A Personal Blog Post: Our Vail Colorado Elopement or Vow Renewal
Hey friends! We are changing it up today with a personal post about me and my husband. We decided to take a trip and renew our vows with a Vail Colorado Elopement. What if I told you that before this, I had only seen mountains once in my life?Â
I know. I’m 25 years old and I’ve basically never been anywhere. I’ve lived in Missouri my entire life, and the only trips I’d ever really taken was to Branson. Not to worry, all that is changing now. Because, I’m making sure it does. You see, for a while now, I’ve heard of this sickness – the “travel bug.” And I’m pretty sure I’ve been bitten.
In the 6th grade, my grandmother took a trip to Colorado Springs, and invited me to go with her. It was a business trip to deliver some items, and head straight back home, so we didn’t do too much site seeing. But we did at least do a quick stop at the Garden of the Gods. Even at 11 years old, I had such an appreciation for my 20 minutes in the Garden of the Gods, and I spend the next 14 years dreaming of going back to Colorado once again.
If you don’t already know, my husband is in the military. When we started planning wedding things, setting a date became impossible with all of his trainings. I bought a dress and looked at so many venues, but in the end, we eloped in our church with our immediate families present. Then we spent a night at a local hotel and a few days later he was off to duty again. We never had a big wedding, or a honeymoon. We dreamed of renewing our vows and having a big celebration, but life just got in the way.
This year we decided we needed our very own Elopement, and we decided that Rocky Mountain National Park was the place for us. We stayed in a little town called Vail, Colorado. We hired a photographer, wrote our own vows, and I finally got to wear my wedding dress. As it often happens when traveling, NOTHING went as planned. On our drive in to our Airbnb it began snowing like CRAZY! We were only 30 miles out, and it took us over 2 hours to get there. All of the hiking trails were closed down. We had stayed in Vail hoping to make the drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park, but it snowed so hard every single morning. We were snowed in, and we weren’t going anywhere. And yet, we had the time of our lives!
Our photographer, Shelby, was so awesome. She did an in home shoot with us at our Airbnb, and they’re some of my favorite photos ever! Then she hung around until the snow melted enough for us to step out of our Airbnb and have a first look. We’d been waiting for this moment for 6 years. And though we dreamed of a Rocky Mountain National Park Elopement, our Vail Colorado Elopement was the next best thing.
Hiking to our Elopement Spot in Colorado
After our first look, we decided to brave the snow on one of the only trails we could find that was open. And we found the perfect spot to exchange vows for our Vail Colorado Elopement. These two trees had fallen and made the perfect little arch! I’m not going to lie you guys, I felt like God spoke to me in that moment saying these are for you. This moment was so special to me. My husband wrote the most beautiful vows, and they just blew me away. If you are debating on writing your own vows or not, please consider. His vows were so beautiful, and I will cherish them forever!
Even with all the unexpected snow, I can honestly say that destination elopements are still the way to go!
I wish we would have done it in the first place! Because destination elopements are so flexible! We could have invited our families. We could have brought a party back to our Airbnb. Even with the snow! But I loved it just the two of us. It was so romantic. Then we got to snuggle up in our Airbnb next to the awesome fireplace, and listen to the river right outside the sliding glass door. I’d be lying if I said we haven’t talked about moving to Colorado like a million times since. I can assure you, there will be many more trips to Colorado in our future.
But for now, here’s some more photos from our Airbnb shoot, and all of our other adventures!
One of our favorite spots on the trip was these hot springs at Iron Mountain in Glenwood Springs Colorado! So nice we had to visit twice. We also rode to the top of the Glenwood Caverns amusement park up the hill. It ended up snowing again and we got stuck up at the top for a while. Because of the snow a lot of the attractions were closed, so we explored the caves and got food in the restaurant and gift shop. We even played chess at one of their tables while the blizzard raged outside. We weren’t even mad. Colorado is such a beautiful place.
Dreaming of your own Colorado Elopement?
I know I don’t very often make personal posts, but we’re all about creating core memories over here. And if you’re a site-seeing travel bug like me, we just might be kindred souls. I’d be honored to hear about your wedding, elopement, or vow renewal plans. Let’s adventure together! Visit my inquiry page, and we will get connected!
xoxo, Dawn
