Mountain Elopement in Boulder CO
Apollo Fields | Lost Gulch Wedding Photography | Boulder Wedding Photographer | Boulder Colorado Weddings | Best Boulder Wedding Photos | Colorado Wedding Ideas
Logan & RJ
Driving by the Flatirons of Chautauqua Park in Boulder, Colorado, will always remind me of one of the first weddings Heather and I photographed as Apollo Fields. I remember being so nervous that I was going to miss a shot or drop a piece of equipment; I remember watching in admiration as Heather wrangled people from their drinks for family formals—but perhaps most importantly—I remember the couple. They taught me the invaluable lesson that the better you know your couple the better you will be at telling their story. So as the Flatirons moved from our periphery into the rear view, we headed up to Flagstaff Mountain and I kept getting more and more excited to begin to tell the story of Logan and RJ.
Logan and RJ decided to elope at Lost Gulch because their original wedding plans were spoiled by the pandemic. Their intimate ceremony was attended by their closest friends and family and streamed online. Unfortunately, RJ’s sisters and mother couldn’t attend the event, so Logan went out of her way to invite two of RJ’s best friends to surprise him and still make it feel special. They plan to host a full wedding in Fall 2021 at the house they will be buying in the next few months!
Logan and RJ’s first date involved a Phish Stream and a bunch of beers—and that sounds pretty awesome (Heather and I subbed Phish for an ice hockey game in Central Park for ours). We’re all about keeping it simple; it actually has been one of the silver linings of the weddings of 2020. It has loosened the formalities of what can or should be done at weddings and invited a whole slew of thoughtful creativity. For instance, Logan decided to rock a pair of badass boots and white stunner shades and we were all about it! If you’re not doing what you wanna do when it comes to your wedding then what are you doing?!
Logan and RJ will be sharing their vows at their celebration next year and we’re encouraging everyone to do what feels right for them! It’s another angle of the silver lining of this year: you get to cut out the parts out of weddings that you don’t like and no relative or friend can say a damn thing about it! We do think it is important to anchor each celebration with something intentional; whether it is sharing your vows, a vow renewal, or a full ceremony, the more feelings the better.
As we descended the switch backs of Flagstaff Mountain we stopped in pull-offs to take a few more impromptu shots of Logan and RJ along the way. They ran through the brush, jumped into each other’s arms, and allowed one another to be happy. It’s a feeling that has been hard to come by this year, as it seems like every other day we have some other problem that is heaped upon our shoulders—but it is up to us to unplug—throw on some kick ass boots and stunner shades, and step into the sunshine.
Enjoy these photos from Logan & RJ’s wedding celebration:
As seen in: Mountainside Bride
Why We Love Mountain Weddings: A Return to Our Roots
Mountain Weddings | A Return To Our Roots | Adventure Couples | Rocky Mountains | Colorado Elopement Photographers | Apollo Fields Weddings
Adventures in the mountains are tiring, dirty, and dangerous. One slip can devastate even the most experienced hiker. Yet us adventurers continue to voluntarily thrust our bodies and minds into the wilderness at the mercy of unpredictable winds and crumbling rock faces. Some people think we’re crazy – but fellow adventurers know that there is no peace like the solitude of the woods. We at Apollo Fields say bring on the perilous terrain because there’s nothing we love more than a photo session in the wild or a rustic mountain wedding!
That’s because mountain weddings celebrate people and nature alike, intertwining the roots of our lives with the organic networks that thrive beneath the soil. We walk between the trees on trodden paths, sometimes blazing trails of our own. The smoke from our campfires pierce the dark mountain sky, signaling to those in the area that warmth and laughter is but a few paces away. Darkness falls upon the screens of our devices. Far removed from cities forged in steel and concrete, the stars in the open sky ignite our imaginations. There is no need for anything or anyone other than what is here.
That is really what nature provides us. A home. A place for our minds to rest and dream with sights and smells rather than artificial mental stimuli. Dopamine kicks and oxytocin spikes are the results of biochemical technological deception. Immersing ourselves in nature resets our minds, syncing our systems with the gentle trickle of a mountain creek. Why else do you think listening to the sounds of nature on our iPods puts us to sleep?
Us adventurers risk our bodies for the sake of our minds. We realize that we are part of our natural world, not separate from it. Yes, we’ve broken free from the food chain but our minds still live in the woods. They still long for the unknown despite our 21st century tendency to cling to mindless chatter rather than embrace the infinitude of silence. The darkness that engulfs the night is terrifying, but the brightness of our screens blinds us into stagnation. Thus we must venture into the mountains to find that which technology cannot provide.
The mountains present the perfect landscape to celebrate a wedding. Safely tucked into a mountainside, loved ones find comfort in the company of friends and family. With nowhere to turn for entertainment than stories around a campfire, memories whirl about the floating embers like little flakes of nostalgia. All of life’s troubles melt from the end of a stick holding a smoldering marshmallow. But back in the banquet halls and beneath the vaulted church ceilings, we remain confined in the artifice of our human existence. We say break the walls down and run for the hills. That’s where love really learns to take root.
