YMCA of the Rockies - Estes Park Center

Our Wedding

Ceremony

Reception

Wedding Reception

Fall

Online dating is an absolute nightmare, as most will agree. Despite many bad experiences in the dating world, we persevered and continued trying even though many attempts were half-hearted, at best. To both of our surprise we actually met on Tinder, despite its awful reputation. We exchanged messages and quickly moved on to texting. After a few weeks, we decided to meet in person at a restaurant in Loveland, given that its location was between the cities where we each were living at the time. I was overjoyed that he chose to take me to a Mexican place, as it is one of my favorite types of food. At first there was some awkwardness, as there always is when meeting someone new, but we quickly broke the ice and became engrossed in conversation. Before long we were approached by our waiter, who informed us that they would be closing soon. To this day we still tend to lose track of time in this way. Later in the week I invited him to come to my home in Estes for dinner. Again, we found ourselves losing track of time. He had stayed far later than he should have, given he had an hour and a half drive ahead of him and work in the morning. Before he left, he made sure to kiss me for the first time and cement himself in my thoughts from that day forward. We were both of the same mind on continuing to see each other so I packed a bag and went down to Wellington to stay with him over the weekend, and every weekend after. Almost exactly one year later we moved in to a wonderful home in Loveland together.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The night he proposed I was completely caught off guard. We had talked about getting married, and I knew it would happen eventually, but I didn’t know how soon. I had suspected it was coming a few times as Levi does not typically plan things, but had recently planned several activities for us. I did my best to make sure he knew what kind of rings I liked and which stones I found beautiful. As far as I could tell, he and his best friend working diligently to recreate a ring I fell in love with in a little shop in Estes. With a disappointed tone, he informed me that it would be more than a year before the ring would be ready. I assured him that I was in no rush. Nonetheless, a couple weeks later, we went to a Chinese lantern festival in Denver. I secretly hoped he was going to do it that day. When it didn’t happen, I knew it would be a while, so I stopped expecting and hoping it would.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When Levi surprised me with tickets to go to a Pentatonix concert, I didn’t think anything of it. We first went to dinner and had some tasty burgers. Nothing too fancy. Then we made our way to the concert and waited in line before it began. I had noticed that he had his hands in his pockets and was not holding my hand which I thought was a little strange. I chalked it up to Levi being Levi and thought no more of it. Once we were in, we found our seats and it was wonderfully close to the stage. I knew this was going to be a fantastic concert. I was looking around, enjoying the people watching and checking out the venue, when Levi started looking around the seat. “I’m going to have to change my plan” he said, which confused the heck out of me. I asked him what plan and that’s when he pulled a ring box out of his pocket. Inside was not a custom piece inspired by the ring I fell in love with, but that ring itself! I didn’t even let him complete the question before I said yes.

Our Story

Photos

Wedding Party

Q + A

Book a cabin or a lodge room, the choice is yours! YMCA of the Rockies offers a lot of different activities you can sign up for through the Programs department at the Sweet Memorial building. If you'd like to hike, there are a number of hiking trails on property and it is also walking distance into Rocky Mountain National Park. If you'd like to stay longer but don't to leave the pets at home, there are pet friendly options available.

This is a great company to use as travel to and from Denver International Airport if you choose not to rent a car. You will book transportation through them directly. Not recommended if you have pets. If you choose to rent your own car please be aware that Estes Park is about an hour and a half drive from Denver International Airport and you will do some mountain driving.

Estes Park Shuttle

Denver International Airport

Travel

Check recreation.gov for timed entry tickets. You must have a timed entry ticket and a park pass (or pay the day pass fee) to drive in to the Park. There are two separate tickets: Rocky Mountain National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park with Bear Lake Road (this one is the best to get). If you'd like to walk in to the Park, YMCA of the Rockies backs up to it on three sides and you can hike in from there.

Rocky Mountain National Park

This visitors center has a lot of great information about the town, things to do, etc.

Estes Park Visitor Center

Mustang Mountain Coaster

YMCA of the Rockies has a partnership with this company and they will pick you up from the Administration Building parking lot. No need to deal with the traffic in town!

Nicole & Levi

Nicole & Levi

Photos