Eloping in the Swiss Alps

In August 2025, Nerissa had planned to go to a conference in Basel, Switzerland. She convinced Andreas to travel the following weekend with her to Zermatt and fulfill her dream of taking pictures in front of the Matterhorn. Low key, right?

Several conversations into the planning phase, Andreas had added his favorite thing (flying) into the plan. So, they decided to do it up extra and take a helicopter flight over a glacier and land on a mountaintop, photographer in tow (fotomeg.ch if you are ever in need—they’re amazing).

They dropped the happy couple off on a mountain top to fend for themselves, Survivor style.

Nerissa’s face when she realized the long hike ahead.

Nerissa recovered quickly so that she could capture her once-in-a-lifetime Marilyn Monroe moment—she’s not sorry about it.

Luckily, Andreas ‘always prepared’ Aabrandt supplied them with hiking boots and pants for the journey ahead.

After a scenic (and not too arduous) hike, they arrived to the lake Stellisee just as the clouds—which had been looming all morning and threatening to obscure the view—parted and revealed a most spectacular view.

Nerissa and Andreas were then able to glam/ham it up for the camera and capture some memorable shots so they can later prove to their child(ren) that they were, indeed, very cool people before they had them.

...and they lived happily ever after! So far so good, anyway. :)