Beautiful Flathead Lake Forevers Wedding | Kya & Chris
In the summer of 2024 I photographed Kya and Chris’ Flathead Lake Forevers wedding in Big Arm Montana. This beautiful lakeside wedding venue sits on the west shore of Flathead Lake and has easily become one of my favorite Western Montana wedding venues. Kya and Chris, and their beautiful baby girl Lyla (1 year old at the time of the wedding), had a fairy tale wedding day up on the lake. As soon as I arrived at the venue, I was immediately inspired by the beautiful grounds and scenery, fresh air, and the gorgeous white tent being decorated by family members for the upcoming wedding reception.
Flathead Lake Forevers sits on 34 acres of land right on the shore of Flathead Lake, just a few miles north of Polson. With 900 feet of manicured shoreline, sprawling lawn leading up to the water, and cool driftwood along the shore, it’s a picturesque spot for saying “I Do”. In addition to stunning views of Flathead Lake and surrounding mountains, the venue has a prime view of Chief Cliff across the water, a spiritual landmark and sacred monument to the Kootenai people who live in the area. Kya and Chris are both from Montana and the venue held a special significance for Kya as her grandparents live just on the other side of the lake.
The venue offers separate air-conditioned bride and groom suites, a huge plus for hot summer weddings; a large 30 x 60 ft white party tent with a beautiful white pleated liner and three stylish crystal chandeliers; as well as a rustic, timber-framed open beamed bar for serving beverages. With all of these great amenities, it’s easy to see why Flathead Lake Forevers, owned by Linda and Alan Madsen, won Wedding Rule’s Editor’s Choice Award for Best Wedding Venue on Flathead Lake in 2022.
Getting Ready In The Bridal Suite
I started the day photographing Kya and her bridesmaids getting ready in the cute bridal suite. Both Kya and her maid of honor were dressing their little girls for the wedding, which was so fun to capture. The bridal suite itself is darling, with stylish decor, floor length mirror, sheer curtains over the sliding glass door (creating beautiful natural light), hair/makeup chair, and small refrigerator. Kya looked absolutely stunning in her wedding dress, and her hair and makeup were flawless. Getting ready with their family and best friends was a huge highlight of the day for both Kya and Chris. And I particularly loved photographing Kya and Lyla together in the bridal suite~ especially when I caught Lyla looking at herself in the mirror! (Omg, darling!!!)
Flathead Lake Wedding Ceremony
The wedding ceremony took place outdoors on the well-groomed lawn leading right up to the shoreline. The ceremony was gorgeous with white chairs, flowers, and a ceremonial arch, with gleaming Flathead Lake as the backdrop. Especially significant for Kya was having both her parents give her away, as well as having their baby daughter be their flower girl. Watching these high school sweethearts exchange their vows and declare their love for one another, all with baby Lyla being held front and center in her mommy’s arms, was truly precious.
Wedding Reception at Flathead Lake Forevers
The wedding reception took place under cover from the hot summer sun in the gorgeous white tent on site. Even with the beautiful scenery and views of Flathead Lake, the white tent at Flathead Lake Forevers is perhaps my favorite feature of this venue. I am absolutely smitten with this tent! The white tent, with its white interior liner, reflected and bounced the natural light to create soft, diffused light that is very flattering. It was the perfect setup to create the “bright and airy” imagery that Kya had told me she wanted for her Montana wedding photos.
Sunset Portraits of the Bride & Groom
Later in the evening, as the sun was setting, we walked down to the shoreline for sunset portraits of the bride and groom. Kya and Chris were so fun to work with and beaming with love and joy. Given the wedding was just a couple days after the fourth of July, not only did they have sparklers later in the evening, but also fireworks launched over the lake! I knew that Kya wanted a specific photo of her and Chris under the fireworks, so that’s exactly what we did! What an amazing moment and awesome photo for them to remember this day forever!
Wedding Reception Dancing
As the evening progressed, I had a blast photographing the wedding reception dancing. The bride and groom also requested a photo of all guests in attendance on the dance floor, so I had my wide angle lens handy to capture this shot. And after that, of course, there was a whole lot more dancing until the evening ended and a tired baby Lyla fell asleep in her mother’s arms on the dance floor. 🥹
Kya and Chris’ Flathead Lake Forevers wedding was simply magical and full of love~ and I could not be happier with their wedding photos. I found the large white tent at the venue to be not only beautiful and functional, but also very conducive to creating beautiful, bright, stunning Montana wedding photos for this wonderful couple.
“Carin was kind, thoughtful, professional, and so talented! She was organized and captured so many beautiful moments from our wedding day. She worked with us from start to finish, making sure to check in with us and making sure we were getting what we wanted. We throughly enjoyed working with her! I got so many comments from our guests about how lovely and professional she was. Highly recommend to be your wedding photographer! We would love to work with her again.”
K Morano, 9/3/24
Vendors
Photographer
Carin Rene Photo — Missoula, MT
Venue
Flathead Lake Forevers — Big Arm, MT
Videographer
Dylan Kumar with CosmicCine LLC — Great Falls, MT
Dress
Adore Formal Wear Boutique — Pasco, WA
HMUA
Ashlee Berens Wedding Hair & Makeup — Polson, MT
Rings
Modern Gents
