Winter Hiking Elopement in the Mountains

Winter Hiking Elopement

Devon + Trey

Devon and Trey started as friends in the same friend group. But, as Devon would put it, the universe aligned and brought them together! Since then, they’ve lived a lot of life together. They purchased their first house, and had a son, so when they started discussing how their wedding might look, they both agreed that a big, traditional wedding wasn’t for them. Instead, they decided to elope in Colorado, just the two of them.

But when you get married in Colorado in the winter, you never know what you’re going to get! Sometimes you’ll get lucky and have a sunny, bluebird day, and others you’ll get blizzard conditions. On the morning of Devon and Trey’s sunrise elopement, we were lucky and had gorgeous blue skies, but as we arrived at the location for their first look, the car thermometer read -12° F.

As Devon changed into her wedding dress, Trey hiked down to the spot we had picked out for their first look. Even with hand warmers, it didn’t take long before all of our fingers were numb and ice was forming on our masks from our warm breath. Alex, as per usual, even had icicles for a mustache. But Devon and Trey were determined to push through the cold. Devon bravely took off her warm, winter jacket and kept just her handpainted leather jacket on. She walked through the snow to where Trey was waiting and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around him. When Trey turned around he grinned at Devon and admired how beautiful she looked. They then hugged each other tightly and shared the hand warmers that Devon had tucked away in her pockets.

They then climbed down onto some rocks that overlooked the lake and surrounding mountains. Despite having lived in Colorado our whole lives, it was the first time we’ve ever seen a cloud inversion in our own state! Devon and Trey cuddled up to keep warm and admired the view.

Next, we warmed up in the car while we drove to the trailhead for their ceremony. We hiked through the snow and were thankful to finally feel the warmth of the sun on us. As we made it to the top of the hike and began setting up for the ceremony, Devon realized that her wedding band was missing. We all searched through the snow, but none of us could find it. Hoping it got left in the car, we proceeded with their ceremony. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t in the car, or at their first look location. But fortunately, Devon was able to post in a lost-and-found group on Facebook later that day, and someone ended up finding it! But band or not, Devon and Trey read their vows to each other, standing at a cliffside and surrounded by soft, white snow. The idea afterward was to share a nice warm cup of coffee, but after sitting in below-freezing weather (thermos and all) it ended up being a little colder than one would prefer.

So we packed up our things, and Devon + Trey went and got take out in town. Then we met back up on a mountain pass before starting a snowy hike. It was bitter cold at the top of the pass, and Trey was feeling the effects of the high altitude. So we took it slow, taking plenty of breaks for photos and for playing in the snow. What we love most about elopements is when we have the ability to slow down and really enjoy the scenery, but to also have deep conversations with our couples. And even though our fingers and toes were numb, and our noses were runny from the cold, we ended the day having had so much fun with Devon and Trey.

This elopement took place on Ute and Cheyenne Land.

Photographs

Colorado Elopements

Destination Elopements

Hi There!

We're Lisa + Alex, the goofballs behind Vow of the Wild. We live in Colorado, but we’re passionate about exploring new places. Being elopement photographers + videographers is a dream for us and we can’t imagine doing anything else (other than being professional dog petters).