Klontalersee Elopement: A Sunset Ceremony Above the Lake

Benny & Yandy · Hong Kong
Klöntalersee & Kerenzerberg, Canton Glarus · June 2026
A full wedding for two, with ceremony styling
Planning, design and photography by ROOXI STUDIO

Benny and Yandy came all the way from Hong Kong to marry in Switzerland. They wanted a day that felt like theirs: a beautiful place, a real ceremony, and nobody else but the two of them.

They already knew where. After reading Krystal & Dennis’s summer elopement at Klöntalersee, they wrote to us and said: that lake, that view, that is where we want to say our vows.

Klöntalersee lies in a quiet valley in Canton Glarus, about an hour from Zurich, held between steep green slopes and the limestone walls of the Glärnisch. It is one of the most peaceful lakes in Switzerland, and in early summer it is at its most beautiful: the meadows are full and green, the water turns a deep teal, and the evenings stay light until late.

For the ceremony we chose a viewpoint high above the lake rather than the shore. From there you see the whole valley at once, the lake running into the mountains and the light moving across it. Late June gave us long, soft evening light, so we planned the ceremony for the late afternoon and kept the golden hour for the lake itself.

12:00 Hair and makeup at Seminarhotel Lihn on the Kerenzerberg, with the lake below the windows. Yandy’s white shoes on the soft carpet were the first detail of the day.
14:00 Portraits in her first gown in the hotel garden and on the terrace.
15:00 A short drive into the Klöntal valley to a wooden cabin by the lake, and a change into her second gown.
16:00 Getting-ready details: the stationery with their names, laid out on the cabin table with the mountains outside the window.
16:30 An early dinner and a quiet rest at Richisau, at the head of the valley.
17:10 The first look outside the cabin, while our team styled the ceremony spot.
17:45 The ceremony at the viewpoint above the lake.
19:20 Golden hour on the shore of Klöntalersee.

We kept the palette to white and green, so the flowers would feel as if they belonged to the hillside. I chose blooms with a natural, just-grown shape and a little bit of chic: ruffled white garden roses, green hydrangea, trailing green amaranthus and sculptural calla lilies. A length of soft fabric was woven through the ceremony arrangement, which gave the open hillside a sense of occasion without hiding the view.

The forecast for their original date showed a chance of rain. With no guests to rebook, we could simply follow the weather: we moved the day one day earlier, and it rewarded us with a clear sky and the softest evening light of the week. This is one of the quiet advantages of eloping in Switzerland with a planner who watches the mountains for you.

When Benny and Yandy arrived that morning they were a little nervous, the way two introverts are when a camera is pointed at them. By the ceremony, all of that had gone. They both cried reading their vows to each other.

Then, as the recessional music began, the sunlight slowly drew back from where they stood, slid across to the far side of the valley and lit up the whole of it. It felt as if the mountains had joined the ceremony. They started dancing right there on the hillside, we opened the champagne, and two people who had arrived shy ended the day laughing and dancing above the lake.

Go high for the ceremony. A viewpoint above the lake shows you the whole valley, the water and the light at once.

Plan around the evening light. In June and July the light stays soft long after 19:00, so a late afternoon ceremony followed by golden hour at the lake is the most beautiful rhythm.

Keep your date flexible. With no guests to coordinate, we can move your day with the forecast and catch the best weather of the week.

If this lake has stayed with you, read the story of a rowing boat elopement on Klöntalersee, or see how we plan elopements in Switzerland.

More Swiss elopement stories →