3 minute read
VALENTINE'S DAY GIFT GUIDE
FOR KAREN SAINT, LIFE IS ALL ABOUT LOVE
ON A GORGEOUS SUMMER morning last year, Karen Saint woke early to begin her trek into Yellowstone National Park. It was just before dawn and shades of pink started to paint the sky. As she met up with a young couple, geese squawked overhead. The morning was just beginning to awaken. Together the three made their way to the edge of a bluff overlooking the Yellowstone River in the Hayden Valley.
Standing quietly, in a sacred moment, just as the sun began to peek over the mountains, the couple exchanged their vows. Karen officiated and would later say it was one of the most memorable ceremonies of her career.
“It was truly beautiful and dynamic,” Karen says. “The couple hung on my every word, soaking in every moment. It meant the world to them.”
And, like many of the weddings at which Karen officiates, there was the unique twist.
“We recruited tourists to help sign the wedding license,” Karen says with a laugh. “Adjacent to where the couple got married, there had been an elk kill the day before, over the hillside on the other side of the road. Dozens of people showed up there at sunrise to photograph, hoping a bear or wolf would show up at this kill. So, it was a packed show, oddly enough.”
Karen is a wedding officiant and the founder of A Beautiful Soul. From the start of the ceremony to the end, she makes sure the ceremony glides easily and covers every legal detail.
“I am a romantic at heart and joining people in love means getting to be a part of one of their most intimate and beautiful moments,” Karen says. “Like standing out in the middle of the Yellowstone River,” Karen says with a chuckle. “That was the couple’s suggestion, and I was all for it. They got a hold of me ahead of time and asked, ‘Do you mind if you get wet?’ and I said, ‘No, we’ll just plan on it!’” So, Karen and the couple headed out past Pompeys Pillar to a fishing access and exchanged vows in the middle of the mighty Yellowstone. She loves making each ceremony memorable.
“If that means hiking to a lake or finding that perfect spot in Yellowstone National Park, I’m in,” she says.
Late last fall, Karen made the hike to Greenough Lake just outside Red Lodge to help marry Skyler and Markelle Nelson. She knew the area well. In days gone by, she’d trudge all over this mountainside on horseback.
The couple had planned a big wedding in Fargo, North Dakota in October of 2020 only to have the Covid pandemic derail their plans. Instead of trying to orchestrate another major event, Markelle says the two loaded up their dog, Denali, who would serve as the “Dog of Honor” and headed for the hills with Karen as their officiant.
“It’s exactly how you would want to start a marriage,” Markelle says. “It was so beautiful. When we got there, Karen helped pick my bouquet, which was just a bunch of wildflowers. It was breathtaking. It almost felt like a dream.”
Karen never imagined herself as a professional officiant. In fact, just a few years ago, she was a successful artist, known for her unique fur-art pieces that she fashions out of animal pelts. Her creations are large and hang in homes all over the country. During the height of the pandemic, she remembers sitting at her
