Heidi and Aaron | Crested Butte Elopement during Wildflower Season
Savannah Chandler Photography | Crested Butte Elopement Photographer
Heidi and Aaron reached out about eloping during wildflower season here in Colorado – Heidi works with another bride I photographed a few years back (you can view Hailey and Josh’s elopement HERE) and knew that they wanted to head out to Colorful Colorado for their private nuptials.
We chatted back and forth about a few different areas of the state, what they may look like in terms of Wildflowers during late June, and this funky start to 2026 with our massive drought and how wildflower season may look different than normal. A few places that we looked at were American Basin, the San Juans, the Collegiates, and of course – Crested Butte. If you want wildflowers (especially in June and not July), Crested Butte is the place to be. The lower areas and towards town bloom in vibrant shades of violet with Lupines dang near everywhere. The upper valleys tend to blossom in July, when the lupines burn off and head back into the ground.
One of the biggest benefits, in my opinion, to eloping is the freedom it allows for timing and locations. I had mentioned that it may be best to head into town the day before and take a look at what was in bloom instead of deciding 100% on a location ahead of time as some years different areas of the mountain look better than others. I got into CB and went for a few trail runs and 4×4 drives – my normal “go to” areas were CRUSTY DUSTY DRY with no flowers. I made a pivot and headed towards a newer trail, and found lupines EVERYWHERE, which is the exact vibe we were going for. Speaking of pivoting, we also ended up moving our time together to Sunset instead of Sunrise at the last minute, which again is one of those special things that you can do when eloping – make a call for how your body is feeling in the moment.
I gave Aaron the GPS pin to where we were going to head for our first look amongst the Aspen trees, and brought Heidi up the backroads where they saw each other for the first time for their wedding day. We all knew we had a decent hike mileage wise, not necessarily effort wise, to their elopement destination – we wanted to be sure that they could walk there together and take photos on our way out to the overlook.
Once we arrived at their ceremony spot, they found a location that felt just right to them and with just the mountains and Teocalli ridge as their witness they said I Do.
After some time wandering around, taking in the views, and many many photo stops. we made our way back to the car for our second hike of the day. We headed down the hill towards Teddy’s Trail (a much more known and already talked about area, thus I feel comfortable naming the actual location) where we spent the final moments of sunshine walking through more flowers, spraying champagne, and saying HELLO to the horses that live on the Snodgrass hillside. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS TRAIL IS CLOSED EACH YEAR DURING FALL TIME, PLEASE RESPECT THE PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS AND PRESERVE ACCESS FOR US ALL.
Congratulations again, Heidi and Aaron! I had a wonderful, flower filled, evening celebrating with the two of you.
Cheers-
