Full Moon Elopement at Twin Lakes, Colorado

Vanessa & Ben were THE most laid back couple I have ever met. And as an elopement photographer based in Colorado, that is saying something. They had met in high school a decade before and had found their way back to each other after a brief time apart. Two kids, a house, a farm, and several delayed weddings later, they were ready to be married. And that meant scaling down from the big destination wedding they’d planned.

All they wanted for their elopement day was to be in Colorado and near water. After running through a few location options with them, we settled on Twin Lakes near Buena Vista, Colorado. This is one of my favorite places on EARTH — the first time I came here, I felt like my soul had been here before. The light cuts through the valley at sunset and the moon rises big and full on the east side. There’s excellent camping and it’s one of the very few bodies of water you can swim in in Colorado (rules on that are always changing, so do your research before you take me at my word!).

Vanessa and Ben picked the date of the harvest moon, the full moon in September. It was super important to them to get a shot of the full moon rising. (P.S. I had Lord Huron’s cover of Harvest Moon on repeat this whole day). I took them to an overlook of the lakes tucked away in a sleepy little neighborhood (the name of the street we took to the overlook was the name of the high school in which they’d met. ARE YOU KIDDING MEEE). They changed into their wedding outfits, pinned on their boutonniere and flower crown, and said their vows with the afternoon sunshine pouring over them.

We made our way down to the lake front for blue hour couples portraits. Even though we were in short sleeves at the beginning of their elopement, as the sun settled behind the mountains and the wind picked up, it quickly dropped into the forties. They signed their marriage license on the hood of their Jeep, and then we both got into our cars to warm up while we waited for the moon to rise big and full. Cue a few final photos with the moon and we were outta there!