Colorado Hiking Elopement in Rocky Mountain National Park | Brooke + Aaron

Shea McGrath Photography | Colorado Elopement Photographer

Photos of Brooke and Aaron’s Colorado hiking elopement in Rocky Mountain National Park! These two got married at Sprague Lake, then hiked up to Dream Lake for some breathtaking views and photos. But first, read more about Brooke and Aaron! 🙂

How They Met

Brooke and Aaron were both going to dinner with their bible study class (he was new to class and they hadn’t met yet). As he was walking in, Brooke whipped into a parking spot and almost took him out with her car! Aaron slowed down and Brooke walked in not far behind him. As Brooke made her way to the line, she said hi to some friends and Aaron realized that Brooke was there for the same dinner he was.

When Brooke made it to the line, Aaron pretended like he didn’t know what he wanted to eat and he let the guy in between them go in front of him. He then turned around, flashed his dimple at her, put his hand out for a handshake, and said, “Hi, I’m Aaron!” They ended up sitting next to one another and talked about Brooke’s man hands (she was rock climbing all the time so they were super torn up). Aaron is a water skier and offered his solution for repairing her hands. That night, Aaron added Brooke on Facebook and sent her a message with the links to all of the products he told her about.

Their First Date

Aaron thought their first date was great. He said, “It was the best first date I have ever been on!” Brooke on the other hand, felt so terribly awkward that she thought she had ruined it forever! She said she was so awkward that she dodged him for 3 months after their first date. Their second date however, was when Brooke was totally convinced that Aaron was completely different from any guy she had ever gone on a date with.

The Proposal

Brooke and Aaron knew that they wanted to get married in February or March. But Aaron wasn’t able to get the engagement ring until after Christmas. To help ease the stress and pressure, Brooke planned a last minute trip to RMNP for the next weekend, so they could start planning without the ring. That weekend, Aaron was acting so weird. They pulled up to the parking lot of Sprague lake and he had to go to the bathroom AGAIN. She asked him what was wrong and he displaced his nervousness on the wedding and not having a plan. She looked at him and said, “I am going to need you to calm down so we can enjoy this.”

It was at this point Aaron had decided he was no longer waiting for the perfect spot to propose, he was just waiting for a spot that wasn’t the parking lot. Less than 10 minutes later, they made their way to a clearing on the other side of the lake from the dock. They set up a tripod and camera (Aaron said he wanted to get an idea of how pictures could look). They stood on a bench to take the picture and Brooke tried to get down. She wanted to see how the pictures looked and Aaron said, “lets enjoy the moment”.

He grabbed her hands and said, “Hey! Would you want to get engaged in front of a ton of people or like just us two on the side of the mountain?” He got on one knee, PULLED OUT THE RING, and Brooke completely blacked out from excitement. She couldn’t believe it! She excitedly said “YES!” more than once at the wrong times. It turns out Aaron was taking a video of the proposal. It was the most special moment! Only their immediate families have seen the video; Brooke and Aaron decided to save that special moment for the two of them.

Their Sprague Lake Elopement

After a taking a few getting ready photos at Glow Salon in Estes Park, we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park! Brooke and Aaron decided to have their ceremony at Sprague Lake. (Where Aaron proposed a couple months earlier!) They were surrounded by about 30 of their closest family members and friends and had the sweetest ceremony. We took a few family photos afterwards, then it was time to hike!

Dream Lake Hike

Colorado Hiking Elopement — We all carpooled to the Bear Lake parking lot (where the Dream Lake trailhead is). Brooke wore a “Bridal Buddy”, which if you don’t know what that is, click here for the link! It went under her dress and she was able to pull her dress up around her shoulders and tie it so her it wouldn’t drag on the ground during the hike! It was actually on Shark Tank! I had never heard of it before Brooke mentioned it and it worked so well! I highly recommend it to other couples wanting to hike on their wedding day.

For those of you that don’t know, Dream Lake it a 1 mile hike uphill. Once you reach the top, the views are incredible! We had so much fun taking pictures with Brooke and Aaron (these two are a blast to be around!) We spent most of our time taking pictures at the lake, but also stopped at a couple of the overlooks. Then, we started making it down the mountain at sunset, and the two of them headed to Boulder for dinner, where their friends and family were waiting for them!

Congratulations, Brooke and Aaron!!!

Vendors

A big thank you to the following vendors for making Brooke and Aaron’s elopement day so special!

Ceremony Venue: Sprague Lake

Hair and Makeup: Glow Salon and Spa

Florist: Enchanted Florist

Officiant: Paul Kowalis

Photographer: Shea McGrath Photography

Videographer: Peak Narrative Productions

Would you want to hike on your wedding day? Let’s make it happen! Email shea@sheamcgrath.com or fill out the contact form by clicking here!

Shea + Jacob