire picked up awe-inspiring speed 2 days after it ignited from a lightning strike on September 1, 2022.
The day before the wedding, Heather and Patrick worked closely with their local wedding planners, Jordan and Brett of Jasper Event Management to assess the ever-changing conditions and potential risks of the fire. Emergency Services and Parks Canada were consulted and thankfully, on the eve of the big day, the winds were in their favour and they were given the all-clear to go ahead as planned. We here at Kinfolk can go on forever about the benefits of hiring a local wedding photographer but we’re equally as adamant that hiring local for all of your vendors will always pay off. The Jasper wedding community is a small cohort of dedicated and passionate people who will bend over backward to deliver service that goes above and beyond expectations. And that is exactly what happened for this deserving couple. From Brett and Jordan creating a last-minute backup plan should the fire force them from their venue to Colleen at Elysian Florals knocking the flowers out of the park, these two and their friends and family were well taken care of.
After a heart-filled and mimosa-fueled morning getting ready at the stunning Tekarra Lodge, Heather and her bridesmaids hopped in their Sun Dog Tours bus hot on the heels of Patrick and his groomsmen. After much anticipation and worry about cancellation, everyone was settled and ready for a beautiful ceremony on a one-of-a-kind day with a massive wildfire raging a mere 5km from the venue. It was equal parts surreal and beautiful.
The Athabasca Day Use Area is one of a handful of reservable ceremony locations in Jasper and is hands down Kinfolk’s favourite spot of them all. Located 15km east of the Jasper townsite, the Day Use Area has a beautifully placed ceremony site complete with a wedding arch and bench seating for 120 guests.
After Heather and Patrick’s heartfelt ceremony, we headed up to Pyramid Lake for some beautiful side-lit portraits of the newlywed couple. Pyramid Lake is one of the most iconic locations for both tourists and locals year-round. We love to take our couples up there during the late afternoon or early evening when the setting sun is bathing the lake and island in the most flattering light.
After playing around in the gorgeous light at Pyramid lake, we took the wedding party back down to the Athabasca Day Use Area for some playful photos in the field while the Chetamon Wildfire picked up even more speed, creating a billow of smoke that softened the light and cast an eery but beautiful glow.
Just a short stroll from the ceremony location at the Day Use Area is the perfect setup for an outdoor reception, making it super convenient to transition from the ceremony to the festivities. Heather and Patrick made great use of the outdoor cook shelter by hiring local legend Lynn Wannop of Coco’s Cafe to build a taco bar to feed all the hungry guests, while Brett and Jordan used their talent and an abundance of magnificent florals from Elysian to tie the boho aesthetic altogether. We’ve shot a lot of weddings at the Day Use Area and we both agree, Heather and Patrick’s wedding day was planned to perfection in order to make full use of such a stunning yet laid-back wedding venue.
Toward the end of every wedding, usually when the dance floor is alive with celebration and connection, we put our brains together and come up with an idea for one last portrait to highlight the day and the couple. As Ash was clicking away as Heather and her brother were stomping the dance floor to some Maritime tunes, she spotted the flaming red glow of the fire between the trees. Curious, she decided to walk out to the field about 100 meters down the path. This was the first time I had seen the fire raging in the dark. So together, the talented videographer, Roman, and I rushed the couple out to the field to cap the day off with these intense portraits of the couple with the fire in full force behind them. These are the type of storytelling images every wedding photographer dreams of and we feel so lucky that we were able to capture these in a safe way so that Heather and Patrick have proof for their grandkids one day that they indeed did get married with the largest fire Jasper National Park had seen in decades, raging on as they kicked off their married life together. It was perfect.
