I know what your thinking "surprise elopement"?!? Ummm I hope she says yes! No seriously Dave knew he had his ducks in a row before hiring me on Thumbtack.com sight unseen to capture their special day in Rocky Mountain National Park. Believe it or not this was actually my first Elopement Shoot annnd my first shoot in RMNP. I mean you wanna talk about being paid to do what you love... this was it. I talked with Dave for weeks about what, when, where and why. I formulated several emails with itineraries for the day. I met her friend (Jennifer didn't realize she was in town) in the morning at 8 pm at my condo in Boulder, then we rushed up into the mountains to meet Dave his lovely soon-be-wife up at Forest Canyon Overlook, on the Trail Ridge Road in RMNP. It is one of the highest maintained roads in the world and can reach heights around 12,000 ft! I acted like a normal hiker and took pictures of both them and the scenery without her knowing who I was or why I was there. Then he popped out the ring and asked the BIG question... she said yes of course!
After shooting portraits of them up top we hopped back into the cars and drove down to the Cub Lake Trailhead where we hiked in a couple miles to shoot some more. This was a great area and one that I have long wanted to put a couple in front of.
Then we drove to the Bear Lake Trailhead and hiked a short distance up to a very scenic view of the lake. Dave gave her a short but very sweet letter. Then we shot a scene of them pouring champagne and toasting to a new and beautiful life together.
