Steve and I got married on a glacier in Alaska because a cruise ship wouldn’t marry us while sailing. So how did we end up getting married on a glacier? We had dated for a year, then got engaged for a year, and then planned our wedding. For our fifth wedding (third for him, second for me) we wanted to do something different, but our first thought wasn’t to get married on a glacier.
- We didn’t want a big, white wedding.
- If we were going to spend a bucket of money, we wanted to have fun–we didn’t want to buy steak and drinks for 200 of our closest friends.
- We wanted a destination wedding for about a dozen people.
- We, in our true form, wanted to do something different.
Since we’d already done most of the Florida cruises, we looked to Alaska. The weather on an Alaskan cruise would be pleasant, the destination port of Seattle would be easy for our family members to get to, and the Alaskan beauty would be a nice back drop for our wedding.
How and why did we decide on a getting married on a glacier in Alaska?
Getting Married on an Alaskan Cruise with Kids
With one kid, one teen, and one young adult, ages 8-22, in tow, putting together a wedding that made sense and covered our wedding criteria, challenged us. An Alaskan cruise seemed like the ideal way to enjoy a family wedding as a destination. It’d be a great way to have an unique destination wedding.
Although most of our family members lived in Florida, we’d all done cruises out of Florida. No one wanted to do another Florida cruise. We all thought doing an Alaskan cruise would be fun and different. Plus, with such a range in ages of our wedding party, a cruise ship could accommodate the needs of a pre-teen and the needs of the grandparents on board too.
Getting Married on a Cruise to Alaska
We really wanted to get married on the cruise boat by the captain of the boat, and we discovered only two cruise lines (Norwegian and Princess) would perform weddings while sailing. Most of the cruise ships wanted us to get married while docked. When you get married while docked, you have to get a marriage license in the country of the dock.
How Much Does It Cost to Get Married on a Cruise Ship?
Figuring out how to get a marriage license in, say, The Bahamas, got complicated quickly. Additionally, after investigating cruise ship weddings a bit further, we found out it would cost at least $2500 for the captain to walk down off the bridge, down to the pool to marry us.
Seriously, $2500? What else could we do for $2500?
A Wedding Planner, Limo Driver, Justice of the Peace, and Photographer in Alaska
After some quick googling, we found Tom in Juneau. For the same price as the captain of our ship, Tom (our new wedding planner in Alaska!) would find us a helicopter, a limo, an officiant, some flowers, a photographer, some champagne and a glacier! So, we booked a wedding special with him, where we will get married on top of the Mendenhall Glacier.
Our wedding planner in Alaska, Tom, did it all! He:
- met us at the cruise ship terminal in a limo,
- took us to the local county recorder to get our Alaskan marriage license,
- drove us to the Juneau heliport, accompanied us in the helicopter to Mendenhall glacier,
- delivered flowers, performed the ceremony,
- took pictures,
- poured champagne,
- flew us back to the heliport,
- drove us back to the boat, and
- said good-bye all within our four hours docked in Juneau.
We got married in four hours in Alaska. It was a magical, easy, perfect glacier wedding in Alaska and many years later, still a fabulous decision I’d repeat.
Chris Englert, the Walking Traveler, believes walking is the platform for life. Wanderlusting since the age of 5, she’s since traveled all 50 US states and 62 countries. Chris shares her love of walking while traveling via blogs, books, and presentations. A natural storyteller, she invites you along as she explores the world, one walk at a time.
Currently, Chris and her husband, Steve, travel the world, full-time as nomads, with just their two carry-ons. They’ve been traveling since May, 2021.