Keystone Wedding // Emily + Jeff

Breathtaking. As I sat at my computer wondering how I would describe the views surrounding the Keystone Resort wedding I photographed a couple weeks ago, the word that came to mind was “breathtaking.” The phrase is cliché, so I almost disregarded it. However, I paused for a moment, reflected on my experience and decided that breathtaking, perhaps, is the perfect term. Yes. The Colorado mountain landscape was impressive (this couple got married at a nearly eleven thousand foot elevation) but it was the adventure I had getting to the wedding that in turn left me breathless.

Two weeks ago my dear home state of Colorado was flooding. FLOODING. Months before that I had been asked to second shoot a Keystone Resort wedding by friend and colleague, Christoper Cleary, and little did I know that this Friday the 13^th wedding would turn in to such an adventure.

This was my first time second shooting for another wedding photographer and I was excited for the opportunity to work alongside Chris. I was also looking forward to having some gorgeous new mountain wedding photographs for my portfolio.  As this weekend also happened to coincide with Matt and my six-month anniversary, we decided to make a weekend-get-away/anniversary-extravaganza out of it. Plans were made. A beautiful condo was booked. We were getting excited. Then it started to rain. A lot. It rained for a week. The rivers surrounding our town swelled and property all down the Front Range was wiped away.

On the morning of the wedding, still at home in Fort Collins, I awoke early to finish packing camera equipment and prepare for the day’s journey. I received a text from Chris. Please check the roads for getting here. Apparently 70 had a rockslide. I-70, the highway to Keystone, was closed. This perhaps wouldn’t have been such devastating news, except that because of the flooding, the “back-roads” had been washed out earlier that week. Fortunately, Chris, having arrived the day before, was already up at Keystone Resort with the wedding party. I told him we would start to head up and keep our fingers crossed that I-70 would be cleared by the afternoon so we could still reach Keystone before the wedding.

Matt helped me load up my little RAV-4 and we took off. For those of you who don’t know, the obvious route would be I-25 South to Denver then I-70 West to Dillon (Keystone). We were barely out of town, driving south on I-25 when we were met with a blockade of orange traffic cones and State Troopers directing us off the interstate at Highway 34 because the Interstate was also washed out. Unwilling to accept defeat, we drove east (very much in the opposite direction of the wedding) hoping to find another route South. Soon we found ourselves heading south on a dirt county road and it seemed as though everything might just work out. It wasn’t long though before the dirt road became a slimy, slippery, muddy runway, which I used to nearly launch us into a ditch. It was time to regroup.

Matt and I switched spots, and he drove us on. Our south bound journey ended abruptly when we found another State Trooper blocking the intersection ahead of us. We turned around. I felt slightly more defeated and watched the time ticking on in the teal digital clock on my dashboard. We went back to where we came from, and traveled even further east (even further AWAY from Keystone) in hopes of finding another route South.

Forty-five minutes later the hood of my car was finally pointing south but we were going NOWHERE. We were on Highway 85 creeping along and partaking in a massive rural traffic jam (because apparently EVERYONE had the same idea as us) when a State Trooper vehicle passed us on the right shoulder and quite literally started rerouting traffic three cars ahead of us.

We pulled off into a gas station and Matt looked at me questioningly, afraid to ask if we should finally give up. (I’d like to pause for a moment, just to acknowledge how incredibly supportive my boyfriend is… yeah. I know. He’s awesome.). I felt it too. Time was slipping away and we were only gaining distance between us and Keystone. I took a deep breath and hesitantly said “let’s try one more thing.”

We headed FURTHER east until I thought we should have seen a sign for the Kansas border. There were more State Troopers. Our side of the highway became one lane as water creeped over the pavement but then we were heading south. And then west. The rockslide had been cleared and traffic moved slowly but steadily up into the Rocky Mountains. We reached Keystone Resort a half an hour before the ceremony began and I still had to take a gondola to get to the site. A journey that should have taken two and a half hours took us six. I was sore. My makeup had faded off my skin and my hair felt slightly disheveled. But. I. Made. It.

Yes, I’m stubborn. I’ll fully admit that. It would have been so much easier to turn around at any point of that journey but weddings are my passion and I don’t give up on a couple’s big day. I’m grateful for my incredible boyfriend who helped me get to Keystone in one piece. Also, I’m grateful for Chris who was amazing to work with and gave me the opportunity to photograph a wedding at the top of a mountain! It was truly breathtaking.

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CEREMONY: Keystone Resort
RECEPTION: Aspenglow Stube at Keystone Resort

All images photographed for Christopher Cleary and Associates, LLC.
©Christopher Cleary and Associates, LLC, 2013.