This couple got married on Mount Everest and the photos are breathtaking

Charleston Churchill

Forget tying the knot at a hotel downtown. This couple got married on Mount Everest‚ and they did it in black-tie attire (with the exception of hiking boots, naturally).

Photographer Charleton Churchill, who specializes in “adventure wedding photograph,” captured the whole thing. Churchill had wanted to photograph a wedding at Mount Everest since 2011.

Everest, which is part of the Mahalangur Range and sits on the border between Nepal and China, is the world’s tallest mountain. It tops out at a terrifying 29,029 feet, and even the base camp can be dangerous.

everest base camp photo
Flickr | cotaro70s

Case in point: Churchill planned to photograph another couple’s wedding there in 2015, before the ruinous 7.8 magnitude earthquake that decimated Nepal. The earthquake triggered a massive avalanche that killed more than a dozen people at base camp.

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Courtesy Carleton Churchill

“This 2017 wedding was my second chance to get a couple on the mountain and be the first wedding photographer to shoot a wedding at base camp with the first couple to wear a wedding dress and tux,” he told TODAY.

Don’t let the term “base camp” make you think that means  low elevation. The Nepal base camp at Everest is at 17,600 feet above sea level. For comparison, Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, stands at 20,310 feet tall.

everest base camp photo
Flickr | Rupert Taylor-Price

The adventurous couple, Ashley Schmieder and James Sissom, traveled to Everest with Churchill in March. The three trained for an entire year beforehand and spent weeks on the mountain before the epic wedding at base camp. The conditions were cold and snowy, but the pictures came out gorgeous regardless. Due to the hard-to-reach venue of the wedding, the bride and groom exchanged vows and rings without an officiant.

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“James and Ashley exchanged vows at Mt. Everest base camp right in front of the famous Khumbu ice-fall where people use ladders to maneuver over crevasses, and with the beautifully carved Nuptse Face in the backdrop,” Churchill wrote on his blog. “It’s one of the most epic and beautiful locations in the world that’s difficult to get to, and nobody’s done it before. So we are thrilled to have finally pulled it off.”

Charleton Churchill

Check out more of the stunning wedding photos on Churchill’s website.

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About the Author
Jessica Suss
Current high-school English teacher, native Chicagoan, and nut butter enthusiast moonlighting as a writer.

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