Elopements

Music Inspired Elopement Adventure Near Brainard Lake, CO

This elopement is the perfect way to inspire couples to incorporate their own passions and personalizations into their wedding day. Shaun, the groom, planned to release a music album for Destiny, his bride, on their wedding day. The groom worked with Roo, their videographer/photographer, to incorporate his music into their wedding day adventure near Brainard Lake, CO.

“Elopements are great because they are so personal. You as a couple get to customize what matters to you, and how you want to showcase that on your special day.

To elaborate: a first dance wasn’t important to us, but listening to our own personal soundtrack created that moment for us. If a couple really values a certain aspect of traditional weddings, creativity is your best friend when you go to incorporate it into the elopement. Plus, innovating a modern tradition from old traditions can honor them in a fun and personal way.” [Shaun and Destiny, the couple]

Are you ready to plan your own personal wedding adventure? Search our elopement directory to team up with the perfect vendor for your wedding day.

About This Music Inspired Elopement Adventure

Photography and Videography by Castlehouse Videography

Even though this wedding adventure was inspired by the groom’s love for his wife and music, it also surrounded their love for adventure too. Shaun and Destiny opted in doing a 6-mile round trip hike out to an alpine lake outside of Boulder. Before their adventure, Shaun shared his album with Destiny as they got ready.

In order to incorporate their family during their wedding ceremony, they had them meet them at a drive-up location. At the first alpine lake they hiked to, they made some backcountry coffee, read their vows to each other, and listened to a bit of Shaun’s album on a boombox with a cassette tape.

“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.” [Roo, videographer/photographer]

Bringing a Personalized Touch To Your Wedding Day

When we asked Roo what set this couple apart from others, the videographer/photographer shared how personal Shaun and Destiny were during their elopement planning. Since music is a big part of their relationship, after the first look, Shaun played some songs on their piano at home before venturing out to the lake.

Sundaynightcoffee is Shaun’s alias as a music producer. He creates hip hop and folk-inspired instrumental music that would be classified under lofi, chillhop, folk-hop all inspired by similar artists in the genres and midwest emo, folk, and mathrock styles.

“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.” [Shaun]

Shaun released the album everywhere on streaming services when they were getting married at Lake Brainard. Check out Sundaynightcoffee for more of Shaun’s music and to listen to the entire album he wrote for this music-inspired elopement day.

Tips Eloping in Colorado

Shaun and Destiny included their dogs during their music inspired elopement, so they made sure to double-check if the trail they picked was manageable for both themselves and their pups.

They relied on Roo’s recommendations and planning to help them navigate their Colorado adventure, but overall told us the planning process was relatively smooth and to the point.

“Get your permits as soon as you can and/or try to find places less populated. Your elopement photographer/videographer should be able to help give you recommendations on trails that are less crowded but still people. Shaun and Destiny had the entire lake to themselves, which made the experience really meaningful to be able to not worry about other people around you.” [Roo, videographer/photographer]

Explore more places to elope in Colorado.

Memorable Moments During This Music Inspired Elopement Adventure

It’s hard to pick a memorable moment during this elopement. We love the music element of this couple’s wedding day. Check out what stood out for Roo and the couple.

Videographer/Photographer’s memorable moment:

“Shaun and Destiny’s vows. They love watching tv together and shows like Parks and Rec, New Girl, the Office… Shaun took some inspiration from those on-screen tv couples and wrote those characters into his vows.

Another thing I loved observing was just how excited they both were to be getting married. They had a pretty incredible love story with a lot of long-distance while Shaun was stationed overseas in the military. It was so special to see them really celebrate big on their elopement day.” [Roo, videographer/photographer]

Check out our guide to write your own wedding vows.

Couple’s memorable moment:

“Our favorite part was being able to go on an adventure with our best friend and our 3 amazing dogs all while having this small intimate moments together as well as have it captures by Roo. The best moment was when we went to do our vow exchange at Lake Isabelle, brewed up some coffee and I surprised Destiny with a gift of a tape of my new album ‘09.01’ that I had been working actively on (without her knowledge) for the previous few months. We listened to it while enjoying our coffee and it was a real special moment of my life that couldn’t have been more perfect to be in.” [the couple]

Deciding to Elope

Deciding to elope came easy for this couple since they always enjoyed the appeal of a small intimate wedding and never really enjoyed being the center of attention.

“We got to enjoy all of our moments together during our day, have an adventure and make some great memories that weren’t blanketed in stress of having a huge ceremony, large elaborate reception and an overwhelming number of attendees.” [the couple]

If you’re still on the fence if you should elope or not, Roo shares three questions you should consider:

1) Do you want the experience to just be about you and your partner?

2) Does planning a big traditional wedding sound exhausting or expensive to you?

3) Do you want to spend more time in nature?

If you answered yes to all three of those, then you should 100% consider eloping.

“There are ways to still include your family and close friends on an elopement if you still want them around but it should be about you and your experience, not planning activities for your guests. I’ve also found that couples that elope typically are able to stretch their dollar a lot further than in the traditional wedding space too.

Even though eloping is a beautiful and stunning way to get married, it’s also good to remember that what makes it special is just being able to rest, relax and celebrate your love in a way that’s true to you.” [Roo, videographer/photograpehr]

If you’re wondering how much it cost to elope, then check out our blog where we break everything down.