Hey there, we’re Rach & TJ! We are a Colorado elopement photographer duo that have an extreme passion of enlightening people on why eloping is the absolute BEST decision you can make for yourselves! Keep on scrolling to hear a few of our top reasons for why choosing an elopement is the best thing you can do for your wedding day!

1. ALL ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
   Rather than just getting a shit ton of decorations and making a massive ballroom look beautiful, you can go where mother nature does all the work for you. Eloping allows couples to do literally whatever they want. There are practically no rules, which is pretty freakin’ cool if ya ask us. Being a Colorado elopement photographer has allowed us to really explore the area and get some killer ideas on what to do with our eloping couples!
   
   When you elope, you can take some of that extra money you’ve saved from not having to pay for hundreds of people to party, and put it towards doing activities that  reflect you two and your relationship! With us, we put experience over everything – beautiful photos come naturally when you’re having the best day ever!
   
   
2. AUTHENTICITY
   For sooo many couples, including us, the big traditional wedding just wasn’t a true reflection of who they are. In our opinions, we believe that over the years, the idea of getting married has lost the spark it should have. For so many couples, it is such a huge stressor that when it is over, they feel a weight lifted off their shoulders. Your wedding day should NOT feel like a burden!! It should be a day of nothing but pure joy, emotion (only the good ones), and authentic experiences. 
   
   
   
   
3. INTENTION
   When you choose a big traditional wedding, you are forced into playing host for the biggest party you’ll ever have – and it often ends up no longer about you and your partner at all. Your entire day (like 10+ hours…) is spent making sure you spend enough time with each guest, or else someone will get butt hurt that you didn’t make enough time for them.
   
   When you elope, you get to refocus all that attention on to the sole reason that massive party would have happened – you are getting MARRIED! Rather than spending all day making small talk with your grandparents friends that you haven’t seen since you were a child but were practically forced into inviting, you get to spend that time with your forever person, soaking up the incredible life transition you are currently experiencing together. 
   
   When you elope, your day can go from awkward small talk and stress, to doing an activity you two love to do together. For example: being a Colorado elopement photographer duo, I’m sure you can imagine how much we looove hiking and National Parks! We have a collection of posters from all the national parks we have been to together. Our plan is to get married with the most epic mountain backdrop, in one of our favorite national parks!
   
   When you elope, the options are endless.
   
   
   
   
4. PEOPLE PLEASING
   Let’s be honest – if you were the host of 200 person party, you would feel tons of pressure to constantly be making sure everyone is having a good time. With the big weddings, even though it is supposed to be a celebration for YOU, YOU are the one that ends up in a ridiculous amount of debt. You get wrapped into all of the fancy decor, the most beautiful venue, an open bar, paying for EVERY SINGLE PERSONS meals?! It honestly blows our minds that this all still makes sense to people, but thats besides the point lol. 
   
   When you choose to elope, you get to put your money towards thing you value, and things will create your uniquely perfect wedding day. Maybe your favorite thing to do is go hiking together – an adventure mountain elopement would be an incredibly authentic way to celebrate you two, and your love.
   
   We’re just gonna say it — STOP PUTTING OTHERS FIRST ON YOUR WEDDING DAY. Be shamelessly selfish, and let us help you create your uniquely perfect wedding day.
   
   
5. PLANNING
   “Who do we cut from the guest list?” “Do we invite my cousin’s new boyfriend?” “What nearby hotels will fit our 200+ guests?” “That cake is going to be HOW MUCH?!”
   
   The list of things to plan just goes on and on.. all for a day that isn’t about you. Then you get to the night before the wedding and realize that you’ve been so busy trying to accommodate everyone else, you forgot to write your vows! 
   
   Your wedding needs to be about you two and your love. THAT IS IT. When you elope, the entire thing is centered around you two and the things (and maybe people) that you love most in this world. This isn’t to say that there is NO planning involved in elopements of course, because there most definitely is. However, the difference is that the planning for your elopement is a consistent conversation of “what does YOUR best day look like?” and “What is involved in making your wedding day the most authentic reflection of you two as a couple?”
   
   These are questions we ask every couple we work with, this way we learn everything we need to know in order to help plan the absolute most perfect experience you could ever dream of. 
   
   
   
   
6. INVEST YOUR MONEY INTO WHAT MATTERS TO YOU
   An extremely common misconception about couples that elope is that they “don’t care as much about a wedding”. However, this could not be more incorrect. While there are some couples that genuinely don’t care too much about having any type of wedding, some couples just want to go to city hall, sign the papers and move on with their days! However this is, most of the time, not the case with elopements.
   
   Rather than invest tens of thousands of dollars into material items to make a ballroom look pretty for one day (as well has creating HUNDREDS of pounds of waste, but that’s a topic for another day lol), you could invest your money into a day of you two eating your absolute favorite foods, in the most epic places, having incredible experiences doing your favorite things, and documentation (by your new Colorado Elopement Photographer friends 😉) of it all that will allow you to relive those memories over and over again.
   
   
7. LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, INCREDIBLE PHOTOS!
   So many couples that have big weddings worry that their wedding photos won’t capture them as they truly are. That they will be pulled away for photos when they were in the middle of having one of those annoying small talk conversations we mentioned in previous points, and just be stressed that they aren’t being present enough for their guests. With elopements, this just doesn’t happen. 
   
   Rather than feeling rushed to get your couples portraits during a big wedding, you get to have all day documentation of you two during your best day ever – doing the things you love the most. Of course you will get sommmmeeeee posed-ish photos, but with us, our documentary style approach will allow you to relive that authentic day on repeat for the rest of your life!

We will always tell everyone and their mother how freaking cool it is to elope. We’re so lucky to be a Colorado Elopement Photographer duo, the landscape here is just beyond magical, but anywhere you elope is magical if you do it in a way that is authentic to you. One of our greatest passions is making people aware that eloping doesn’t have the same definition it did years ago. Times have changed, and eloping can now be literally whatever you want it to be. It is just about setting intentions and creating a day that you will forever get to look back on and just see and feel what a true representation of yourselves you created for your wedding day.

If you’ve made it to this point of the blog, that means the eloping seed has been planted in your brain. We truly hope you follow through with it and create your absolute most perfect day ever. And we hope to get to be a part of it! If you’re interested in hearing more about how we can help create your perfect elopement, you can click here or the big “CONTACT” button below to be brought to our contact form. Give us some details and we will reach back out to you asap. Can’t wait to help plan your dream wedding day!

Regardless of if you work with us or another photographer, please always remember to Leave No Trace on your elopement. You can find the Leave No Trace Principles here!