Olivia & Dave’s Frosty Vermont Adventure Elopement
Swell & Stone / Adventure Elopement Photographer / Vermont & Beyond
When trying to find the proper adjectives to describe Olivia & Dave’s elopement day in the dead of winter in Vermont I went through a whole slew of descriptors trying to find the best fit: sparkly, fun, joyful, adventurous, frosty, wintry, and then finally…magical. I think the word magical best describes their elopement day.
They did their first look in the Stowehof in Stowe, VT. Their great room has a ton of windows and it was pretty much empty on their wedding day which made for a beautiful, private moment. We packed up our winter hiking gear and headed out to hike an incredible trail that has 360 views on the top. The high that day was 10 degrees, so it was frosty, to say the least. It had snowed in the days before their elopement so I brought snowshoes and they had microspikes, but we only ended up needing the microspikes because the trail was packed to the top. This made for some funny moments, however, whenever one of us stepped off the trail and sunk into the snow up to our waists.
We stuck body warmers, toe warmers, and hand warmers on Olivia, which ended up being both too warm and not warm enough. The thing about hiking in the winter is that as long as you are moving, it’s comfortable. But the second you stop moving things get chilly fast. On the way up we got too warm, so I made them stop for photo opps so they wouldn’t get too sweaty. But as we neared the top they turned on the hiking speed and summitted quickly! We were hot at the top so they had no problems taking off their jackets for some shots. But after about 5 minutes they got chilly so the coats went back on and the jumping jacks began. That’s the other thing about hiking in the winter, it’s always a great workout.
The primary view spot was in the frosty wind, so we picked a spot for their ceremony that was protected by trees. The read the sweetest vows to one another, laughed, maybe shed a tear or two, and it was adorable because Olivia tried to kiss Dave somewhere in the middle, but he said they had to wait until the end for their first kiss!
“I can be my complete self with Dave and it’s not only accepted but celebrated. It’s so freeing. I don’t have to be anything but me and I know deeply that he loves me exactly for who I am. We also spend 99.9% of our day laughing at anything and everything. I just can’t help but smile and laugh with Dave and I genuinely have the best time with him doing something totally boring to anything adventurous. We make a great team and are truly best friends,” said Olivia of Dave.
And that was true, they complement each other in the most wonderful way, and genuinely do laugh at EVERYTHING together. They had so much fun, even though they were freezing cold, they embraced the adventure and lived in the moment, and you can just tell when you are around them that they love every moment of time spent together.
In fact, this elopement day was in the middle of a two-week long adventure road trip where they tried skiing together for the first time, they went snowmobiling for the first time, they hiked mountains in the winter for the first time, and enjoyed so many other adventurous firsts. As we were hiking up and they told me all about their trip so far it was clear that they were making memories that would last a lifetime. And this is something they will continue to do together forever.
These two rolled with all the punches and unknowns that come with getting hitched in the middle of winter in Vermont, and it totally paid off. The snow sparkled in the sunlight and their love and joyful fun nature made the afternoon even brighter than it already was. Cheers to these two lovebirds- keep adventuring and making snow angels together forever.
