Lauren and Matt's Desert Elopement

As many of you know, we were fortunate enough to to be invited on a Grand Canyon trip with a group of friends from the Greenville area.  We decided to take advantage of the opportunity and turned it into a western adventure.  After spending Colorado River with 16 friends, we decided to make a few stops along the way home.  We visited Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona before heading to Zion.  We spent the next two days hiking around Zion National Park and camping in Springdale, UT.  We then started our drive through the beautiful state of Utah on our way to Fruita, Colorado.  Fruita was absolutely amazing and offered three days of some of the best biking we had seen.  It was such a small and tight community and it was amazing to see how cycling was such a large part of that community.  Our next stop was Crestone, CO, but not before a much deserved spa day in Grand Junction.  Some of you may know, we had discussed an elopement ceremony for awhile now and we felt like we were ready to make that commitment to each other, but in our own way.  So we reached out to one of Lauren's best and longest friends, Marcela, about the possibility of shooting the ceremony.  She immediately said yes and led the way from there.  It was a long and sometimes difficult process to find the location that we felt best suited us.  After an extensive search and many phone calls, we decided Great Sand Dunes National Park was the place for us.  We woke up around 3:30am and drove to the park to start hiking in 20 degree weather for sunrise.  In it's own beautiful way, it was very much a metaphor for the hard work and commitment that a relationship is.  It wasn't an easy day, but it was a perfect day.  

After returning to normal life and informing friends and family members about our elopement, we were stunned and incredibly humbled by the amount of you asking about gifts and wanting to do something special for us.  It was truly unexpected and we can't begin to thank everyone for the support we received from all of you.  Honestly, we weren't entirely sure how the news would be received.  We are so grateful to have wonderful people in our lives and incredibly fortunate.  

We were convinced that a go fund me would be an easy option for any that wanted to contribute to our new lives together.  We are excited to continue adventuring together more than anything. After falling love with white water on the canyon, we would love to buy a raft to experience more rivers in the southeast. Although the raft is a big goal for us, we also look forward to bikes and possibly a grill to enjoy with friends.  We love you all so much and are so very grateful to have a supportive group of people by our side.  We would also like to give a huge thanks to Marcela.  Without her, this elopement never would have happened.  She spent an incredible amount of time and energy researching locations and permit requirements and we are so very grateful for you Marcela.  

Much Love,

Matt and Lauren