We were lucky to catch up with Crystal Gillis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Crystal, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

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.

Crystal, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

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.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I don’t consider myself a creative, or at least I struggle with it. By that I mean, I ask every bride to send me inspiration photos, which I’m pulling all of my design cues from and my entire social media feed is hairstyling and makeup education that I use to fill the gaps. So, to a certain extent everything I do feels like years of cumulative plagiarism. I guess one could call that experience or education or whatever but reguardless I couldn’t do my job without the guidance of better artists than me. All that is to say, what I do is find a work around for the various conditions that each of these brides (or clients in my salon) face. So sometimes creativity is simpler than the construct around it, its hearing people express concerns, its thinking about them and their lives, its empathy. What appears to be creativity, is sometimes just listening and trying to help, whether it’s with a craft or a spreadsheet or a shoulder.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I started Wild Brides in the early months of the Covid pandemic, and by that I mean that I had an idea and an LLC with no idea how on earth I was going to break into a market that was just emerging itself and seemingly had no room for extra luxuries. I knew that I would be spending a lot of that first year working traditional small weddings (not my idea of fun) for sporadic clientele (I’d just moved from a high traffic commission salon to an independent studio). Having some understanding that a traditional wedding photographer would have a similar trajectory moving into the elopement side of the industry I looked to them for business and marketing advice. I found blogs and podcasts focusing on their journey and set about weeding through their challenges to inform my own path. From what I could find, there were no other bridal stylists willing to specialize in this type of wedding. This situation is either a great advantage for me if I can set the course or an insurmountable undertaking to convince people that this was a thing!

Early in 2021 I heard my now friend Sean Oblizalo chatting on the Bearded Tog podcast about how challenging it can be to find vendors willing to work with eloping couples. The caterers aren’t motivated to work small 2 person jobs, the florists would waste an enormous amount of product creating single bridal bouquets and the hairstylists aren’t about to start work at 2am in God knows where. Now, to be fair, I hate mornings, but I really, really wanted to make a go of this new idea. So immediately, like before leaving the Chick-fil-a parking lot, I embarked on a little google stalking and tracked down Sean’s contact info. Honestly, it was probably in the show notes but who has time for that? I emailed him a friendly “hello, you found me” and a short description of what I do (or wanted to do, because at this point this was really only just an idea).

This moment was accidental magic, stepping out of my comfort zone hoping the ground materializes under me, magic. Sean seemed stoked but in a “sure, whatever” kind of way, which I’ve later come to realize is just his base line emotional state, and said he’d add me to his vendor list. A few months went by and a booking came in at his recommendation, and it was FUN!!! I had a 3am wake up call, watched the sunrise at the top of Loveland Pass and I finished my day by 9am. I was so over the moon with excitement! The next booking came in the fall of 2021, and this one felt more like a fraternity hazing. I woke up at 2am, prepped the bride by headlamp in a parking lot and we started our 6 mile hike out to an alpine lake by 3am. By the time I finished the exhausting 12 mile roundtrip back at the trailhead I was sure that this job was going to kill me but also this was exactly the work I was meant to be doing.

The decision to reach out to Sean and other photographers who specialize in elopements has been critical to Wild Brides. They have critical in introducing the concept to brides that eloping doesn’t mean having to sacrifice being pampered or “getting ready” photos. Societal perspective has led us to believe that elopements are selfish, unplanned and even shameful events. Couples are only recently learning that they don’t have to be low budget, low reward events. You are really allowed to incorporate any elements that are important to you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wildbridesbackcountry.com/
• Instagram: @wild_brides_backcountry
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildbridesbackcountry

Image Credits
Photos 1-3 and 6 and headshot @vowsandpeaks Photo 5 @larsenphotoco Photo 4 @beautiful_bones_photo