Megan and Luis’ Colorado vow renewal at Elk Meadow in Evergreen is one that I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life for so many reasons. As absolutely magical as this evening in the mountains was with these two incredible human beings and their adorable doggo Ro, this wasn’t the original plan for Megan and Luìs’ elopement day. 5 months prior and just a couple of days before they were supposed to travel to Steamboat Springs, Colorado for their elopement at Vista Verde Ranch they received a phone call that their venue needed to permanently close its doors for the season due to the COVID-19 outbreak. When Megan called and let me know what had happened I was absolutely devastated for them. My heart broke for the beautiful day that they had been planning for months to be taken away just days before it was supposed to happen. I cried, and hard. Honestly you’d think it was my very own elopement with the amount of tears I cried for and with these two, but they took the news and turned it in to something else just as incredible.
Rather than coming to Colorado for their elopement, Megan and Luìs shared their vows on the coast of San Diego, ordained by their good friend and became husband and wife in a way that was safe to do during the COVID-19 pandemic. We set plans to have them renew their vows in Colorado during their cross country move from the West Coast to the East Coast – which took place in August.
A little background on the bride and groom, in Megan’s words, because I swear everything she writes drips with so much amazing personality and it was honestly love at first email with her:
“A little background on us: I’m a 31-year-old almost-psychologist who loves travel, baking, bourbon, and my dog. I am currently finishing up my dissertation in Clinical Psych (research emphasis: trauma and high acuity care) at Loyola University in Baltimore, but in a few months, I will be moving to San Diego for a one-year inpatient hospital residency. (As a training clinician, not a client.) I am also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served 2.5 years in Kenya doing women’s empowerment projects, where I occasionally thought I saved the world but mostly tried not to get eaten by giant tropical centipedes. Luís is a 33-year-old computer scientist who loves Linux, biking, eating my baked goods, and touring craft breweries. He grew up in a small town in Southern Portugal, where he learned flawless English by watching cheesy American action movies, and I’m pretty sure if Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up at our wedding to object that the two of them would run away together. While I am in temporarily in San Diego, he will be starting a junior faculty position at the University of Illinois in Chicago. This isn’t our first Long Distance rodeo (he completed his post-doc in London several years back), but it makes our beautiful little vacation at Vista Verde all the more important – we won’t have a ton of together time otherwise! When we talked about a vision for our wedding, we came up with “beautiful” (duh), “intimate,” and “not too serious.” We can both come off as very staid and somber in some settings, but we are true goofballs at heart, brimming with absurd inside jokes. We want to honor the sacredness of the natural setting and the gravity of the commitment, but not without also celebrating our chemistry/innate levity.”
We took the root of what mattered most to them and integrated that in to their Colorado vow renewal. Even though these two were already spiritually and legally joined as husband and wife they still put on their wedding attire, shared their vows and read each other some of their favorite poems. After the vows were read they danced in the sunset light of the meadow, then snuggled up and kept each other warm with the help of some delicious bourbon and the cutest ever pup, Ro while the sun dipped behind the mountains and the sky lit up with all the pretty sunset colors. It was just as, if not even more, intentional than their originally planned elopement day would have been and it felt so good to finally connect with these two and photograph their moments together!
The evening began with some engagement style portraits at Evergreen Lake House. We saw so many ducks and humming birds and we even saw a bald eagle! Ro loved his walk around the dock at the lake house!
Portraits before the Vow Renewal were taken at Evergreen Lake House
Colorado Vow Renewal Location: Elk Meadow – Evergreen, CO
Bridal Boutique – Cherry Blossom Bridal (Washington, DC)
Dress Designer – Sottero & Midgley
Suit – Macy’s
Scarf, woven in a mathematical Fibonacci sequence, per the groom’s nerdy desires – JE Chapman Weaves
Engagement ring – Rosado’s Box of Chicago, IL
Megan’s Band – Luis’ Band – ethically sourced recycled silver
Custom veil from Kat Kraffel of Veiled Beauty
These words from Megan in some of our initial conversations will stick with me forever, because this is so important to me and I’m glad it shows through on my website and social media:
“Shout out for featuring more couples than just the traditional “size 00, tall, blonde, straight, magazine-model-flawless” couples standard that comprise a lot of portfolios in their entirety. Love is infinite and diverse, and ALL OF IT is beautiful.”
When I get behind my camera it’s not (just) about creating magazine-worthy images. It’s about photographing moments, love and connection. So much of the wedding industry tries cramming love in to this little curated box based on things that have nothing to do with the root of a wedding or elopement day – which is two people in love committing the rest of their lives to one another.
Check out more Colorado elopements and let’s get the conversation started!