Lauren and Mitchel first met while at a music festival in West Virginia over a decade ago. They dated for a few years and fell madly in love, but despite this, fate separated them for nearly 7 years. When they reconnected Mitchel was moving to Colorado, and rather than let him fall out of her life again, Lauren decided to follow him. She of course didn’t inform Mitchel of this plan, and waited to surprise him with the news until the day she arrived. Mitchel says he always kind of knew that she would follow him, but that didn’t change the excitement.

Now, all these years later, the two of them decided to finally commit to a lifetime together. Their vision from the start was to be nestled into the trees somewhere in the mountains, just the two of them. We spent time trying to find the perfect spot amongst all that Colorado has to offer and decided on a Rocky Mountain National Park elopement. As we drove into the park for their sunrise ceremony, we took our time to allow the dozens of elk (who were quite startled at our presence before dawn) to cross the street. Lauren got permission from the rangers to include candles scattered around the forest for their ceremony, and a strand of fairy lights. With the first rays of sunrise just peeking through the trees and surrounded by the quiet calm of the early morning they vowed to always stay by each other’s side.

After their ceremony, we gave them some time to really process and soak things in over their first dance. Music has always been a critical part of their relationship, so we played a favorite song of theirs and sat back to let them gently sway in the sunlight. But the very important next order on the agenda was a breakfast picnic! It’s funny how the nerves of your wedding day make you less hungry until the vows have been spoken and all of a sudden your hunger comes rushing forward. We found a picnic spot in the meadow and they shared a gorgeous bottle of champagne and some pastries.

To wrap up the day, we couldn’t go to Rocky Mountain National Park and leave without seeing Trail Ridge road. The expansive views of the neighboring peaks are what dreams are made of, so we let Lauren and Mitchel run off and explore the views while we crawled around like monkeys from The Wizard of Oz (minus the wings). As we watched the two of them melt into each other, we couldn’t help but feel like this is how you start a marriage. Quiet and loud all at once.

This elopement took place on Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Land.

Photographs

Colorado Elopements

Destination Elopements