Curtis and Christian's Breckenridge Elopement

Photography by Lucy of Lucy Schultz Photography

From Lucy:

Curtis and Christian came from Boston to elope in Colorado on Labor Day weekend. Their friend Anna was their only guest, and officiated their elopement ceremony at a lake in Breckenridge. This Elopement had everything – a steam train, mountain peaks, empanadas, moose, an unplanned maestro, emotional vows, sealing wax, DILPS*, lightning, a gondola, sunset ceremony, a lord of the rings themed marriage contract and 2 new friends.

We did everything to show these two around Colorado, starting with riding the historic steam train at the Silver Plume railroad in Georgetown. This was an amazing way to sightsee.. and get a dusting of soot on your head. The guests on the train were SO excited to see that it was Curtis and Christian’s wedding day- one sweet lady was actually moved to tears. The staff even gave us a spontaneous behind the scenes tour of the steam engine which made for some amazing photos!

I love that the carefree nature of elopements allowed us time for this special perk. We continued our tour of mountain towns by stopping for lunch in Dillon, Colorado. Over empanadas at the outdoor table, we were unwillingly serenaded by an old man with a guitar. He sang a song about dying in Colorado and then gasped when we let him know it was actually their wedding day. They went home with a copy of his homemade cd (burned in 1997.) A memorable and unplanned experience for sure, and one we laughed about for the rest of the day. Christian and Curtis are two of the kindest and most easygoing people you could ever hope to meet. I felt like I’d made two good friends in just 1 day’s time.

Then it was time to ride the Breckenridge Scenic Gondola up to Peak 8 for the best scenery around. But, the chairlift was closed due to lightning risk, so we waited until it reopened. Luckily, the men rolled with this setback and instead enjoyed some high quality dog-spotting. *They proclaimed that many of the dogs were “DILPs” – Dogs I’d Like To Pet. Their gay mountain elopement was really coming to fruition! At the top of the gondola we were greeted by a moose and her calf browsing in the undergrowth. I loved sharing their first moose sighting with them as we moved carefully around them to a spot with panoramic mountain views of Breckenridge. They exchanged smooches and a little butt-grabbing at the viewpoint. Okay, it was a lot of butt grabbing. Perfect!

Then, the part I’d been looking forward to the most was finally here! Anna did an excellent job of officiating her first ceremony. The guys were touched by her words and descriptions of love and commitment that they were about to make. The men read their hand written vows, shed a few tears, and married each other on the shore of a beautiful lake. This locals’ spot is a hidden gem, and they were able to be completely alone in the mountains for their ceremony. The sun was setting fast, so we ran around the lake grabbing a few last portraits before heading to their dinner reservation.

Since the men arrived in Colorado over the holiday weekend, they weren’t able to pick up their marriage license until the following day. But I wanted to create something for them to sign anyway. A craft project was born! I downloaded some fonts from middle earth, and conspired with my Tolkien expert friends to create a marriage contract that mimicked the contract between the Company of 12 Dwarves and Bilbo Baggins. On the back side I included quotes from the books that spoke to love – these two used to read Tolkien books to each other before bed, so it was just perfect! They sealed the contract with wax.. which was more challenging than I’d anticipated. It took some serious teamwork to melt it!

Congratulations Christian and Curtis!!