How To Plan Your Colorado Adventure Elopement

How to plan your Colorado elopement

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May

03

2022

We are an Elopement Photography / Videography duo based in Fort Colins, Colorado. 

We love all things adventure and want to help you plan + document the best adventure elopement possible.

Learn more about us >

We’re 
Bailee & Jake

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Friend!

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Chances are, you found yourself here because you and your partner decided to elope in Colorado! Que the dance party! We are SO stoked for you both! We might be biased, but we think eloping in Colorado is the best way to get married. In this blog, we dive into how to plan your Colorado elopement.

Couples who choose to elope usually feel like they have to take on the entire elopement planning process themselves. This could not be further from the truth! Here, you’ll find our Colorado elopement planning steps, tips, and tricks to help you plan your Colorado adventure elopement.

Couple kisses during their elopement at Rocky Mountain National Park

Why Do We Need Planning Help?

Many couples who choose the untraditional wedding route usually end up having to tackle it all on their own. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Aside from documenting incredible, adventurous love stories all across the state of Colorado, we also help our couples with their elopement planning.

It is super important to us that our couples have the most incredible, stress-free wedding experience! We want nothing more than for our couples to feel 100% present on one of the most important days of their lives. We believe that helping couples with their Colorado elopement planning helps achieve this goal!

Boulder, Colorado Elopement

How to Plan Your Colorado Elopement

When it comes to planning your elopement, we highly recommend that you and your partner sit down together over dinner, at a brewery, or at your favorite coffee shop and turn elopement planning into a super fun date night!

Step 1: Dream Big

One of the coolest things about eloping is it allows you to get married in some of the most amazing places in the world! The first step is to write down your wedding goals and how you envision your day going. So grab a pen and a notebook, get cozy, and start dreaming big with your partner! By doing this, you can begin to see how your wedding day will look, including the general area that you may want to elope in.

Some great questions to ask yourselves during this step:

  • Do you want to include any activities?
  • Do you want a “just the two of us” elopement or do you want to include friends/family?
  • Where do you see yourselves getting married? What kind of scenery?
  • How much time do you want to give to your elopement?

 

Step 2: Research

It is super important to do your due diligence when you choose to elope in the great outdoors. Here are some questions to ask yourselves in this part of the planning process:

  • Do I need a permit?
  • What activities can I do in this area?
  • How busy does this place get?
  • What is accessibility like?
  • What is the weather like?
  • What are the marriage laws?

 

Step 3: Decision Making

We think that this step is the most fun! This step is all about finalizing your date, location, lodging, and transportation. This is also the step where you would start looking into any vendors that you’d like to have like a photographer, florist, hair/makeup, catering, officiant, or even music. This would also be the step where you decide on your wedding day attire, accessories, footwear, and any gear that you will need.

Step 4: Finalize Details

Your wedding day is all coming together! Woohoo! In this step, you’ll finalize all of your wedding details.

Step 5: Happy Elopement Day!

It’s finally here! Your Colorado elopement! Time to soak in the magic of starting your new lives in the most intentional and adventurous way! We couldn’t be more excited for you both!

plan your Colorado elopement

How We Help Our Couples Plan Their Colorado Adventure Elopement

Our goal for your Colorado elopement? That your elopement is the most stress-free, intentional, adventurous wedding experience ever! Our job doesn’t start and stop with your ceremony. We’ll be there every step of the way. Here’s what you get when you choose us as your Colorado elopement photographer and videographer.

Customized Location Guide

As Colorado elopement specialists, we’ve put a lot of time into finding all of the best elopement locations in the state. Because every couple is different, we cater our location guides to include spots that we think check off all of their location must-haves. These guides are completely based on the couple, what they want their elopement to feel and look like, and where they want to go. 

Elopement Planning Resources

When you book us as your Colorado adventure elopement photographer and videographer, we send you a complete guide to eloping in Colorado. This guide is the perfect elopement planning checklist that will streamline your wedding planning! We’ll also send you a packing checklist for the day of your wedding. 

Local Outdoor Knowledge

The benefit of hiring a photo and video team that specializes in adventure elopements is to ensure that your experience is safe, legal, and well-prepared. We’ve spent most of our lives in the mountains, so we know firsthand what the elements can throw at you. We take every precaution to ensure the absolute best experience for our couples. Because you can’t have fun if you’re not prepared, and we want you to have the best elopement ever! 

