Adventurous Sunrise Elopement in the Rockies | Colorado Indian Peaks Wildnerness
I talk about this A LOT, but when it comes to your wedding day, I’m very much about planning a day that is what YOU want it to be. If that means inviting 300 loved ones because you want a huge party—awesome. If it means taking half those loved ones to a destination, and extending the festivities into a weekend filled with celebrations—hell yes. If that means just the two of you doing you and exchanging beautiful vows—all about it. When people say it’s the best day ever, it should be because you walked away from the day feeling like everything about it was completely YOU TWO. Not feeling like you just checked all the boxes you thought you should.
When I first met with Cait + Tony, they knew they didn’t want a wedding in the traditional sense. They love to travel, hike, backpack, bike, you name it. They decided they wanted to elope, and planned a week-long backpack journey to follow it. They wanted to be sure they could find a photographer who didn’t mind getting to an epic location (um hi yes that’s me!) and I assured them that I was their girl!
Over the months leading up to their elopement, we talked about the logistics—they got their permit approved to camp in Indian Peaks Wilderness near Nederland, CO, and we decided to have their ceremony at the peak of sunrise. After the fact that they had booked me, I had (sadly) moved from Denver, so I had to make plans to travel back for their elopement and booked myself an airbnb near Nederland.
We get to Colorado, Ethan and I are enjoying a beautiful sunny weekend in the woods at this cabin before the elopement, and a car pulls up to the airbnb to check in to the other unit on the property….LOW AND BEHOLD, it’s Cait, Tony, and their pooch Jane. Completely unplanned. Of all the places either of us could have stayed. I hollered at them with excitement and disbelief that this crazy kismet moment is happening, and they were so stoked to see us!
The next morning, we woke up around 3:45am to follow each other to the trailhead at Brainard Lake, and started our 2-mile journey in (joined by their friend + officiant Jared!)—wedding dress, bouquet, flower crowns in tow, lead by our headlamps to light the way. Just before we reached Lake Isabelle, the light on the horizon was just starting to show off. Cait got dressed while Tony went ahead to set up near the ceremony spot. Just as the sun was coming up, they shared their vows with one another and celebrated while in awe of the views.
After we finished our photos, the 3 of them set off on their ‘honeymoon’ journey while Jared and I hiked back down and took in the views (since it was pitch black on our way up! haha). A month or so later, Cait and Tony held a whole weekend of activities back at their home of Milwaukee—including a group bike/pub crawl, brunch + yoga, and a small reception in the park. THIS was exactly how they wanted it, and it was completely them.
