Eva + Steve | Lookout Mountain Elopement

Today was an example of where an elopement can feel just as much as an outdoor adventure as much as the shoots I’ve done for past clients in the mountains rock climbing, backcountry skiing or in the ocean sailing or surfing. It sounds far-fetched but wait until you get a little more of the behind the scenes…

The couple contacted me only three days before today which almost always means it’s a strike mission. That moment when you just can’t wait to be married to them so really pull the trigger and send it out to the mountains to elope without anybody really knowing. This was a real elopement in the way that everybody thinks of… running away to get married. I always love filming these style of elopements as their love is also so genuine and childlike. Eva and Steve weren’t much different. They clearly loved being around each other and have countless adventures, memories and special moments together. I felt so honored to be a part of this next adventure for them and provide them a film that they’ll hopefully cherish forever. I worked with Noah Berg, a fantastic photographer who was such a pleasure to work with as his charisma really reminds all of us there how fun it is to be doing this.

Since the ceremony took place in a gazebo sheltered away from the wind I set up a pretty hefty shotgun mic mounted on the trusty Canon C100. This tripod set-up captures the ambient audio but I also set up mics for the officiant and groom. Sometimes it’s nice to have the ambient audio in addition to the mics for the ceremony video as it presents a different audio feeling than the close-up mics.

After a really touching ceremony that had Steve (…and me) tearing up through the vows, we did some shooting there in the gazebo. It had a window with the gentlest sun rays and snow blowing through it that made for some truly spectacular shots (*check out the opening shot of the video if you want to see those!) Migrating away from the gazebo we ventured out into the snow and this is where the day took an adventurous turn. I was very ill-prepared for the snow wearing only dress shoes because I regrettably thought that style is more important than practicality. Lesson learned. Noah Berg, the incredible photographer, took the lead breaking a little trail through about 3 feet of powder that had us all laughing and trudging up to our knees to get the shots.

We shot for a bit around the snow near the gazebo then made our way to a secret little overlook at the Lookout Mountain trail. Again, since it was about knee deep snow, we made our own trail. We were all stumbling and laughing our way over to this overlook but Eva and Steve were champs. They were so gun-ho to adventure out to this super snowy overlook but it was totally worth it. Although all of our toes were frozen out there, the shots were stunning. It was those views right there why you get eloped in Colorado. There’s only a few spots in the U.S. where you can be standing in deep snow right on the edge of a cliff in your wedding dress holding your husbands hand… and Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado is one of those spots. It was a really special moment being out there with Eva and Steve and witnessing their undeniable love and appreciation of one other. An appropriately adventurous and heartwarming conclusion to a stunning elopement.  

Planned by Simply Eloped: http://simplyeloped.com

Stills