Diana and Will have been one of my favorite couples to work with in the past year. We started with their Dream Lake engagement session, then their Breckenridge Nordic Center wedding, and now for their post-wedding adventure session to do photos on Trail Ridge Road.
In the bride’s words: “Our definition of compromise: Will wanted a big wedding in the mountains and I wanted to elope on a mountain top. So we had a medium sized wedding in the mountains and two days later put our outfits back on for an adventure session on a mountaintop, the result of this compromise is pretty spectacular if I must say so myself! Thank you Nina for making my wedding photography dreams a reality!”
One of the challenges of doing photos at Trail Ridge Road that people rarely think about, is to be respectful of the fragile tundra environment. There are signs all over Rocky Mountain National Park asking people to stay on trail and stay off the tundra, and yet I see so many photos of people jumping fences, lying down on top of flowers that will take 100 years to regrow, and otherwise just completely disrespecting the rules of Leave No Trace. Diana and Will and I took great care to only walk on the sandy trails and rocks, and even got creative with angles – the photos of them with the gorgeous golden sunset glow are all taken on the rocks that line a parking lot!
If you are planning to elope in RMNP, check out my Rocky Mountain National Park wedding guide to learn about the permit requirements and approved ceremony sites. If you just want photos in the park, either before or after your wedding outside of the park, your photographer still needs a commercial photography permit.
About Nina Larsen Reed
Nina is an elopement photographer based in Boulder, Colorado. She plans and captures adventure elopements and micro-weddings across the Rocky Mountains, and loves getting to share the mountains she calls home with couples who want a different wedding experience.