Customized Timeline Help

Creating an intentional timeline is one of the most important parts of your elopement planning process. This helps to ensure that you are spending your wedding day doing the things that matter most to you. Don’t worry, we’ll sit down and create this together! 

Marriage License and Permit Assistance

Navigating the permit and marriage license process can be a little tricky. That’s where we come in! We’ve spent hours researching elopement laws + permits in all of the locations we shoot in so you don’t have to. We are well versed in this process and we’re here to make sure that everything is taken care of long before your wedding day arrives.

Access to the Alpine Vows Team

We’re here for you every step of the way.  Of course, we’ll take incredible photos and video of your wedding, but we’re also here to help you and your partner plan an unforgettable experience. Above all else, the most important thing to us is that your wedding day is centered around you and the things that are most important to you and your partner. 

Vendor Referral Guide

We have worked with some of the most incredible elopement vendors all across the state of Colorado! We send our couples a comprehensive list of the best local wedding vendors. This includes a florist, caterer/food/breweries, hair/makeup, and an activity guide for that specific area.

plan your Colorado elopement

Our Favorite Elopement Planning Tools To Plan Your Colorado Elopement

There are tons of apps that can help with wedding planning. Here are the tools that we use the most.

Google Keep

We use Google Keep daily! It is one of those apps that is just so dang handy and super user-friendly. The best part? It works on both Apple and Android devices! Google Keep allows you to share specific notes with specific people. For instance, if you were saving Airbnb’s for potential elopement lodging, you could copy and paste that URL into Keep and share it with your partner. This could work for basically anything! Florals, hikes, activities, etc. It’s our go-to tool for basically everything!

AllTrails

All Trails is our go-to location scouting resource! We always send our couples a customized location guide, but if you’d like to do a little research yourself, this is an amazing resource! It gives you elevation, mileage, and people who have hiked the trail can even leave reviews! The review section is SUPER helpful to really get a good idea about that specific trail. You can even adjust the filters for specific trail length, difficulty, activity, sustainability, and so much more!

Google Earth Pro

Another incredible location scouting tool is Google Earth Pro. If we can, we usually provide a recorded video for the couple’s specific location to show them what that spot will look like during the day. It’s a super awesome tool that will give you a pretty good idea about what your spot will look like at sunrise or sunset! We use this to plan every Colorado elopement! Google Earth Pro is for desktop use only, however, they have an app version too!

VRBO

If you’re planning a fun weekend trip for your elopement and including friends/family, VRBO is a great site for finding lodging! VRBO is even great for finding lodging if you’d like to have your elopement ceremony at the VRBO and head out to the mountains for additional pictures/video. We left Airbnb off this list because, due to Covid, they are not allowing hosts to allow events at their property. VRBO is. So when you are searching for lodging for your elopement ceremony, make sure to check “events” when you search!

Our Ultimate Colorado Adventure Elopement Guide to Plan Your Colorado Elopement

We’ve put together this free guide for eloping couples to help them streamline their planning process. We totally understand that wedding planning can feel overwhelming but we want to completely avoid that feeling by providing this free guide. You can download this free guide here!

Hire a Photographer and Videographer who Specialize in Colorado Elopements

There are so many benefits of hiring a photographer and videographer who specialize in Colorado elopements. We have poured our heart and soul into the knowledge and skills it takes to be the best elopement photographer and videographer team in Colorado. You can count on us to make sure you have the best wedding experience ever!

If you can’t tell, we are so passionate about Colorado elopements and cannot wait to chat with you about yours! Fill out our contact form and let’s plan your Colorado elopement!

Looking for more Colorado elopement inspiration? We think you’ll love Amanda and Jim’s Boulder, Colorado Elopement!

Happy adventuring,

Bailee and Jake

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Field Notes

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We're a husband and wife Colorado elopement photographer and videographer. We're two easy-going humans who love the outdoors and are passionate about Colorado adventure elopements. We wholeheartedly believe that saying your vows in the great outdoors is the best way to get married! Not only will we document your elopement, but we'll help you throughout the entire process to make sure that you have the most incredible wedding experience! 

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We're Bailee & Jake

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your Colorado elopement photographer and videographer