This Rocky Mountain National Park Elopement was incredible! My first elopement and I couldn’t love it more! Austin and Jessica chose Sprague Lake and it was the perfect background for their big day.

I love capturing wedding days, every part of the day! But my favorite part, by far is towards the end when we get to go out to the perfect location and do sunset photos! The glow, the excitement, the scenery, the emotion, it’s all the feels guys. Sharing this time with my couples, is so incredible. I felt like this elopement was just that, my favorite part of wedding days!

Austin and Jessica went through Simply Eloped to handle all the details of their elopement. I got to work with one of their coordinators and officiants. What a great and easy company to work with! They just rolled with whatever we were doing, love that! As a side note: I got to be a witness to their marriage and sign their marriage certificate. Pretty stocked about that!

So many of the ceremonies at Sprague Lake take place on the dock that overlooks the whole look. While, that was our original plan the sun had other plans. Their ceremony time was set for 5:00pm and it was still crazy bright at the time. Since, we were all flexible and epic photos were the goal- they were happy to follow me to a better lit location. I’m so glad we did too, it worked out perfectly. We got to use the dock later that night as the sun set over the lake and those photos are some of my favorite from the afternoon.

Jessica is a hairstylist and did her own hair and make up and she looked incredible! Austin is a police officer in Kansas and I loved how he looked at his new bride! We decided- somewhat last minute to do a first look. We weren’t sure how it was going to work in a National Park, but it was amazing! Jessica mentioned to me prior to their day- that Austin was going to be emotional. He was, it was beautiful guys. I love first looks. LOVE FIRST LOOKS!! I wish they were a thing when we got married. If you are on the fence about doing one. I can’t recommend it enough. Check out this blog on why I feel so strongly about it!

All of the photos of their Rocky Mountain National Park Elopement came out incredible. But, some of my very favorites are when we walked all the way around Sprague Lake to this little tree covered path, it had the most beautiful lighting and we took full advantage.

I wrote a blog a while ago on 7 things your photographer wishes you knew. So, I need to hit on #6 here. I am incredible grateful every time someone chooses me to capture them. Truly. I feel so lucky that Jessica found me and chose me to be their photographer. They are a beautiful couple and I loved meeting and getting to know them. It was my first time at Rocky Mountain National Park, and I loved it!!

A few things here to note: Photographers: You do need a permit to shoot on a National Park. Have your permit ready, you can usually arrive 2 hours prior and stay for a while afterwards. Plan for traffic. We hit about an hour wait coming into the park. You need to secure a spot on the Park during certain hours. Check all these things before making plans. If you are looking to get married on a National Park- same rules apply. You will need a permit. Head over to your states website and you can get the information needed there. Here is Colorado’s site.

Enjoy your scroll of some of my favorites from Austin and Jessica’s Rocky Mountain National Park Elopement at Sprague Lake