Crested Butte Wildflower Engagement Session
bailey & josh’s engagement photoshoot in crested butte during wildflower season
Josh reached out to me after he & Bailey got engaged while they were traveling in Spain. They are a very well traveled couple but they really wanted a classic Colorado engagement session, since they live here and are having their wedding here. When they mentioned wildflowers, Crested Butte was the first destination that popped into my head. It is kind of a far drive from Denver, but I promised that it would be worth it. We planned a weekend in late July that summer to camp out and get some epic photos.
We started off at Emerald Lake in the early evening. I was a little worried about blooms because it can be pretty unpredictable each year- weather, rainfall, etc. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot and saw all the colors peeking out in the meadow, I knew we made the best choice to send it out to CB. Emerald Lake can be a tricky spot to get to, you need 4WD and a high clearance vehicle. We spent about 30 min here and enjoyed all the views of the lake and the huge meadows of flowers.
After spending some time at Emerald Lake, we decided to head up to Umbrella Bar at Crested Butte Ski Resort to catch the sunset and switch up the views. Bailey & Josh like to snowboard so they were excited to visit the mountain and take some photos on the chairlift. We had a gorgeous sunset. We decided to head back to camp and make dinner and return to Gothic Road in the morning to find more flowers. Bailey & Josh booked an adventure session so we had more time to have multiple locations and flexibility.
The following morning I really wanted to find a field of flowers, so we took another drive through Gothic Road and I found a bunch of fireweed next to a campsite. Luckily no one was staying the campsite and there was a foot path in the field. FYI- you should never walk off trail! The plant life at this elevation is super fragile and takes a long time to recover being trampled and disturbed so always stay on trail and I can make it look like you are surrounded by flowers. This is one of my favorite photoshoots of all time! We had amazing blooms and weather and such a great time camping out.