Stunning and joyful elopement at Colorado's Garden of the Gods

Julie and Tassia’s intimate August elopement took place at the breathtaking Garden of Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The pair said “I do” surrounded by close friends and family, as well as gorgeous 360 degree views of the park’s sandstone formations.

“The best part of the day was the ceremony,” they write. “There was so much stress around weather and if the rain or storms would hold out since we were doing everything outside. But by the end of the ceremony, the sun was shining, with the clouds hovering over the mountains. It was just amazing, more beautiful than we could have even imagined.”

The emotional first look and ceremony were followed by dinner at the Garden of the Gods Resort.

How It All Began

The couple met while both were serving in the military. Tassia was Julie’s supervisor, and they were also serving under the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. They had to keep their relationship a secret for many reasons.

“But as happens for anything that is ‘forbidden,’ it made everything all that much more intense between the two of us,” they said.

The couple got engaged after 3 months of dating and stayed that way for 6 years before breaking up for 3. Then, in 2021, they found each other again.

Advice To Other Couples

Their advice to other LGBTQ+ couples planning their big day: ” 100% keep true to what is important to YOU and not anyone else. Not your mom, your future mother-in-law, not your family, not your best friend… YOU. It is important to plan your day in a way that will mean something to the both of you as a couple and individually. For us, doing an extremely small ceremony that was meant just for the two of us, in a place that held dear to our hearts, is what made the ceremony all that much more special. It made the entire day so meaningful, because we had so much rich history there and it was just the two of us, and our parents.”

They also emphasized the importance of highly skilled photographers and videographers.

“Something that was important to us was to not only capture our epic day, but also to feel like we weren’t just staging the whole thing for a film. We wanted to be able to truly be ourselves while the cameras were in the background, and that’s what we were able to do with Adam and McKenna. Our day was so beautifully captured by the both of them, and all we did was just get ready, show up, and do our Julie & Tassia thing :)”