Sydney and Ed | Crested Butte Engagement
Savannah Chandler Photography | Crested Butte Engagement Photographer
Sydney and Ed found me through another couple who’s wedding I photographed in 2018 (Hi Joshua and Hannah!). Their 2023 wedding is in one of my favorite towns at one of the most stunning places in said town – and I’m so excited to see what it looks like in winter!
For their engagement, I gave Sydney a list of my 2022 travel locations and dates, and we settled on Crested Butte in July.
If you’ve never been to this amazing, quaint little mountain town in the summer – book your trip NOW. The downtown strip is fantastic (check out my favorites – Townie Books and Secret Stash Pizza), the views are breathtaking (you can see into Aspen if you get high enough), and the wildflowers are INSANE. Crested Butte is actually the Wildflower capital of the state, and it’s easy to see why.
It’s been quite the rainy year here in Colorado – which can sometimes feel like a bummer, but when you look at how lush our vegetation is right now and the sheer amount of flowers gracing the slopesides, it’s 100% worth it.
We met at one of my newest favorite hike trailheads – Rustler’s Gulch for their sunset Crested Butte engagement photographs. If you’re going to do one hike in the area – put this on your bucket list.
After spending some time amongst the flowers near Rustlers, we headed up Gothic road to make multiple stops along the way. In one area, we were photographing on the roadside and two awesome ladies came up to us and asked if we wanted to use their campsite that faced out toward Mt. Crested Butte and Whetstone Peak for some photos. Um, YES. YES WE DO. Thank you to you lovely ladies, wherever you may be!
One note to be made on wildflower photos – remember that photographs can be deceiving. I can stand in places and use foreground elements to fill in gaps, use a telephoto lens to make things look much more compressed, and all the general tricks to make use of the spaces that we’re using. We’re VERY aware and careful to step on sustainable ground, and to make sure not to step on the amazing flowers.
To end our evening together, we capped out on Schofield pass overlooking the Elk mountains and the distant town of Snowmass. It’s pretty crazy to think that as the crow flies, the towns on Crested Butte and Aspen are a mere 10 miles apart!
Thanks for adventuring with me, Sydney and Ed! I can’t wait to celebrate your wedding with you next winter!
Cheers –