Cassandria & Rich’s Colorado Wedding at the Paint Mines

Cassandria: We met around 2:00am on Halloween in a train station in NYC. My sister and I went to a haunted house in Brooklyn and ended up getting pretty lost, so we finally just decided to head back to Times Square to get some food. We couldn’t find anything to eat, so we decided to head back to Penn Station to go home. We normally walk back to Penn, but it was raining so we decided to take the train back. The train was delayed, and while we were waiting, a very drunk man was running away from his friend. My sister and I decided to entertain this guy because of his concerned friend yelling after him. That concerned friend was Rich! After talking for a bit, we found out we went to the same college and the conversation ended with him asking for my number. I honestly didn’t think he’d be interested in me – I thought we were just having conversation! I thought he was very good-looking, smart and funny. From that night I knew we were meant to meet each other.

Rich: It was Halloween night, and I was meeting my friends at a music event in NYC. After a long night of music and partying, I felt somewhat obligated to help my one buddy get home. He tried to convince me that he knew the fastest way to get to the train station. Although I knew the shortest route, I still entertained his idea. Once we arrived to a random train stop, he drunkenly started talking to a couple of girls on the platform. After interfering the conversation and apologizing, I almost immediately realized they weren’t from the city, and out of curiosity, I thought to ask what they were doing. Cassandria told me that she and her sister were on their way home after going to a haunted house in Brooklyn, but got a little turned around in the MTA subway system. As the train pulled up to the platform, we both were heading in the same direction for a while, and continued to talk on the train. I later found out that we actually went to the same college on Long Island. After talking to her and listening to her interesting night, I was curious about her story and asked for her phone number before we went our separate ways.

Cassandria: I fell in love with Rich immediately. He was so sweet and caring. Right from the start he took care of me and my family. He fixed things around my mother’s house, hung out with my sister and quickly became a brother to my younger brother. My family means so much to me and he dove right in. I knew I could definitely have a happy life with him.

Rich: I first knew I fell in love with Cass when I realized that she was always there when I needed her. Not only for support, but for every aspect. She was always always willing to help me even if it meant going out of her comfort zone. She has sacrificed for me, and I’m always willing to do the same for her.

Cassandria: The proposal was very sweet and intimate – it was on Christmas morning surrounded by my mother, sister and brother. They are very important to me so he made sure to do it while we were visiting them! He wrapped a big green bow on our pet rabbit (who is like our child!) and attached the ring box to it.

Rich: I proposed to Cassandria on Christmas morning, with the help of our little pet bunny named America. I originally ordered a custom made T-shirt from Etsy that was measured to fit America that said, “Mommy, will you marry my Dad?,” but the T-shirt never shipped, so I had to find a new solution. I then decided to wrap little America with a giant green bow, and tied the jewelry box to the top. I handed America to Cassandria and once she saw the box, I asked her to marry me (while we were wearing matching onesies).

Cassandria: I love how kind and caring Richard is. He is always going out of his way for everyone. He always sees the good in people. I also love how funny he is! He makes me laugh everyday and I think that’s important in love.

Rich: I love Cass because she is so caring. She always cares about how I will react to things, and always try to cheer me up, or pick me up. She’s very supportive, even when she’s stressed herself. I know I’ll always have a beautiful person in my life, and I’m happy that I get to call her my wife.

Cassandria: I believe our biggest strength is our ability to work together and be there for each other. When hard times had come our way, we automatically stick together and figure out how to handle it. We can always count on each other.

Rich: Our biggest strength is being able to always be on the same page with different topics. Although we don’t always see eye-to-eye, we are able to show each other our own perspectives, and I always enjoy hearing her thought process.

Cassandria: I  originally wanted to elope with Simply Eloped in NYC, but friends and family swayed us to get married and have a small wedding. We really planned on getting married on the 6th year anniversary of our meeting on 11/01,  but due to crazy regulations and disappointments, we decided to choose an adventure and make a new special date! We both had never been to Colorado and love to road trip, so we drove to Colorado and back by choosing special Airbnbs and doing fun little road stops to make our whole elopement week special.

I Googled “eloping”!

Honestly, I just got an amazing vibe from all the happy couples in the photos displayed! There were also no bad reviews, everyone seemed very happy with their choice!

We were sitting down looking at all the different small wedding venues in Colorado and fell in love with the Paint Mines. The Paint Mines looked so beautiful online, we got super excited about the idea of getting married at a unique location that we were seeing for the first time. It made it that more special!

We road tripped from upstate New York! We stayed in unique Airbnbs and stopped at weird road side attractions. We spent the morning relaxing and spending time together! We also read our vows to each other privately before we got ready and did our first look together. It seemed more like us to have these moments just for us. We were very excited to get married! We kept saying, “I can’t believe we’re really doing this,” all day to each other.

Simply Eloped planned everything for us in just three weeks. It was so nice, especially when I had to cancel the vendors from our original wedding. We were contacted by our officiant, photographer, and makeup artist! It’s such a relaxing option to get married – they really just want to create a special day!

Because our wedding was later in the evening and with COVID regulations, we were unable to eat out but we got the most amazing food from the Wobbly Olive for take out. We had set up a nice table at our Airbnb and drank champagne! It was a very intimate and romantic evening.

DO IT! If you are considering it then this is probably what you were meant to do! Family and friends will understand because this is the start of your lives together. The moments we shared on our journey could never compare to a big or intimate wedding! We love remembering it and telling everyone about our amazing time!