Amanda + Matt's Red Rock Lake Elopement
A courthouse wedding, a surprise May snowstorm, two very tuxedoed dogs, and a marriage license that accidentally got left behind.
BRAINARD LAKE RECREATION AREA · MAY 2026 · GOLDEN HOUR
Amanda and Matt got married at the courthouse before we met up. The legal piece was already done. What they wanted next was photos somewhere with a little more personality than a beige conference room. So they drove up from Colorado Springs to Red Rock Lake in Brainard Recreation Area with their two dogs to get photos of their dreams.
The wish for snow
Amanda had been picturing snowcapped peaks since they started planning. The problem was that the whole Colorado winter had been quiet. Light snow, warm afternoons, a ski season that ended before it really even began. By the last week of April the high peaks were patchier than usual and the lower elevations had been clear for a month.
Then a cold front rolled through just a few days before the shoot. It dropped a foot of snow above ten thousand feet and re-frosted everything that had been thawing. Brainard sits at exactly that elevation. By the time we got up there, the surrounding peaks looked exactly like the photo Amanda had been picturing in her mind.
This isn't a thing I can plan. (But you better believe I’m watching the forecast like a hawk.) This is a thing the Front Range does sometimes, especially in April and May.
Spring in the mountains, the honest version
If you have only been to Colorado in late summer, May in the high country is going to surprise you. This time of year is a shoulder season. The lakes are melted, the trees haven’t fully leafed out yet, and the peaks are still white with snow. The trails can be anything from slush and mud to try dusty dirt. That’s just all part of the transitional season.
Amanda's dress got dirty, as we knew it would. But she didn't care. And that’s the exact attitude you need for a mountain wedding in early spring. If you're planning a mountain elopement and you haven't thought about what your dress is going to do in actual mountain conditions, I wrote a guide on it here. Read it before you buy anything you can't wash.
Oliver and Milo (and Milo's opinions)
Oliver is a Yorkie. Milo is a Husky. They're very different sizes and very different temperaments and they showed up to a Colorado mountain lake in formalwear because their parents wanted them to be a part of their day.
Oliver wore his tux without complaint. He was quite the distinguished gentleman. He sat when asked. He posed without protest.
Milo had other plans. Milo had a lot of thoughts about being put in a tux. He voiced these thoughts the way Huskies voice all of their thoughts, loudly and at length, but he soon settled into it and decided he’d let his parents get away with this indignity. (Just this once.)
The forgotten marriage license
Milo and Oliver were supposed to be more than just witnesses to their parents wedding, they were supposed to be the legal signers of the marriage license. Unfortunately, on the drive up Amanda realized that the license wasn’t actually with them so that part would have to wait till they returned home.
Colorado is a very unique state in which something as crazy as a dog signing your marriage liscense is not only completely legal but also fairly common. I wrote a whole guide on the legality of dogs signing Colorado marriage licenses. The short version is that in most Colorado counties, yes, your dog can be the witness. The slightly longer version is that you do have to actually bring the license with you.
The courthouse plus portraits format
Elopements don’t have to be difficult, and your actual marriage can be done separately from your portraits, vows, or celebration.
The legal piece is fast. Most Colorado counties take about fifteen minutes once you have the license. You stand in front of a judge or a clerk or a friend who got ordained online. You sign. You leave.
The photo piece is separate. It can happen the same day, the next weekend, or six months later when the season you wanted has shown up. You wear what you want, you bring who you want and you go where you want. No permit headache, no guest list, no run-of-show.
Amanda and Matt are a really good example of why this works. The legal part of their marriage took about an hour in Colorado Springs. The part where they got to feel like they had a wedding day happened on a mountain a few weeks later, with both dogs, in the exact conditions Amanda had been hoping for.
If you're weighing this against a traditional elopement format, I broke down the differences in this guide.
Golden hour at the lake
By the time we made it down to Red Rock Lake itself, the sun was sitting low over the peaks casting warm light across the whole area. The water was calm and still. (A sharp contrast to the windy experience we had was Mahkena and Christian’s winter elopement.)
The backlight of the sun helped Amanda’s dress glow as Matt helped her onto dry surfaces (logs, rocks, etc). The two shared this private moment, having the whole lake to themselves.
The film touch
I shot the day on both digital and 35mm film. The film was Portra 400, a classic film stock that’s true to color. Film captures golden hour light in such a unique way and with a softness that feels more like what you saw than digital ever really captures.
This is why I include film is included in every session I shoot. Not as an upgrade.
What this kind of day looks like in hindsight
Amanda and Matt's wedding wasn't one day. It was an afternoon at the courthouse and an evening at a mountain lake, separated by a couple of weeks of waiting for the weather to come back. They drove the three hours home that night with two sleepy dogs and a lifetime ahead of them. Sometimes the version of a wedding day that fits your actual life is the one you build in pieces, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
RELATED READING
CanYour Dog Sign Your Colorado Marriage License?
RELATED READING
Leave No Trace for Colorado Elopements
Considering a courthouse-plus-portraits elopement?
It's one of the most flexible ways to get married in Colorado. If you want to talk through how the day could work, where to shoot, and how to handle dogs in tuxes, get in touch.