After canceling their big wedding in Crested Butte, Sara and Ian wanted to plan a relaxing and stress-free wedding day with their immediate families (and their pup, Luna). They ended up choosing to have their entire wedding day at a beautiful private cabin up in the Colorado mountains. The cabin, which sits on about 100 acres of land, had so many places to explore and even a wedding deck surrounded by aspen trees.

October elopements are often a wildcard. Will any fall colors be leftover? Will the weather be okay? And in a particularly bad wildfire year, will the smoke block the mountain views? But Sara and Ian were lucky and they ended up with a beautiful and warm day, with the perfect amount of fall colors, and the haze from the fires just seemed to miss us.

On the afternoon of their wedding day, Sara and Ian got ready on separate levels of the cabin. Ian really wanted to wear something different, but Sara wasn't so sure about his picks when she heard the idea. Turns out, Ian has a pretty damn good sense of fashion. We love his non-traditional floral shirt with the orange-red sweater on top! Then it was Sara’s turn to get dressed. With the help of her mom, she put on her comfy wedding shoes, got into her wedding dress, and put on all of her jewelry.

Their first look was just outside of the cabin. While he waited, Ian told us about the first time he and Sara met and explained that Sara’s grandmother had been throwing some heavy hints for a while that it was time for them to finally get married. Sara climbed up the short hill to where Ian was waiting and they both greeted each other with the biggest smiles and hugs. It was so much fun to finally see them together because they have such a fun and silly dynamic. After their first look, Sara and Ian scaled the steep rocks to get to a view that stretched on for miles. And that's where they decided to exchange gifts. Ian bought Sara a Kit Kat that she didn't have to share (inside joke), and Sara got Ian a journal she had been writing in weekly to commit to memory all of the little things that made her love him.

And then it was time to do the thing. Everyone hopped in their cars and drove down the dirt road to the property’s very own ceremony site, which was just a short drive across the property. Once there, Sara and Ian put Luna’s floral dog collar on and we all walked down to the wooden deck. While everyone was getting into place, Luna decided that the train of Sara’s dress was the perfect place for her to sit. Everyone burst into laughter at Luna’s cuteness (and also kind of rudeness haha). But in the end, Luna got to stay. Sara and Ian led their own ceremony while their families watched from nearby. One of the things we loved most about Sara and Ian is how often their jokes to each other resulted in them throwing their heads back with laughter. We could get used to being around that kind of joy!

After the ceremony, they signed their marriage license, with Luna’s paw print in the witness section. Then they popped champagne and toasted to their marriage before heading back to the cabin. With help from their moms and Ian’s sisters, they had the most beautiful fall-themed table set up for dinner. There were mini pumpkins, candles, and Sara’s bouquet as the centerpiece.

To cap it all off, their dinner was catered by one of our favorite local caterers, Julie y Juan. As the sun went down, Sara and Ian gathered around the dinner table with their families and enjoyed a laidback evening together. The dinner seriously might be the best we've ever had at a wedding, and we didn't even get to eat every course. And in the end, we think Sara and Ian got exactly what they wanted out of their wedding day.

This elopement took place on Ute and Cheyenne Land.

Photographs

Colorado Elopements

Destination Elopements