Your elopement doesn’t have to be just a ceremony. It can be a whole day (or weekend) built entirely around the two of you.
One of my favorite parts of planning with couples is this exact question: what do you actually want to do together on your wedding day? Not what you’re “supposed” to do. Not what a checklist says. What sounds fun to the two of you?
Some couples want adrenaline. Some couples want a slow, quiet day with good food and a hot soak at the end of it. Both are completely valid elopement days, and honestly, my favorite days are the ones that blend a little bit of both. Here are some of my favorite ways to make your elopement feel like your day, not a template.
For the Adventure-Seekers
If you two are the kind of couple who bonds over a good adrenaline rush, build it into the day.
Horseback Riding
A horseback trailride through a mountain valley before or after your ceremony adds an old-Colorado, storybook feel, and it photographs beautifully. You can do this in just about any mountain town but my favorite area is Estes Park. If you like horses, there’s just something magical about seeing all of the Rocky Mountain National Park peaks from a vantage point that can only be reached by horseback. There are plenty of stables that facilitate this but Sombrero Stables is easy to access and gives you an entirely private (minus your personal trail guide) riding experience.
Off-Roading
Off-roading is a Colorado classic for a reason. A lot of the most jaw-dropping alpine basins and overlooks in this state are only reachable by 4×4, so if you’re dreaming of a location above tree line, a jeep or side-by-side tour might be part of the plan whether you meant it to be or not. Might as well make it part of the fun!
If you’re eloping around Ouray, San Juan Scenic Jeep Tours is the world’s oldest jeep tour company (est. 1946), running routes up to Yankee Boy Basin, Imogene Pass, and out toward Silverton, Telluride, and Lake City.
Hot Air Balloon Ride
A hot air balloon ride is one of the most romantic ways I can think of to start or end an elopement day. Floating over the mountains at sunrise, just the two of you? Yes, please. Wild West Balloon Adventures out of Steamboat Springs is a local favorite, flying year-round over the Yampa Valley with a champagne toast at landing.
A Romantic Sunrise Hike
A sunrise hike is simple, but it might be the most quietly powerful thing you can do together on your elopement day or the morning after. Just the two of you, headlamps on, climbing in the dark before the mountains catch that first light. There’s a stillness to it that’s hard to replicate any other way, and it sets a grounded, intentional tone for the whole rest of the day.
A Cold Plunge or Waterfall Hike
A cold plunge in alpine lake or a secluded creek is for the couples who want a jolt of “we actually did that” to remember forever. It’s fast, it’s a little terrifying, and it’s the kind of shared dare that tends to end in a lot of laughing and holding onto each other. Bring a towel and a warm layer, and maybe don’t do it right before your ceremony unless shivering is part of the aesthetic you’re going for.
For the Less-Adventurous (But Still Want Something Unique)
Not everyone wants their wedding day to double as an extreme sport, and that’s more than okay. There are quieter ways to make the day feel special and different from an average Tuesday.
Quiet & Grounding
- Foraging – A foraging walk with a local guide is such an underrated way to spend part of your elopement day. You’re slowing down, learning about the land you’re getting married in, and probably picking mushrooms or wild herbs that end up in the meal you eat that night. It’s intimate in a totally different way than a hike to a summit.
- Fly Fishing – A fly fishing lesson is a great pick if you want something meditative and a little old-fashioned. It’s quiet, it’s just the two of you and a guide, and even if neither of you catches anything, standing in a mountain river together is its own kind of memory.
- Stargazing – Along or with a local guide, stargazing is something I don’t think gets talked about enough as an elopement activity. Colorado has some genuinely dark skies once you’re away from the cities, and having someone point out constellations and planets while you’re wrapped in a blanket together is a quietly romantic way to end the night.
- Letter Writing or Starting a Time Capsule – Writing letters to each other (or starting a time capsule to open on an anniversary) is a quiet, meaningful way to build in a private moment together, away from cameras and everything else, just the two of you putting words on paper.
Slow & Scenic
- A Train Ride – A scenic train ride gives you a slower, sit-back kind of afternoon. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Georgetown Loop Railroad are both beautiful, and there’s something nice about just watching the mountains go by together instead of hiking through them for once.
- Alpine kayaking or canoeing – Calm-water kayaking or canoeing on an alpine lake at sunrise or sunset is gorgeous and doesn’t require any whitewater experience. It’s peaceful, it’s pretty, and it pairs beautifully with golden hour light. Pack some charcuterie and you have a memorable and romantic meal.
- Sleigh Ride – A horse-drawn sleigh ride is a dreamy option if you’re eloping in winter. Bundled up together under blankets with snow-covered pines all around? That’s a scene straight out of a movie.
- Create a Custom Hat Keepsake – Building your own custom western hat is one of my favorite lesser-known finds, and it’s in one of my favorite towns for eloping. The Mercantile Ouray has a hat bar right on Main Street where you watch your very own one-of-a-kind hat get shaped, assembled, and branded right in front of you. It’s fun, it’s a little unexpected, and you walk away from your elopement weekend with a wearable piece of it.
A Little Indulgent
- A private cooking class gives you something to do together that isn’t just “stand here and look at the view.” Learning to make a meal side by side, then sitting down to eat what you made? That’s a memory that doesn’t fade the way a single photo op does.
- A private chef dinner is the move if you’d rather skip the cooking and just savor the outcome. Imagine your ceremony, golden hour photos, and then a table set just for the two of you with a meal made specifically for your night. It’s a little bit luxury, a little bit intimate, and entirely low-stress.
- A soak in one of Colorado’s hot springs might be my favorite way to close out an elopement day, honestly. Sore feet from a day of hiking and photos, golden light fading, and a warm mineral soak to end it all. Ouray Hot Springs puts you right in the middle of the San Juans. Strawberry Park Hot Springs near Steamboat has that rustic, forested, no-cell-service kind of magic. Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort, between Salida and Buena Vista, is an easy add-on if you’re already eloping in the Collegiate Peaks area. Just know the popular ones can book out on weekends, so it’s worth locking in early.
Mix and Match
Here’s the thing: you don’t have to pick just one. I’ve had couples off-road to their ceremony location in the morning and close the night with a quiet dinner. I’ve had couples do a foraging walk the day before, then hike to an alpine lake for their vows the next morning. There’s no rulebook here. The only real question is: what sounds like you two?
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