Intimate Wedding in Teton National Park
Colleen and Nick reached out to me in November of 2020 when they were living in Virginia. Virginia is nowhere near the Tetons or Wyoming. It’s always really exciting to get somebody that reaches out to me when they live far away!
Their story began on a hike and continued through the night when they stayed out enjoying their favorite bubbly beverage at a house party, where they laughed and enjoyed the company of their friends.
Since then, the first moments of their story turned into many more moments of climbing mountains, fishing, camping and exploring the outdoors together. Through time this adventurous couple created their own special life together where they have a love for good beer and good food (as Colleen would say) and are the proud owners of their two well loved dogs. Later when I met them I learned of their desire to move out west to get their fix for all things national parks, meadows and mountains after their elopement.
November, December, and January passed. As we were getting closer to their elopement day of July 7th 2021, I spent my time answering Colleen’s questions to make the vision of her and Nicks elopement come to life. That's why we felt really comfortable with each other. We immediately vibed, and we knew we were meant to work together.
On top of this serendipity, while on their search for the right time to move out to the west, a week before their elopement day Colleen got a job in Wyoming. What was going to be a spontaneous vacation from Virginia turned into a last-minute move to the beautiful state of Wyoming; home of grasslands, geysers, hot springs, national parks and famous mountain range. The chaos turned into a perfect happenstance. Again, we both felt it was obviously meant to happen!
By the time July arrived we hit the ground running. The night before their big day my husband Caleb and I camped near them, and in the morning we drove to their cute cabin by Driggs Idaho. When I first met Colleen she was sitting on a wooden chair while a local makeup artist @makeup.n.mountains and hairstylist @athenabeautyartistry were primping her up to see Nick for the first time.
We celebrated, and there were good vibes all around! While she was getting ready I started taking pictures of her dress and of her soon to be husband. Once they were both ready Nick stood outside on the cabin porch, surrounded by woods, and covered his eyes with his right hand.
Music played in the background and Colleen stood in front of him with a huge smile on her face. Her personality shined in her lace, low-cut boho dress, panama hat with blue ribbon, a necklace from @earth.clay and Columbia hiking shoes for their hike afterwards. And I can’t forget that she had this bright baby blue fringe jacket. It was totally her, and she pulled it off! Her bouquet from @historiaflorals, full of burnt yellow sunflowers, and periwinkle, red, white and green wild flowers, completed her look.
Nick opened his eyes, and his animated expression was all I needed to see to know that he loved her in that moment. Celebration drinks were in order, and afterwards we drove off to Teton National Park where my husband married them. Quick shout out to Caleb Hensley and Mustache Ministries ;)
When we arrived we walked five minutes and made it just in time for the morning light to shine against the Tetons as Colleen and Nick stood in-front of them. The wildflower meadow and warm summer morning made the day worth remembering.
And Colleen and Nick would never forget that right before they eloped three old ladies with white curly hair and fanny packs asked to watch their elopement. We weren’t expecting that! “I can tell them to go if you want,” I said. The couple unanimously agreed, “no it’s totally fine. It’s funny!”
The three ladies watched Colleen and Nick face each other as they said their vows and exchanged rings. There were laughs. There were tears. And afterwards I took a few celebration pictures and they said goodbye to the old ladies.
One of my favorite photos I captured was of the them hugging Colleen and Nick!
Let’s go back a year ago from their elopement day. Colleen had hired me to not only capture their wedding, but to go on the Delta Lake Hike to capture it because that’s what I do. I’m an adventurous elopement photographer. But then months later I got pregnant. The hike is uphill the entire time. It’s one of the hardest hikes I’ve ever done, and it’s really steep at the end. I thought “I can still hike it.”
But by the time the day came my calves hurt so bad that a week before the hike I asked one of my fellow elopement photographers to hike it for me. “Hey listen. Can you do this crazy hike for me and take pictures of my couple at the top,” I said. Luckily she was immediately down for it, which was a huge relief for me. I cried about it several times afterwards because the hike was special to them. I felt so bad about it, but I still sent Colleen and Nick on their way with my friend.
While they hiked they experienced all kinds of weather up there: rain and wind, and sunshine with blue sky. It was crazy in the best possible way. As they hiked down we made sure to have hot pizza and beer for them when they got to the bottom.
They ate their pizza, while I backed up photos, and when the sunset came the happy couple changed into their wedding clothes, and we went to a lake at the base of the Tetons to take some more photos.
To finish the day off with magic we traveled to another location where the almost golden hour sun shined onto the famous Tetons in the background of a myriad of blooming technicolor wildflowers. The crazy thing is the wildflowers in this spot only last a short amount of time. It was the perfect season between old spring and new summer.
Sounds of guitar strings accented the mood of gold lighting and dreamy forest clearing. Nick asked me previously if he could bring his guitar because music is something that’s special to he and Colleen. “Go for it,” I said. When he pulled it out and started playing I was shocked at how good he was. I was also shocked at how we were the only people in that part of the park because the Tetons are very busy that time of the year.
When the sun went down, Nick kept jamming out on his guitar, Colleen danced and I hopped around the wildflowers all around giddy! We were all giddy. Especially me because I knew I was capturing the best night of their life full of pure excitement and soft subtle moments of joy when the right song on my playlist turned on or when the couple danced in front of the headlights of their car after the sun set.
Kim is just an absolute gem of a human and was an absolute pleasure to work with on our adventure elopement in the Tetons. Kim was SO easy to talk to and made us feel incredibly comfortable throughout the entire process. My now husband and I were not super familiar with the area where we wanted to elope and Kim knew all of the ins & outs of park and had some INCREDIBLE locations lined up for us during the day. Taking photos with Kim was easy, natural and so much fun - and the pictures reflected that! We absolutely ADORE our photos and have they printed and hung all over our home so we can relive the magic everyday... We are so glad we chose to work with Kim and cannot recommend her highly enough xoxo
- Colleen’s testimonial