Hiking Elopement with a Guitar Serenade

Christine + Nico

After grad school, Christine took a job in Aspen, Colorado without really knowing anything about the little mountain town. Nico grew up just outside of Aspen and first met Christine while at a bar. They started as friends, and Nico was the first person Christine thought to call when she boarded the wrong bus and ended up in Grand Junction instead of Denver. And while they still didn’t know each other well, Nico offered to pick Christine up in the middle of the night. Eventually, Nico asked Christine on a real date and they’ve been together ever since.

Their initial vision was to elope in the Colorado mountains with a small group of friends and family. They planned to go for a sunrise hike, exchange their vows privately, and then meet up with their guests for a more formal ceremony as well as a Chinese tea ceremony. But as they dove deeper into planning, they decided to elope just the two of them and then have a big wedding with all of their friends and family a few months later.

On the morning of their elopement day, we met them at the dark trailhead. With only the light from our headlamps, we set off into the forest to hike to one of our favorite alpine lakes. As the first bit of light touched the highest peaks, we arrived at the lake and Christine and Nico changed into their wedding attire. They said their vows to each other at the edge of the lake as the mountains glowed with warm light.

After the ceremony, they had their first dance, and then Nico pulled his guitar out and serenaded Christine in both English and Spanish. This was a highlight of the entire morning watching Christine melt at Nico’s song. The rest of the morning was spent exploring and hiking back to the trailhead. It was the perfect morning spent in the wilderness.

This elopement took place on Ute and Cheyenne Land.

Photographs

Elopement Location: Boulder, Colorado
Elopement Photographer: Vow of the Wild

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