By Kristen Marie

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Durango, CO
By Kristen Marie

Elopement and Adventure Wedding Photographer

03/13/2026

Travel Schedule 2026

She’s back! Travel Kristen needed a break real bad. But she’s rested and recharged for the journey ahead.

Traveling has always been a HUGE value of mine. 2024/25 I had to face the realization that there IS a point where traveling can feel heavy and exhausting. So 2026 Kristen is bringing her love of exploration, with boundaries and lots more rest in between 😎

I’m going to some EPIC places, and I’d love to meet some of you guys while I’m out and about! Just shoot me a DM if you’ll be in any of these places at the same time.

xx
Kristen Marie

03/11/2026

Elemental Study ii: Water ⁣
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In the high country, water rests.⁣
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Snowmelt collects in bowls of stone, forming alpine lakes that hold the memory of glaciers and storms. Their surfaces appear calm, but beneath them is deep, cold patience.⁣
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Lakes teach a different lesson than rivers.⁣
Not urgency, but depth.⁣
Not movement, but reflection.⁣
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Water here becomes a mirror —⁣
for mountains, clouds, and the quiet parts of ourselves.⁣

Blanket from
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03/05/2026

Elemental Study II: Waterfalls

Falling water is one of the most mesmerizing forms water takes. It gathers, spills over an edge, and suddenly becomes movement, sound, mist, and force all at once. Standing near a waterfall you can feel its energy in the air — the constant rush, the cool spray, the reminder that motion itself is alive.

Water doesn’t resist the fall.
It moves with it.

And somehow that surrender becomes power.

03/03/2026

Elemental Study II: Water

Water arrives as rain.
As tears.
As rivers.
We are made of water.

On this day, it arrived in gold — falling through sunlight while they danced beneath it, a rainbow rising behind them.

Water purifies.
Water tames fire.
Water sustains life.

And sometimes, it reminds us that storms are not the opposite of beauty — they are the source of it.

02/27/2026

Wind pt. 3

Something from one of my college classes returned to my brain this morning.

Have you ever noticed that sunrise and sunset specifically get really windy?

That’s becaaaause (insert my nerdiness), winds often pick up because the atmosphere is adjusting to the sun’s changing position. As the sun lowers, the ground starts to cool, which changes the temperature and pressure of the air near the surface. Warm air rises, cooler air moves in, and that movement creates wind.

Translation: at sunset and sunrise, it can get REAL windy.

But once the sun fully drops below the horizon and the ground finishes releasing its heat, things usually stabilize—and the winds calm down.

So next time you’re enjoying a beautiful sunset, and you notice how windy it is… just remember: The chaos won’t last forever. As soon as the sun finally disappears, the air often settles again.

It’s just the atmosphere finding its balance.

02/26/2026

Day 2 of exploring wind.
Proof that the most powerful forces are the ones we cannot hold,
only the ones we learn to move with.

02/24/2026

Elemental Study I: Wind 🌬️

I’m spending this season studying the elements of the natural universe and how they interact with the art of photography.

This week I’m looking at wind. It’s actually insane. It’s a thing that’s both invisible and destructive, chaotic and moving.

Baye and Sawyer’s Sedona elopement was one of those times where the wind could have meant chaos, but we chose surrender.

When we came back to the restaurant after sunset portraits, someone asked,
“Were you even able to get any good photos of them, in all that wind?”

I had to laugh.

Because I knew I had just taken some of my favorite images ever.

Wind can feel jarring. Cold. It can literally take your breath away.

But when we surrender to it —
when we stop trying to control every strand of hair, every fold of fabric —

that’s where the magic lives.

You can’t pose wind.
You can only turn toward it.

And trust where it carries you.

02/06/2026

SEO ANNIVERSARY SALE 📣 hear ye, hear ye

My course SEO Simplified is on sale, just in time for slow season!

I’ve ranked #1 on Google in two different cities—first Sedona and now Durango.
Not by luck. Not by hacks. By knowing what actually works.

That’s exactly what I teach inside SEO Simplified: a clear, step by step SEO course for creatives and business owners who just want results. No fluff.

✨ 55% off for my anniversary sale
⏰ Ends February 8 at 11:59pm MST
🫵🏼 USE CODE ANNISALE at checkout
🔗 Link in my bio + stories

12/19/2025

2025⁣
12 elopements across Durango, Silverton, Sedona, Telluride, Horseshoe Bend, and Phoenix.⁣
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When I say elopement, I don’t mean “small wedding” or “last-minute.”⁣
To me, eloping is choosing intention over tradition — creating a day that’s deeply personal, unhurried, and rooted in what actually matters to you.⁣
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In my elopement packages, I step into a role that goes far beyond photographing.⁣
I’m helping you choose locations, shape the flow of the day, build timelines, and think through all the little details — often without a venue or a separate planner involved. We have multiple calls, we dream together, and we craft something that feels quite literally like magic.⁣
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These days might be called microweddings elsewhere, but I hold them as elopements because of the care, creativity, and energy poured into them. These days ask more of me — and I give them my whole heart.⁣
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Thank you to every couple who trusted me to help bring their day to life 🤍⁣
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12/18/2025

2025⁣
21 weddings and elopements⁣
9 weddings ⁣
12 elopements⁣
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I don’t know how many photos I took this year, but I do know that after ONE wedding I came home with 10,000 RAWs, which is DEFINITELY a record for me.⁣
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I can’t fit all 21 in 1 post, so we’re splitting up the weddings and elopements. Here is a tiny peek into the 9 dreamy weddings I was lucky to be a part of. In chronological order. ✨ ⁣
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Thank you to all my incredible, beautiful, intentional clients that entrusted me with capturing their most precious moments. ⁣I don’t know how I always get so lucky, I work with the best and the most gorgeous, I swear!!⁣
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And a HUGE thank you to every vendor, planner, second shooters, friends and family, EVERYONE that helped take an idea, and turn it into *magic*. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes to make any wedding happen, and I’m so grateful for the teams I was privileged to meet and work with this year. ⁣
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Here’s to 2025 🥂 all the lessons, growth, friendships, and beauty we got to witness.⁣
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I’ll be posting the elopements tomorrow ✨⁣
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12/13/2025

I honestly cannot tell if I’m posting too many of these disco party photos or not ENOUGH.⁣
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Count me in ALWAYS for an after-party-rave-in-an-abandoned-water-tower 🪩 ⁣just sent over the full gallery from this this 3 day festival-style wedding in western Colorado. The disco party was my personal favorite…. But I’ll be sharing every other moment soon— from the cold plunge to the ceremony by the confluence to the wine toasts in a space tent.⁣
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Venue:⁣ ⁣
Planner/coordinator/day-of-besties: .co ⁣
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11/16/2025

Last wedding of the year, and it went out with a BANG.⁣
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Nicole and Cody’s Phoenix wedding was beyond my wildest dreams — the kind of day that reminds me exactly why I do this. The light, the energy, the emotion, the way these two were fully themselves with the people they love most… it was the most beautiful way to wrap up the season.⁣
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Feeling incredibly grateful to end the year on such a high note, and even more excited for everything ahead.⁣
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Photographer⁣: ⁣
Videographer⁣: ⁣
Venue⁣: ⁣
Planner⁣: ⁣
Hair⁣: ⁣
Makeup⁣: ⁣
Catering⁣: .l.c.experience ⁣
Bar⁣: ⁣
Cake:
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Address

Durango, CO
81301-81303

Website

https://bykristenmarie.com/

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