Meet Crystal Gillis | Adventure Elopement Stylist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Crystal Gillis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Crystal, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

I’ve been doing hair for nearly 20 years. I love it, I’m passionate about it, it fills my cup. But I also crave the outdoors. These two lifestyles haven’t always intersected, within the beauty industry I’ve struggled to find a space that felt authentic and welcoming to an outdoorsy woman, even working in Colorado. I thought I would find a whole swath of backpacking, raft guiding, rock climbing hairstylists and you know what? They just aren’t here. So, in my mind, a whole demographic of women who enjoy these things are also experiencing the alienation I felt from the industry trying to sell us SPF foundation and sweat proof hairspray that we apparently can’t live without. Which, spoiler, we can.

I’m now a backcountry elopements stylist, which is essentially a bridal Hair and Makeup Artist (HMUA), but I do my job in way cooler locations and typically hours before the sun rises. The only bridal hair I ever want to do again was for weddings “way out in the wild” for outdoorsy and adventurous women. I am tired of the traditional. When Wild Brides Backcountry was just an idea I fantasized about, adventure elopements hadn’t made it to popularity so making a business model of it seemed unreasonable. However, the pandemic really changed a lot about the wedding industry. A few months into this new frontier it seemed clear the time was right. While the rest of the world was learning to work their jobs remotely, I found a way to take mine on the road as well in a way I never thought would be possible.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry craft
what type of services/creative works you provide,
what problems you solve for your clients
what you think sets you apart from others.
What are you most proud of
what are the main things you want potential clients to know about your work?

Please provide as much detail as you feel relevant as this is one of the core questions where the reader will get to know about you and your brand/organization/etc.

I’m a backcountry elopements stylist, which is essentially a bridal HMUA, but I do my job in way cooler locations and typically hours before the sun rises. I’ve been in the beauty industry for nearly 20 years and have kind of struggled to find a space for me that felt authentic, even working in Colorado. I thought I would find a whole swath of backpacking, raft guiding, rock climbing hairstylists and you know what? They just aren’t here. So, in my mind a whole demographic of women who enjoy these things are also experiencing the alienation I felt from the beauty industry trying to sell us SPF foundation and sweat proof hairspray that we apparently can’t live without. Which, spoiler, we can.

Nearly every consultation begins with my bride saying, “I never wear makeup”, to which I reply “great, you’re my favorite” because I said the same thing to my colleague applying makeup on my wedding day. The look is enhanced natural, of course I can do high alpine glam and backcountry goth, but overwhelmingly this is what is requested and what I’m trying to achieve.

Elopements are all so unique. I’ve done overlanding elopements, high alpine lakes, snowboarding in Vail, horse drawn carriage rides and intimate backyard garden affairs. They all present their own unique challenges. Weather, milage, sweat, hiking clothing, dress style and accessories all are factored into the design of the hair and makeup before we even get into the inspiration pics and what hair and skin type the bride is arriving with. There is so much care and thought that goes into designing these styles for my backcountry brides, a level that I had never experienced in my previous bridal styling.

In addition to hair and makeup I offer full day assistance to our brides where I hike out onto location with them, if nothing else than because wedding dresses are often 78 button origami puzzles. But also, because when you leave friends and family at home it’s nice to have someone there who’s whole job is just to make sure you’re warm, comfortable, well snacked and have no lipstick on your teeth. I really think it’s important on that day to make sure the bride can focus on being a bride, the photographer can focus on being a photographer, not fluffing the dress or having to worry about photoshopping out of place hair, and someone needs to make sure the groom has cut the tags off the suit.

I am the most proud of creating a job uniquely suited for me. How many times do you hear the old “do what you love, and you’ll never work a day” line? I mean, no one I’ve ever met has believed that bologna sandwich, but every adult of a certain generation says it. So, I did it.

The most innovative thing I’ve done was carve out a niche of the wedding industry that very few people in my industry were willing to tackle but encompasses everything I’m passionate about.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Typically when friends from out of town visit I love to get in at least one hike with them, which I tailor to their idea of a good time. I’ve had a few people love Staunton State Park, others really enjoy Apex in Golden if we have time to get up into the mountains I love the Brainard Lake area. Then we need food! Some great post hike grub comes from the Sherpa House in Golden, but if I’m in the hills I really like Busey Brews in Nederland. And at that point in the day just about any of our many fine breweries will do!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I think I would love to shout out to my brides, they are the inspiration for the whole idea. They are a collection of bad ass women doing the unconventional.

Website: https://www.wildbridesbackcountry.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wild_brides_backcountry

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildbridesbackcountry/

Image Credits
photo 1 and 2: We the Light Photo Photo 3: The Drawhorns Photo 4: Vows and Peaks