Caitlin & Matt’s Sunny Summer Mountaintop Elopement at the Wedding Deck in Vail, Colorado

Caitlin and Matt’s intimate wedding day in Vail was like a fairytale. They asked me to spend the day with them to capture the most important parts of their day, and there was so much beauty and love packed into that short amount of time!

Caitlin and Matt got ready in a cute AirBnB they rented with their bridal party. They wanted to see each other before heading up the mountain for their ceremony, so when they finished getting ready, we walked out behind the house to an area filled with tall grasses and evergreen trees - the perfect spot for their first look was right in their backyard! Caitlin & Matt are pretty shy and reserved, but they are also the sweetest people who are completely overflowing with love, so it was great getting to do a first look with just them to help take some of the wedding day nerves away.

After their first look, we took a quick ten minute gondola ride to the top of the mountain to their venue. When we got to the top, we had to spend a little time just taking in the amazing sights all around us. I had never been to the top of a mountain in the summertime before, so it was really cool to look across the valley and see all the ski runs winding between the trees on the mountains across from us. There were yellow wildflowers sprinkled all over the mountain, too, and it was SUCH a pretty sight. It was a bright, sunny day at the end of July, and even though temperatures were in the 80’s down in Vail, it was a perfect 70 degrees up in the mountains. Because it was so nice out, there were lots of other people on top of the mountain too. Kids were playing on a playground and everyone else was “ooh”-ing and “aah”-ing at the bride and groom.

Before the ceremony, I took some portraits of Caitlin and Matt, and their adorable grandparents hopped behind me and started taking photos on their phones too! I usually don’t let other people take photos while I’m taking photos because it can be distracting, but grandparents are the exception, because they are SO CUTE. Whether it’s on a little snap camera or an iPhone, they’re just SO HAPPY to be capturing the moment and I love to take some photos of them doing that!

Caitlin and Matt’s ceremony took place at The Wedding Deck, which isn’t really a full venue. It’s more of a simple space, literally a deck, just built for intimate weddings overlooking the mountains with the most GORGEOUS views as a backdrop. Their ceremony was so heartfelt and beautiful, and while Matt isn’t the most outwardly emotional person, he definitely teared up during his and Caitlin’s vows. They planned their wedding to be very small, so they were surrounded by immediate family and close friends only. About 40 of their favorite people came to the top of this mountain in Colorado with them to watch them exchange vows and say “I do!”

After their stunning ceremony, we rode the gondola back down the mountain. Caitlin and Matt wanted to take a celebratory shot at the bar with their wedding party, so we hopped over to a bar down in Vail and they toasted to love and marriage and each other! Their intimate wedding was such a beautiful and perfect little wedding day, and these two just BEAMED with love at the end of it. Theirs is the kind of wedding I could shoot over and over again.