Vail Elopement

We seriously get all the best clients. Like Ashleigh and Tony, who proved that they’d not only follow us into a desert for their White Sands National Park Alt Session, they’d trek to the top of a mountain for their Vail elopement!

Now, this wasn’t really a true elopement, but I have to appease the SEO deities by using the term “Vail elopement.” Ashleigh and Tony actually got married on their original date of April 4, but they did it at their home in Denver, connected to their friends and family through the magic of Zoom and Facebook. But we had already planned for an epic day of photos on their original date, so we figured, why not keep that part?

Even better, without the time crunch involved in a typical wedding day, we had the flexibility to expand our location options. Needless to say, we took full advantage of that by spending the day in areas outside of cell phone reception range. These kinds of spots, in our experience, almost always have the best views. Which is saying something for a state that’s already as beautiful as Colorado.

Our journey took us to both the top and bottom of the famous green bridge outside of Red Cliff, up a treacherous forest service road to a perch almost 12,000 feet above sea level with views for miles, to a fantastic dive bar that stayed open so we could grab a late dinner, ending at the shores of Dillon Reservoir. Because no celebration is complete without poppin’ some bottles, right?

In between portraits and me freaking out about the road we were on (my nerves are not made for off-roading), we enjoyed conversations about everything from how they’ve seen their industries change due to the pandemic–Tony is a pilot and Ashleigh is an ophthalmologist–to the best places to get fried chicken, and everything in between. I cannot think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon and evening than this amazing mountain elopement in Vail. Aside from the masks and distancing measures we took, it almost felt like a regular summer day.

Ashleigh and Tony, we are so glad that we found a way to create some epic images together and that we all made it back with our tires intact. We cannot wait for our next adventure together!