If there was ever a checklist with the best way to have an Estes Park wedding Amymarie and Sebastian’s destination wedding in Colorado checked every single box on that list. These two started their wedding day by hiking to Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park to share a first look and watch the sunrise together. Then we drove up the highest paved road in North America, Trail Ridge Road, and witnessed a gorgeous cloud inversion for more portraits at 14’000′ elevation. Afterward, we headed back into the town of Estes Park for their catholic wedding ceremony at the Historic St Malos Church followed by their intimate reception at Taharaa Mountain Lodge and Twin Owls Steakhouse. As if this destination wedding day couldn’t be any more perfect than it already was a giant rainbow came out just before sunset.
Even though Colorado was a destination wedding for Amymarie and Sebastian and they live at sea level they were up for the challenge. We met at 4:00am, before sunrise, to hike to Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The bride and groom changed into their wedding attire at Dream Lake with the help of a bedsheet for privacy and a clear shower curtain on the ground to keep her gorgeous Pronovias wedding dress white because it had down poured rain in the days leading up to their wedding. Rocky Mountain National Park is the perfect place to share an adventure and a first look on your Estes Park wedding day.
The cloud inversion lifted just in time for us to see the top of the peaks during sunrise, even though the forecast had called for potentially heavy rain the next morning. That’s the perfect wedding day gift if you ask us!
Stopping at this beautiful waterfall between Dream Lake and Nymph Lake was a wedding day must! This hiking trail has some of the most gorgeous greenery in the entire park because of the water system that flows through it.
Their adventure wedding didn’t stop there! They hopped in their rented jeep and we headed up to Trail Ridge Road for even more wedding portraits of the bride and groom. Being above the clouds is an indescribable feeling and we all had goosebumps!
After they braved the high elevation winds the bride and groom headed back down the mountain to get ready at the Taharaa Mountain Lodge Estes Park wedding venue before their ceremony.
If you’re wondering if sharing a first look before the ceremony takes away from the “walk down the aisle” first look moment during your wedding, it doesn’t. It’s a different wave of emotions for each experience and both are beautiful.
Their catholic wedding ceremony took place at the Historic St Malos Church (also referred to as the Estes Park Wedding Chapel on the Rocks). It was the perfect setting for their intimate wedding.
If you didn’t already know it by now Amymarie and Sebastian are always up for an adventure! I love that they did the rock scramble (and in stilettos, to boot!) to get this iconic postcard photo moment as their just-married bride and groom portrait!
Remember that magical rainbow I told you about in the beginning? BOOM. There it is. Having an Estes Park wedding already comes along with epic mountain scenery, but the fact that a rainbow where we could see edge to edge popped up in the perfect spot just outside of their Taharaa Mountain Lodge reception was serendipitous and SO deserved. The forecast leading up to their wedding was a nail biter so this was Mother Nature’s gift for putting us through a weather rollercoaster in the days before their wedding.
First Look: Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park
Portraits: Trail Ridge Road
Ceremony: St Malos /or/ Chapel on the Rocks Estes Park
Reception: Taharaa Mountain Lodge Wedding Venue
Dinner: Twin Owls Steakhouse at Taharaa
