When A Client Becomes a Friend…

There’s always that transition for when a client becomes a friend. For me, this happened with Shaun and Destiny on that first initial phone call. I’m normally pretty structured and love getting to know the couple for the first half of the call then taking the second half of the phone call to talk about their elopement and how I can help make it an easy and meaningful day for them. With Shaun and Destiny, it was about the last five minutes of the call that we realized we had spent the whole time just chatting about everything from our shared love of music, hiking and approaches to life. I offered them a bonus engagement photo session since they had inquired during a time when I was offering a special bonus photoshoot so we met up at Chautauqua park in Boulder, Colorado a few months later for some in-person photo fun. After the engagement session Shaun, the groom, had told me about his plans to release an album for Destiny, the bride, on their wedding day; 09.01.2021. 

Since Shaun is an incredible musician we began to collaborate on including his music in the elopement film and as a part of their wedding day. A huge passion of mine in planning these elopements is really tailoring the experience around each and every couple so when music came into the discussion I floated the idea of beginning the day at their house to capture their own space on camera as well as have a musical memory before the hiking began. So, although it added a little bit of driving, we made it happen and it was one of the sweetest moments seeing Shaun and Destiny dance, sway and enjoy their home and dogs together. 

Since my specialty as a Colorado elopement videographer and Colorado elopement photographer involves hiking or outdoor adventure activities like rock climbing or skiing with couples, Shaun and Destiny opted into doing a 6 mile round trip hike out to an alpine lake outside of Boulder. To maintain the intentionality behind the day they decided to do the hike in its entirety by themselves (with yours truly doing both photo and video).

They still wanted their family to be a part of their day but after watching my “How to Elope With Your Family” YouTube video, they discovered how it would be much simpler and just as meaningful to celebrate with them at a drive up location where they can do a more traditional style ceremony. It was the best of both worlds. Up at the first alpine lake they hiked too, they made some backcountry coffee, read incredibly deep and meaningful vows to each other, and listened to a bit of Shaun’s album dedicated to Destiny on a boombox with a cassette tape. It was just too adorable. 

What was so magical about this day was just how clear it was to me that Shaun and Destiny wanted this day to be about doing things they loved together. The itinerary was driven by their shared love of different activities and included some of the best there is. Live music at home, a first look in their backyard, slow dancing with their dogs present, hiking, coffee with some views, and a family gathering to conclude the day. These elopement days aren’t about the pictures or the videos, they’re about the experience. They’re about celebrating your love in a way that’s true to you and that’s exactly what Shaun and Destiny did on their elopement day!

Check out Sundaynightcoffee for more of Shaun’s music and to listen to his entire album he wrote for his wedding day :)

From Shaun, “I wanted to create something timeless, intimate, and rich in what I imagined my wedding soundtrack to sound like. Spending months writing parts while feeling inspired during late-night hangs with Destiny and the puppies as well as creating to cope with hard times we shared. 

I wrote ‘09.01’ mostly with her guitar and inspirations of music that we enjoy together. I knew I wanted to surprise her on the day of the wedding, so I hid a boombox in my backpack and the tape with the album art of a minimalist line drawing of my beautiful wife.”

...this Music Inspired Elopement was also featured on Wandering Weddings