LGBTQ Rocky Mountain National Park Elopement at Lily Lake.

Featured on Wandering Weddings.

Nathan and Gavin are from Tulsa, Oklahoma, but Nathan used to spend summers in Colorado with his family and grew up visiting Lily Lake. It’s an extremely sentimental place for him, so they decided to have their elopement ceremony there!

Like most of my couples, Nathan and Gavin scrapped the idea of a bigger wedding with their full families in favor of a Colorado elopement. Originally, they’d planned to elope with their families but decided to keep it between the two of them. Lily Lake in the summer can be crowded, even on a weekday. We got lucky with a last minute thunderstorm that cleared out 90% of folks! We basically had the lake to ourselves, and took our time exploring the full trail.

Summer thunderstorms in Colorado are no joke, especially at altitude. I was watching the sky and the radar the whole afternoon, but the storm went around us. We got epic lightning in the distance with only a few sprinkles on us, and the crowd around the lake cleared out big time. Nothing two cute clear umbrellas won’t fix!

Lily Lake is one of the few approved ceremony sites in Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s also a public trail and a popular spot for kayaking and hiking. If privacy is a priority, it may not be the best spot. A weekday wedding is a must for that reason, and a sunrise ceremony is even better. If you don’t mind having folks around the lake, it is truly so lovely, extraordinarily accessible, and pretty year round. To get married here, you’ll need to apply for a ceremony permit and pay a $300 application fee. The park releases permits one year in advance, and they sell out VERY quickly for summer and fall dates.