After a Drink at Their Favorite Cidery, This Couple Eloped in the Snowy Colorado Mountains

Robert "Robbie" Sittema (27 and an industrial engineer) and Brogan Sittema (28 and a human resources supervisor) eloped as snowflakes fell in Ward, Colorado near Brainard Lake. But their snowstorm-filled vow exchange wasn't the beginning of their epic wedding day—a visit to their go-to cidery was! "We wanted time for just the two of us and went to Stem Ciders (we live next door) to have a drink together and just soak up some alone time. Our families met us at Stem Ciders until we all drove up to the mountains together. We do not get a lot of family time since we've moved to Colorado and we wanted us all to travel to mountains together," Brogan recalls of the beginning of her Colorado wedding day. "One of the main highlights of the day was walking to our ceremony location because it felt so surreal. It was clear we could not hike to our original spot and we'd have to make adjustments. Jess arrived before we did and found a great spot for us to exchange vows. We all walked in this crazy snow storm for our ceremony. I just remember laughing and giggling because it was like a dream!" Once the couple made it to their snow-laden ceremony location, Brogan's father performed the wedding ceremony. "It felt special that he wrote aspects of our ceremony because he knows us and we could tell he put so much care into everything. Another main highlight was reading our vows because we chose to write them. As we were trying to read our handwritten vows, the snowflakes started to melt on the cards we wrote in. We had to shake them off at points to continue reading on." After the ceremony the couple took pictures before heading back down the mountains to Denver for dinner and drinks. "Our families being together and us getting that time with them was special to us and exactly what we were looking for in our day," Brogan shares of her Ward, Colorado elopement in the snow.