Microwedding In Crested Butte with Family
sunrise first look, fireweed vows, cake by brunch
Okay so this day. THIS DAY.
I've been wanting to share Kelsey and Thomas's wedding for a while now and I honestly don't even know where to start because it had everything: a sunrise first look, private vows in a literal field of fireweed, an alpine lake ceremony with their families, fresh cake, brunch, and Polaroids that I got to print and hand out before we even left the mountain. It was that kind of day.
Let me walk you through it.
Getting Ready with the People Who Matter Most
They got ready at their Airbnb on the south side of Crested Butte with their families around them in a space that felt like theirs, with the people they actually wanted there. That detail matters more than it sounds. The whole tone of the day started there.
Then, before sunrise, just the two of them.
A first look at first light in Crested Butte is one of those things I will never stop recommending. The trails are empty. The light does something completely unreasonable. And the moment itself, the actual turning around and seeing each other, happens without an audience. Which changes everything about it.
Private Vows in a Field of Fireweed
From there we headed up the mountain.
Even in early August, we climbed high enough to find wildflowers, and not just a few scraggly ones hanging on. Full meadows of them. Tall, bright pink stalks of fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium if you’re a wildflower nerd like me) stretching up everywhere, the kind that makes you stop walking because you genuinely can't believe it's real.
(Fireweed, for the record, is one of the last big blooms of the Crested Butte summer. It peaks late July through August and then that's it, wildflower season's over. So the timing of Kelsey and Thomas's day was pretty perfect, even if they didn't plan it that way.)
So in that field, with no one else around, they said their vows.
Just them. No guests, no officiant, no audience. Me super far away snappin’ away with my camera. Just two people being really honest with each other in the middle of a mountain meadow covered in pink wildflowers. I kept my distance and let it be theirs.
That's the part that's hard to explain until you see it. When a ceremony is only for the two of you, something in the words shifts. They're not being performed. They're just... true.
An Alpine Lake Ceremony with Loved Ones
After their private vows, we made our way to an alpine lake to meet their families and closest friends.
This is where the day opens back up — a more traditional ceremony, the people they love gathered around them, the whole thing with the lake behind them doing its whole perfect thing. They toasted with champagne. Signed their marriage license. Did family photos that were actually fun because everyone had already been part of something really meaningful together and the energy was good.
Before we headed back down, Kelsey and Thomas had a few quiet minutes to themselves. Just a beat. A little exhale before rejoining the group.
Then down the mountain, back to the Airbnb, where a much deserved brunch was waiting.
Brunch, Cake & Polaroids at the Airbnb
The rest of the morning was just... easy. Good easy. Food and cake and families hanging out together but changed back into normal clothes, the whole day kind of glowing a little. And because we'd built in enough time, I was able to print Polaroids on-site and hand them around the table.
That's something I can do when a couple plans a day with real breathing room in it. Actual printed photos from their own wedding morning, passed around over coffee before the day is even over. Kelsey's mom held one of the fireweed vow photos and I thought she was going to cry and honestly same.
For Couples Thinking About An Intimate Wedding in Crested Butte
If this is the kind of day you're imagining, the private part AND the people you love, the mountain morning AND the cake, that's exactly what an intimate wedding or microwedding can look like. Not a smaller version of a big wedding. Not a compromise. Just a day built around what you actually wanted in the first place!!
Kelsey and Thomas's day is a pretty good example of what that can look like.
Want a Crested Butte day with your people there too? Everything you need to plan it, from wildflower timing to the spots that work for guests, is in my Crested Butte elopement guide.
If you’re in the “sounds amazing but HOW do you actually elope in Colorado” phase, I’ve got a full guide breaking that down right here → How to Elope in Colorado.
Want to see pricing and what's included? → Colorado elopement pricing
Hi, I'm Kimberly!
I'm a Colorado elopement photographer based in Denver, but I'm usually somewhere in the mountains with a camera and way too many things in my backpack "just in case."
I've been photographing elopements out here for 10 years and 100+ couples, and I eloped in Colorado too, so most of what I write about here comes from actually doing it.
You can learn more about me, or if you're planning your own elopement, start with my pricing & experience page.
More elopement inspiration
A two part elopement day that started with vows at Lost Gulch Overlook in Boulder and ended with a hike to a still snowy Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.