Tyler + Paige | Independence Pass Elopement

Posted On | December 4, 2018

bride and groom walking on mountain top at sunset during their independence pass elopement

Tyler and Paige’s Colorado adventure elopement at Independence pass was a day I barely have words to describe. After I finish photographing an elopement and start my drive back home, I like to record a voice memo all my thoughts from the day while the memories are fresh and real. A few months later, as I’m just getting the opportunity to write a blog post about this amazing Colorado elopement, here are my first words on my voice memo from Tuesday, September 25th: “Holy, holy guacamole! I just got done with Tyler and Paige’s elopement and it was 100% an incredible day!”

The reason I love elopements so much is that I get to be a part of a day and I get to witness two people who truly care about just being with each other, getting married and say “I do”. They don’t care about the flowers, a fancy wedding, spending crazy amounts of money on a dress, planning out the decor and centerpieces. No, they just want to get married!

To be able to stand on the edge of Twin Lakes on a beautiful, cloudless Colorado September day, with the Rocky Mountains rising tall in the background and the aspen leaves turning a golden yellow, and just Paige, Tyler and their best friend; And when they say their vows and I get to be there capturing the moment on camera that only four people in this entire world are witnesses to – that is a feeling that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to explain.

Tyler and Paige are from Alabama. They met on that little dating app on Tinder by both swiping right. It may have been a way to just casually meet someone new, and I don’t know if either of them expected to find their soul-mate. But as soon as they met in December of 2017, they just knew they wanted to spend the rest of their life adventuring around the world together. Paige told me that only three months into dating that she wanted to marry Tyler – the reason being wasn’t because of some fluffy feeling of “love” but because they had such similar goals and visions for their life. I really respect them for understanding the importance of that. A lot of times relationships start out purely based on attraction and then you continue dating and don’t have discussions about where you want to go in life and realize down the line that your values and goals don’t align at all. The more that Tyler and Paige just sat and talked to each other and got to know each other’s hearts, the more then just fell in love with each other because they knew their life’s goals and mission-aligned.

One of their life-goals that they are pursuing together is outfitting their Subaru Outback and creating a lifestyle where they can travel anywhere and everywhere around the U.S.. They want to see and explore and adventure around as many places as they can. And their vision is to eventually save up enough money and create businesses that allow them to be on the road full time.

Because these two just love discovering new places, when they traveled out to Colorado for their Independence Pass elopement, we hadn’t yet decided on an official location for their ceremony because they wanted to explore the Aspen area and pick out a spot that felt special to them. So they stayed in Leadville and explored the Twin Lakes area, Independence Pass, Aspen and the Maroon Bells to find the perfect spot. A spot on the beach of Twin Lakes with Mount Quandry, Mount Massive and speckles of golden changing aspen leaves was the place they picked to lay out a blanket, stand in front of each other and commit their lives to each other.

The ceremony was simple. Their friend, Heather, shared a few words about their relationship. Then, Paige and Tyler shared truly meaningful vows with each other. These were the kind of real vows that made each of us listening shed a tear. Their vows weren’t just filled with statements of how much they loved each other or why they were their favorite person. But, real vows share what you will commit to the other person after you say “I do”. They were real and pure vows that proved that these two understood what marriage was going to be about. Of course they haven’t experienced it all, but they understood that marriage wasn’t going to be pure bliss. That there would be trials and hard times. And I loved that their vows reflected their knowledge of choosing to getting married despite the trials they would face together.

After their short ceremony, we popped some champagne on the beach to celebrate. Then Paige and Tyler hopped in my car and we drove up Independence Pass listening to their favorite Spotify playlist, Chill As Folk. We stopped at spots along the road that these two fell in love with while they were exploring around the previous few days. We ended their Colorado elopement at sunset on the top of Independence Pass. The sun was setting, the mountain peaks were glowing pink, the air was chilly – there is literally no moment that I can compare to being at the top of a mountain at sunset.

I just loved how open and adventurous these two were. Paige was climbing on rocks in her wedding dress. They were running through the mountain grass getting all sorts of dirty. At one point Paige’s elopement dress got snagged on a bush and she told me to just rip it off and she didn’t care. I just loved how they were free-spirited and didn’t care about every single particular detail of the day. They just wanted to have fun, explore and get married.

Congratulations you two on your Independence Pass elopement – I am so excited to continue following along on your adventure – I know you two will do great things together!

Colorado Elopement Photographer
Twin Lakes Elopement
Colorado Mountain Elopement
Colorado Elopement Photographer
Twin Lakes Elopement
Independence Pass Elopement
Colorado Elopement
Colorado Elopement Locations
Colorado Elopement Photographer
Colorado Adventure Elopement
Colorado Elopement Photographer
Colorado Fall Elopement
Colorado Adventure Elopement
Fall Elopement in Colorado
Colorado Elopement Photographer
Independence Pass Elopement
Colorado Elopement Photos
Colorado Mountain Elopement
Colorado Elopement Photographer
Adventure Elopement Photographer
Colorado Fall Elopement
sunset photo of couple during independence pass elopement
Colorado Adventure Elopement Photographer
Independence Pass Elopement
Aspen CO Elopement
Independence Pass Elopement
Independence Pass Elopement
independence pass elopement pictures from We, The Light Photography
couple running through field during independence pass elopement
groom kissing brides head at sunset for independence pass elopement

Need An Adventure Photographer For Your Colorado Elopement?

Meet Larissa. Larissa is an adventure wedding and elopement photographer based out of Colorado. She’d take an adventure in the mountains over shopping + a date night snuggling on the couch over dinner and a movie any day. Larissa’s obsessed with: morning snuggles with her rescue pup, Hazel, hot chocolate, a good book and yoga pants. She believes in making you forget a camera’s even there, that your story is the actual thing she wants to capture on camera and that real, raw moments are more important that perfectly curated poses. Book your Colorado Elopement Photographer.

Are You Freakin’ REady?

We’re 100% here for whatever day you’re dreaming up. Fill out our contact form to start chatting.

Are You Freakin’ REady?

We’re 100% here for whatever day you’re dreaming up. Fill out our contact form to start chatting.

Comment Love


One response to “Tyler + Paige | Independence Pass Elopement”

  1. What's The Best Month To Elope In Colorado | wethelightphotography.com

    […] out Tyler + Paige’s epic September 25th elopement that ended with sunset on top of the world. Or Braydon and Emily’s intimate Maroon Bells […]


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *