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Julie and Justin planed a special elopement in the Colorado foothills after their travel plans changed due to COVID. They found a wonderful way to celebrate their marriage by reading their vows to each other, popping champagne and watching the sunset over the mountains.

Julie shares, “We went back and forth for awhile over whether to have a wedding or elope in Italy. Our families supported both options, but encouraged us to make sure we were doing this for us. So we settled on both – we had a trip booked to Italy leaving May 7th. We were planning to elope at a castle winery in Tuscany, where we would stay for two days and have the ceremony, photos, wine tasting, cooking class, fancy dinner, etc. We were also planning to hit Rome, Florence, and Venice as part of our honeymoon.

We were so bummed to cancel, but plan to still do our honeymoon in Italy at some point later this year (hopefully!). We were equally looking forward to the 50-person park party we had planned for family and close friends in June to celebrate our marriage.

When we realized that COVID was likely going to create issues for our plans, we went to the courthouse on March 10th and got legally married. This was right before the world basically shut down and days before quarantine started.

We are so happy we made things official before everything closed down. After our events subsequently got cancelled, we wanted to do something to celebrate our marriage and read our vows. One of our friends suggested we get a photographer to document the occasion, and the rest is history! We ended up having such a special day and even though it was low key, it ended up being much more special and meaningful than we could’ve imagined.”

Julie continues, “Our highlights from the day included reading our vows to each other, making funny faces and whispering funny things to make each other laugh during the photos (can’t wait to see these!), and then having a picnic and watching the sunset in such a beautiful location.

Some touches that made it feel more like an actual wedding were having a bouquet, flower crown, and boutonniere from Amore Fiori and getting a mini cake and champagne glasses to toast with.

To celebrate with some of our friends, we ended up decorating our bikes with “just married” decorations and streamers, and doing a bike crawl visiting all of our friends in Denver and sharing a beverage with them outside at a social distance.”

Julie shares the story of their proposal, “It was December 8th, one of the last nice, sunny days of the year. We had just had our holiday party the night before so we were a bit groggy in the morning. Justin suggested we go for a walk to get some fresh air (luckily my hair and nails were done because of the party, as I definitely was not expecting a proposal that day).

We ended up at the botanic gardens and did an impromptu visit since we hadn’t been all year. While I was in the restroom, Justin told a stranger what he was about to do and asked if she could film it. We started walking into the gardens and before I knew it, he was down on one knee, reading the most beautiful letter he wrote and we got the whole thing on video! Afterwards we FaceTimed all of our family and friends and then went to dinner at Acorn.”

Congratulations Julie and Justin!

Special thanks to the team:
Location: Mt Falcon
Florist: Amore Fiori
Photographer: Jessica Schmitt