K A Y + J A C O B
September 13th 2021 | Ouray, Colorado
This Ouray Colorado Elopement was incredibly special. Kay + Jacob had to reschedule their wedding plans due to covid and had initially debated on a traditional wedding or an elopement. Thankfully, they chose BOTH!
P A R T O N E : “ Y O U R - A Y E ”
On Saturday we spontaneously got a sunset session in downtown Ouray before Kay & Jacob went to dinner. These shots turned out awesome and really helped me add another element to their story.
Random fact about Kay & Jacob: they’re phenomenal two-steppers and have a late 90’s Ford F250 named Dean.
I loved this opportunity. I got to get a feel for who Kay & Jacob were as a couple and I got to meet Katie Daisy Photography and her husband. It was honestly a great warm up activity for us to work together as creatives and figure out each others process.
P A R T T W O : S C O U T I N G
The old mining town of Ouray, CO sits at the base of the San Juan Mountains and the Uncompahgre National Forest. Ouray (your-aye) is nicknamed the “Switzerland of America” for its climate and natural alpine environment which out of my entire 20 hour drive from Galveston to Ouray was by far the most scenic.
Fun facts about the town:
-The opening shot of the town in the Netflix series The Ranch is actually Ouray
-The classic film True Grit was filmed in Ouray and the nearby town of Ridgway
-Coors & Chevrolet have both filmed commercials in Ouray, specifically in Yankee Boy Basin at Twin Falls
Going into the weekend Katie and I had researched some potential locations for the elopement & sunset session. On Sunday we made a list of places to check out and split up to cover more ground.
All day Sunday I took the Jeep off roading checking out multiple locations.
All of which were cut into the mountain with a nice cliff off one end. Had a good nervous/adrenaline sweat goin the whole day!
Out of all the locations on that list, we all decided on Yankee Boy basin & Top of Pines. More on those locations later.
Once on the cliff, Kay & Jacob spoke beautiful and genuine words to each other.
P A R T T H R E E : E L M O H O T E L
The Elmo hotel is a 10-room Victorian hotel that highlights the history of the Silver & Gold mining town. Established in 1898 it’s one of the oldest hotels in the area.
Fun fact, in 1898 a room for the night would run you $1.00.
Around 3PM we met up with Kay for getting ready & detail shots. The vintage feel of the hotel perfectly matched the contrast moody vibe I was going for.
We played around with hard light from the windows and the compositions came out SOO beautifully.
Fun fact, I actually mic up the bride by attaching a small white lav mic on the inside of the dress. This runs down into a 2 x 1 inch recorder that fits comfortably into a nude colored thigh strap. It seems weird but candid audio & video is what helps create emotion and authenticity in our films.
After getting everything we needed with Kay & details, we quickly got some getting ready shots of Jacob. I miced him up and we loaded into the Jeep!
P A R T F O U R : E L O P E
Location number one was breathtaking! Just a north of Ouray lies Yankee Boy Basin which sits in a beautiful valley overlooking the San Juan mountains.
We chose to get up to this spot for 4:30 PM in order to get all of the vows in and a couples session before we headed to location number two. I am 1000% glad we stumbled upon this spot because it was perfect for the ceremony portion of the elopement.
Kay & Jacob’s private ceremony was breathtaking. The drive into the spot was about 8 miles into the trail ride, and well past the non-4x4 portion of the drive. We all piled in the Jeep and bumped along the trail together.
In order to do a first look without Jacob seeing Kay, Jacob sat in the front seat with Kay directly behind him.
Once we parked at Yankee Boy we had a little 300yd hike out to the cliff crossing a cold spring along the way.
Jacob got set in his spot while Kay snuck up behind him for the first look.
We ended up getting some candid emotional audio of them getting to see each other for the first time on their wedding day, realizing what’s about to happen.
Hand in hand they walked to the vow/ceremony location at the cliff top.
I just want to say a huge thank you to Kay & Jacob for letting us be apart of their elopement and trusting our creative process! Another huge thank you needs to go out to @katiedaisyphotography .
There was laughter, crying and prayer, followed by wonderful promises. Rings were exchanged along with a kiss to seal the deal.
And the forever dance partners shared a first dance on the cliff side over looking Yankee Boy Basin.
On the way back to the jeep we snagged couple of shots in front of the waterfall/spring! Then we loaded up and headed to location number two!
P A R T F I V E : G O L D E N H O U R
For location number two, we went with a place called the Top Of Pines which is in the neighboring town of Ridgeway, Colorado. Literally, this place looks like the scene from the Sound of Music.
It took us about an hour to get off the mountain, over to Ridgeway and up the trail to Top of Pines. We got there just as the sun was setting at about 6:50 PM and were greeted by their parents. We took come traditional portraits and then got to get creative with some walking poses and even whipped the drone out for my favorite shot of the entire trip.
Top of Pines is a long rolling field that runs into the forest and is overlooked by beautiful mountain tops.
With the sun dropping behind the hills, Kay & Jacob popped a bottle and enjoyed a quick picnic before we lost light. Needless to say, its an elopement videographers dream scene and I don't think we got one bad shot!
C O N C L U D I N G T H O U G H T S
We could not have asked for a better production team and we loved the opportunity!
We’d love to be a part of your celebration.
