Brides Who Met as Roommates Get Married on Mountain — After Hiking in Their Wedding Dresses! (Exclusive)
Crystal and Alicia Blakely roomed together all four years of college and halfway through senior year, they realized they liked each other as more than friends
In a nod to their love of hiking and adventure, Crystal and Alicia Blakely said "I do" at the top of a mountain in Vermont — and they did it after hiking there in their wedding dresses.
“It was so special,” Crystal, 29, tells PEOPLE. “I can’t wait to have more adventures together!”
Crystal and Alicia — who both changed their last names after tying the knot — instantly clicked when they met in 2013 as freshman roommates at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts. The dance majors had classes together, shared a number of interests, and quickly became best friends.
“We were inseparable,” says Crystal. “She makes me laugh so hard – I always have such a fun time with her.”
They roomed together all four years of college and halfway through their senior year, they realized they both liked each other as more than friends and decided to start dating.
“We definitely took things slow," says Alicia, 28 (she turns 29 on Dec. 16).
After graduating in May 2017, the couple moved to New York City, where they auditioned and took classes.
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down life as they knew it, they decided to go back to school and become healthcare professionals. Before starting graduate school in Maine, the pair spent 23 days in the summer of 2021 hiking the Vermont's Long Trail, a 273-mile trail that runs the length of the state.
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“We were surviving in the woods together,” Crystal says. “We definitely came through obstacles – that’s when I really felt her support. And then when she was feeling down, I was there for her."
Related: Couple’s Pandemic Romance Blossoms Into Wedding: 'It Was Never a COVID Fling' (Exclusive)
The following summer, they went engagement ring shopping, but Alicia didn't pop the question for a few more months.
One night in November 2022, Alicia woke Crystal at 2 a.m. and suggested they go for a drive. “I was excited,” Crystal says.
They drove to Acadia National Park and watched the sunrise together at the top of Cadillac Mountain. Then, Alicia proposed. “I love you so much, I just want to spend forever with you,” Crystal remembers her now-wife saying.
When it came time to think about their wedding day, Crystal says they had the "wild idea" to hike Camel’s Hump in Vermont and get married at the top of the mountain. And this September, that's exactly what they did.
They started their wedding day on Sept. 30 with a "first look" photo shoot. “I instantly started crying,” Crystal says. “She just looked so beautiful.”
Then it was time to climb.
The couple carried their bridal bouquets and a bottle of champagne in a backpack — and hiked up to the top in full-length wedding gowns, which didn’t slow them down at all, they say.
“It felt like we just flew up the mountain,” says Alicia, now a pediatric nurse. “I just pulled my dress up past my knees and was like, ‘Okay, here we go!’"
“We had a lot of fun,” she adds. “We loved hiking in our dresses.”
Along the way, the couple got plenty of congratulatory messages from fellow hikers. "Everyone we passed was like, “Oh my God, you’re getting married? That’s so exciting. That’s awesome,'" Alicia says. "Everyone was really excited for us."
“I thought that was super special,” says Crystal, who is studying to be a physical therapy assistant. “We were all strangers, but it didn’t matter. They were all just super excited that we were getting married."
After they exchanged vows at the summit, nearby hikers even applauded.
“It was super fun to see everyone’s reactions,” says photographer and officiant Amelia Kehoe, who specializes in adventure wedding and elopements. “Alicia and Crystal were beaming the whole time – they were having a great day exploring together.”
Then they popped a bottle of champagne, hung a “just married” sign from their backpack and hiked down the mountain, where they met their close family and friends for a reception at Crystal’s parent's house.
The newlyweds — who changed their last name to Blakely in a nod to Crystal’s maternal great grandmother — encourage other couples not to be afraid to have fun, “just us” weddings.
“Definitely commit and be brave and do it,” Crystal says. “Having an intimate, fun adventure made our wedding day so much more special. It’s definitely worth it.”
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