A Lovely Estes Park Ceremony Then 3M Curve Photo Shoot
The Soul Of Nikima & Keith’s Mountain Elopement:
A Ten-Year Journey From Friendship To Marriage
Photos by partner company Colorado Photographer Squad.
First, a fun note on how to still have gorgeous wedding photos in Rocky Mountain National Park on your wedding day, even if they’ve already given out all the permits for your date:
Come on a mini adventure with us as Nikima & Keith get married at our Sweet Little Mini Mountain spot in Estes Park, then have a romantic photo shoot in Rocky Mountain National Park. Wedding ceremonies are super popular in the park these days, which means all of their permits get taken much sooner than they used to. If you have your heart set on wedding photos in RMNP, but they’ve already given out all the permits for your date, then this is a wonderful solution: have the ceremony itself just outside of the park because you can’t have the ceremony in the park if the wedding permits are gone for your date, but wedding photos in the park are totally allowed without a wedding permit - you just need a photography permit, which our team has!
And now, onto Nikima and Keith’s love story :)
These two knew each other peripherally in high school, plus worked at the same grocery store on into their college years. They struck up a friendship and began to look forward to taking their work breaks together at a picnic table where they loved chatting and connecting. Nikima thought Keith had a girlfriend, so she was just viewing him as a friend. Then one day they where chatting about the new Dunkin’ Donuts Coolatta flavors that she hadn’t yet tried, and the next morning Keith dropped one off at her desk. Nikima noticed she felt butterflies, and that was when everything changed!
Why they chose to elope in Colorado
Like so many of our couples, these two preferred the idea of an intimate setting rather than having a big wedding with all eyes on them. They also wanted to put the money that would go toward a big wedding toward a house to start a family instead. They initially looked at Sandals packages to elope, but found that the international locations made it more complex to do the legal piece. Since they live in Colorado and it’s so easy to get married here, it made sense to elope in the big mountains essentially “in their backyard”. They also recorded their ceremony so they could share with friends and family at a party back home. Enjoy these photos from their beautiful day…
Ceremony At Our Sweet Little Mini Mountain Spot In Estes Park
This spot is our favorite in Estes Park because of its beauty and ease of access. The Ponderosa Pines here are thriving and happy, creates an automatically joyful environment, and we have the national park peaks, plus the rocky ridge peaks right next to Estes as our backdrop.
The spot is just a five-minute drive from any lodging in the town of Estes Park, and then it’s just a 20-minute drive to the RMNP entrance station for after-ceremony photos!
Enjoy these photos of the ceremony with Officiant Stephen from my Officiant Team facilitating…
Ceremony Highlights
These two chose a powerful reading about best friendship and marriage to start their ceremony, which was perfect given they’d literally been friends for years before they started dating.
They had a great combo of repeat-after-officiant vows, while also reading their own personal words to each other as well.
They chose one of our special mini ceremonies as well - a wine box tradition. They sealed a bottle of wine and their vow books into a special engraved wine box, starting a tradition that on every wedding anniversary they’ll go back to the box, unseal it, drink the wine and re-read their vows to one another.
Married!
Congratulations Nikima & Keith, we love you!
And now on to Rocky Mountain National Park…
These two chose 3M Curve as their RMNP after-ceremony photo shoot spot. It was about a 15-minute drive from their Estes Park ceremony spot to the park entrance station, then another 10 minutes to 3M Curve. Easy peasy. And wow oh wow, check out these stunning photos as they enjoyed the park and let it sink in that “we’re married!”
These two also started a tradition for every wedding anniversary - to drink champagne, read vows, read love letters written on the previous anniversary, then write new love letters to ignite the tradition again.
Photos by partner company Colorado Photographer Squad
Meet the officiants and photographers who I’m partnered with here
If you want to know more about how your elopement will work…
Let’s Make It Happen!
Hey it’s Lisa :) I’m your elopement guide and an officiant, plus mountain girl at heart. We take couples on the sweetest mini adventures and I can’t wait to start planning yours.
Reach out using this handy form and I’ll send all the info to make your elopement day real, see if we’re a fit and hop on a call to lay out the plan and package quote for your dream day. Can’t wait to get to know you!