Adventures are risky but they present opportunities for growth. By staying safely in our homes and living rooms we forget that we were once at home in the mountains. When considering where to get married think not for where is most lavish, but where you feel the most connection. You might be surprised that you feel most comfortable in the darkness of the woods.
Photography: Heather Huie for Apollo Fields
Writing: Terrence Huie for Apollo Fields
Locations: Guanella Pass | Chautauqua Dining Hall | RMNP | Estes Park Resort | Lookout Mountain | Garden of The Gods | Pikes Peak | Grand Lake Western Riviera | Shrine Pass
The Chautauqua Dining Hall Wedding in Boulder, Colorado
Alli & Dylan | Chautauqua Dining Hall Wedding | Boulder Colorado | Mountain Wedding Photographer | Wedding Writer | Apollo Photojournalism
Kintish - Est. 2017
On a cloudless Colorado summer day, the Flatirons at Chautauqua Park in Boulder play second fiddle to no one. The greens and grays of the slanted rock faces humble all that meander along its worn dirt paths, but when Alli and Dylan danced as dinosaurs before the cliffs, the mountains knew there was something familiar yet admirable and new about them.
In the beginning, Alli and Dylan’s love was forbidden, a sacrifice to the bureaucracy of Americorps where greens and grays were not to date. It didn’t matter at first because Alli found Dylan repulsive, but eventually he won her over with snacks, silliness, and his patented pose for photographs. After a couple of years of hidden romance, Dylan literally yelled his love for Alli from the mountaintops of Big Bend, Texas, where they met for the first time.
Their lives in service to others was to continue in the Peace Corps in Paraguay after their celebration in Boulder, but for those few days they allowed their love to point inwards towards their own hearts.
Surrounded by sunshine, the hand-stitched chuppah provided the only shade for Alli and Dylan and her snacks as notes from Nathan’s guitar gently danced upon the breeze. By the time that golden hour struck and the sun tucked itself behind the mountains, they gazed upon one another with honeymoon eyes, kissing, just like they accidentally did when Alli arrived at the altar, forgetting tradition in a showcase of their genuinely awkward love.
From amateur poetry to Irish quotes and Jewish rites, all who spoke over glasses bubbling with champagne honored tradition in their own language. Alli and Dylan listened, laughed and cried, dancing through the night in their own way, whether it was a routine to Backstreet Boys and MMMBop, or inch-worming in a wedding dress, they never lost their balance with a reverence to the past as their hearts danced towards the future.
Outdoor Mountain Wedding | Boulder, Colorado | Chautauqua Dining Hall & Erny Photo CO Wedding Photographer
Smiling from ear-to-ear, Dylan Kintish and Alli Bell Kintish said goodbye to their guests as they filed out of their wedding venue, making their way down the stairs as a gentle rain began to fall in Chautauqua Park in Boulder, CO in August 2017. They only had seven months to plan this day and there was little flexibility as they were set to leave for Paraguay just a month later on a 2-year mission for the Peace Corps. This didn’t stop them from having a wedding that Alli’s dad would later call, “rough around the edges, but straight from the heart.”
From the get-go, Alli and Dylan knew that they wanted to focus on making their wedding day their own, knowing that would be a key to the happiness of everyone involved. “Don’t try to fit your wedding into someone else’s box. It should be a day that fits your personality and who you are, not the other way around,” Alli and Dylan wrote after their wedding.
I couldn’t think of a better way to word the day partners celebrate their love. It’s so easy to get lost in the planning of the ‘most important day in your life,’ shuffling through vendors, table settings, venues, DJ’s and travel arrangements.
Alli and Dylan set a great example of how they made the whole experience their own, letting all the conventional stresses of wedding planning fall to the green grass of Chautauqua Park like flower petals from the fingers of a smiling flower girl. To understand just how much they made this process their own, know that they got their engagement photos done in dinosaur onesies. (Who does that?! We loved it!)
Before the wedding we asked them, “What are you most looking forward to on your wedding day?” A lot of couples would say ‘to enjoy the most important day in their lives,’ or to ‘finally make their love official’ but Alli and Dylan selflessly responded, “[to have] all of our loved ones in one place!” Collecting loved ones under one roof is perhaps the most underappreciated aspect when stressing about planning a wedding because those in attendance will not remember the place settings, the food, or the angle that the tent was set up; they will remember the people tucked into their button-down shirts, the smiling faces shining more than the veneer of any gorgeous dress, and the couple that brought them all together.
Alli and Dylan enjoyed every moment of their outdoor Colorado wedding because they made it their own and they focused on the love in their lives and the love of the day. Now when they look back on their photos, they see no trace of the day that was ‘rough around the edges,’ and only see the moments that came “straight from the heart.
About Alli and Dylan
Alli and Dylan dated for four years before getting engaged at Big Bend National Park in Texas. They had recently both signed up for the Peace Corps and decided that they wanted to be married before they started their new adventure.
They believe that marriage means both loving and liking someone.When asked, they said that it is a mutual understanding that two people realize that they are stronger together as one, than they are apart.
I couldn't agree more.
Alli and Dylan's, your summer wedding was one of my favorites to date. Your zest for life is contagious and your love for one another is absolutely incredible to see. We love following your Pair-In-Guay Blog and we can't wait to hear about your next adventures!