a colorado adventure elopement

Kelsey & Colton were nothing short of my dream clients during my stay in Denver. I visited them in July to photograph their Colorado adventure elopement style photos, Kelsey’s mountain boudoir, & some casual photos of them downtown Denver.

Let me back up and say that Kelsey & I go way back. Her sister, Katie, found me to photograph Katie & Zack’s wedding back in 2018. I also got hired to do Zack’s brother’s wedding (Megan & Joe) in 2020. I’ve since photographed several family sessions for both couples, so when Kelsey reached out to me about a boudoir session, it was an immediate YES from me!

Kelsey originally planned on coming to Michigan for these photos. But, I knew from past interactions that she lived out in CO with Colton. Colorado was a state I was dying to photograph in at the time. I saw an opportunity, and took it!

I presented my willingness to travel, and laid out my negotiations. We worked out for me to stay with them for 5 whole days in their adorable Denver apartment. Needless to say, they were the perfect hosts!

On my first day in Denver, we did a ton of catching up and planning. While driving around, we learned there was a baseball game and that tickets were cheap! So guess who got to go see the CO Rockies!!! We ended up leaving the game early because we decided on a sunrise elopement that next morning, and we needed to stop at the craft store for supplies. I’m no pro at floral arrangements, but the bouquet I made worked out just fine.

You might say we’re crazy for getting up at 3 AM, and that’s okay, because maybe we are. We got Kelsey and Colton all spiffy before heading out for our hour drive to the trailhead. We got there at about 5 AM, so we had just shy of an hour to beat the sunrise. When I tell you that we BOOKED IT up this mountain trail, I don’t say that lightly. At the top of the trail, was this magnificent view that we got to use for these Colorado adventure elopement photos!

View the whole gallery here!

We spent about 45 minutes at that spot before heading back down on the trail. It was really great to be going downhill, and being able to take our time. We stopped at a dozen spots I fell in love with before we got back to the car!

After about an hour or so, the sun rose high enough for me to play around with direct light.

The very next place we stopped at? Ned’s Restaurant! We were STARVING.