Meet me at the house on a hill

When E reached out and wanted to have her grandpa marry them

at his home on top of a hill in Estes Park, the answer was of course yes, and tell me more.

This sweet elopement started at the home of the E’s grandparents, who own a stunning cabin home overlooking the continental divide just outside of Estes Park. I walked in the home and was immediately surrounded by love, care, and trinkets from a life well spent.

E+B drove up from Texas for their elopement- but E has only the fondest memories of summers visiting her grandparents in Estes Park and going on long hikes filled by picnics under shady pine trees. The adoration of this place was something I could sense immediately, and I tried my best to capture a bit of her grandparents story in their elopement.

The other nice thing about getting married by your grandpa at his family home is the amount of tender joy that comes included in the officiating. The sweet words of this 92 year old man were absolutely the sweetest thing.

From the home on a hill, we hopped in my truck and drove into Rocky Mountain National Park as the snow was starting to fall. Rocky Mountain National Park has some pretty strict restrictions on where you can actually elope in the park, ceremony wise, but if you purchase a $50 photo permit pass you can take photos in just about anywhere! So we drove around for a bit, hopped out where we were inspired, and spent several hours enjoying the beauty of the park.

A slight drizzle was limiting on our visibility, but there is nothing quite like fat snow and the isolation it brings to otherwise busy locations. Attitude is everything when it comes to your elopement. Obviously the snow started out as less than ideal, because we lost visibility of the epic vistas inside the park, but E+B rallied with so little support. They were present, they were thrilled and in as in love as one can be. I think this really made the day.

However, we basically had Bear Lake to ourselves, which if you’ve ever been to RMNP, that never happens. Weekday elopements are certainly the way to go, especially if you’re eloping in Colorado! So the moral of the story is that you can have your cake and eat it too- an elopement in Colorado can be whatever you want it to be.