JACKSON, Maine (WABI/Gray News) – A couple in Maine forwent a traditional wedding venue to start their shared life by celebrating their shared love of hiking at a sentimental mountain peak.
John Stoyak said the moment he realized he was in love with his then-girlfriend Juniper was when they first hiked Mount Katahdin together.
So when John’s proposal at the peak was rained out in June 2023, he and Juniper set their sights on summiting the mountain for their wedding day.
A little more than a year later, the couple, along with Juniper’s older sister and a work friend, trekked up to the top of Mount Katahdin and said “I do” at the mountain’s 5,269-foot summit.
The party even had a fellow hiker at the summit sign as their second marriage witness.
There were concerns leading up to the day that the weather wouldn’t cooperate again.
“It was looking bad all the way, all week, and I was getting discouraged,” Juniper said. “I was just praying to my parents above for good weather.”
But despite the wavering weather, the peak was well worth the climb for the Stoyaks.
“Even though we were caught in, like, a mist of a raincloud, it was still just epic to be there and do it exactly where we wanted to, the way we wanted to,” John said.
The Stoyaks are avid hikers who visit Katahdin at least twice a year. Juniper called the tranquil trails their “church,” where they can talk and connect without the interruptions of civilization.
“You know, you earn that feeling afterward, it’s just so unreal, and to share that with her,” John said. “And then to get married in a place like that is just, for us is …”
“It’s just for us,” Juniper added.
The couple encouraged other couples to celebrate their day however they see fit.
“Do what you want to do, don’t do what everyone wants you to do, or have your traditional wedding,” Juniper said.
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Publish date : 2024-09-03 05:17:00
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