Ambivalent About Their Next Steps, But Not Each Other

“It sounds really goofy now, but at the time it was the best we could do,” Mr. McClure said. Ms. Kwak appreciated the clear demonstration of his interest. “I think more than anything, the effort meant a lot to me,” she said.

Still, Ms. Kwak expected to return to New York, which Mr. McClure only learned about after they had been out several times. It was less an obfuscation than an ambivalence about where life would take her next.

“I had been hopping from Airbnb to Airbnb, which he kind of knew,” Ms. Kwak said, explaining that she needed a quiet space for work. “But I think he just thought I was in transition. I said, ‘I think I want to be here long term,’ and I was testing the waters to see how he felt about that.”

Ms. Kwak bought a townhouse in Denver in early 2021, which she intended to have as an investment property, and stayed with Mr. McClure elsewhere in the city while she waited for her belongings to be shipped from New York. They enjoyed the time so thoroughly that he eventually moved into the home with her — and she decided to stay in Denver for good.

While on a vacation through Spain in May 2023, Mr. McClure proposed to Ms. Kwak in a hidden courtyard near the Seville Cathedral. As neither liked the idea of a big wedding, they decided to elope, with a bigger celebration planned for Sept. 22 at Mountain Crust Event Venue in Denver.

On July 19, amid wildflower season, they wed at sunset in the Silver Basin of the San Juan Mountains near Telluride, Colo., in a scenic spot suggested by their photographer, Katie Dawn. As wedding officiants are not required in the state of Colorado, the couple privately exchanged vows and signed their marriage license on the hood of a rented Jeep. In keeping with the Jewish tradition, Mr. McClure stepped on a glass.

They returned to Telluride around 9 p.m., at which time the only place still open was a dive bar where they ate tater tot tacos and a fellow patron bought them Champagne. “It was both romantic and honestly very casual,” Ms. Kwak said. “We just did what felt right to us in the moment.”