We Eloped!

Marshall and Michaela met at Mesa State University in Grand Junction, Colorado in the Fall of 2010. While they mostly just bumped into each other at social gatherings, it wasn't until the Aspen X-Games in January that they saw each other as more than just acquaintances. The gang was staying across the street from Marshall's parents' home for the weekend and after settling into our accommodations for the evening, the group went down the hill while Michaela chose to stay behind. All of a sudden Marshall decided to stay behind with her and that's when Michaela suspected Marshall may be... up to something. They had their first one-on-one time together outside the group and Michaela thought, "he might not be so bad after all". Back at school their friendship grew into a connection and on the final weekend before summer break, Marshall asked Michaela to be his girlfriend. After graduating, they moved to Basalt, Colorado, to an apartment on the river with their cat, Onyx, and have been loving the mountain lifestyle together ever since! So much so, in fact, that they decided to do it together forever! <3

In an attempt to exit analysis paralysis with wedding planning, we decided to go full send on an elopement. We picked a date & adventure that felt right for us and shook on it. We landed on January 24th as it's smack dab in between our birthdays, and chose to hike a loop on West Sopris Creek we often do together that has stunning views of Mount Sopris (except of course, on the cloudy & snowy day we chose). Our friend, Dean, generously offered to hike up with us before sunlight to take the photos in our gallery, allowing us to share moments of our wedding day with our loved ones. After hiking up, we stood together and exchanged vows, rings, and our first kiss as husband and wife. We then signed our marriage license with Onyx 'signing' with a paw print as our witness [in exchange for a treat]. Marshall made us coffee to share the first hour or so of being married with just us, the cat, and Mount Sopris, before packing the cat in Marshall's hunting pack and hiking down to start the rest of forever together!