Teoh + Justin’s Sunrise Elopement in Rocky Mountain National Park

When Teoh and Justin first reached out to me, they already knew they wanted to elope in Rocky Mountain National Park. They’d visited the park before and fell in love, and knew it was the right place for them to get married.

We met up in a dark trailhead to begin our hike for sunrise, and got the most beautiful sunrise—but with a big twist. Only fifteen minutes up the trail, somewhere between the first and second photos below, I tripped and fell over my own feet. I caught myself with my outstretched arm, because my instinct is always to protect my cameras before myself. I knew immediately something was wrong, and a quick check confirmed that I’d dislocated my right elbow.

Lucky for me, Teoh and Justin are both doctors, and I could not have been in better hands. We got the joint popped back into place, and other than a bruised ego (is there anything more embarrassing than falling in front of others?) I felt okay so we kept hiking, and had the most incredible morning together in the mountains.

After our morning hike, the grooms made it official with a heartfelt ceremony at Hidden Valley, one of the most peaceful ceremony sites in Rocky Mountain National Park. I love how much they incorporated their guests into the ceremony, like having each guest pick out a dried floral stem to combine into a bouquet that they can keep in their new home to remember the day.

And at the end of the day, the grooms made me promise to get my elbow checked out, so I went right to the ER for an x-ray—and found out I had suffered a small elbow fracture from the dislocation. Two weeks in a splint later, and I was back to normal, and crazy as it sounds I would do it all over again for these two.