For some, having an outdoor wedding in Colorado in February might seem crazy.

But that’s exactly what co-workers Jamie McNeilly, 30, and John Ferguson, 39, did in February — and they got paid by their company to do it.

McNeilly and Ferguson both work for outdoor equipment retailer (Recreational Equipment Inc.) REI , which gives its employees two “Yay Days” per year (plus Black Friday since 2015) to enjoy their favorite outdoor activity.

On Feb. 21, 2015, they used the days to go to Penitentiary Glen Reservation near Cleveland — and got engaged – and on Feb. 18 of this year, they used the days to get married at a relative’s property in the Colorado mountains.

“We love hiking and feel the happiest and most at peace when we’re outside,” McNeilly, 30, of Pittsburgh, tells PEOPLE,  “so we felt that the mountains were the natural choice for our wedding day. It was an incredible experience and we’re so happy to share it!”

Ferguson agrees.

“I was walking into work when we got back and I was thinking, ‘Wow. We had the perfect day,’ ” he says. “I don’t know how many people can say their wedding day went off without a hitch.”

It’s a unique employee benefit the company, which was number 30 in PEOPLE’s first-ever list of the Top 50 Companies That Care, doesn’t mind boasting about.

“It’s all about experiencing the outdoors and embracing the spirit of an outdoor life … capturing that feeling of discovery and bringing it back to our customers,”  CEO Jerry Stritzke tells PEOPLE. “It’s training, community-building and reinforcing a love of the outdoors, all in one.”

The company supports the outdoors in other ways as well. Since 1976, REI has donated more than $77 million to the National Parks Foundation and similar nonprofits.

While it’s slightly risky to plan an outdoor wedding in Colorado in February, McNeilly says they picked that date because it was her father’s birthday. He died of cancer in July 2015.

“We chose to get married on his birthday to honor him and to feel close to him,” she says. “It just felt right.”

Between 20 and 30 close friends and relatives attended the outdoor ceremony. Their 2-year-old daughter, Rhiannon, was the flower girl.

“We spent the day outside,” she says. “I hiked in a wedding dress for a lot of those pictures.”

The couple first met at REI’s Pittsburgh store in April 2012, where Ferguson was a sales lead and Jamie was a sales specialist.

“I had originally ruled Jamie out because I worked with her,” Ferguson laughs, “but it’s crazy how REI is so unique in so many ways that it brings like-minded individuals together like no other retailer I’ve ever seen and you can’t help but meet people there.”

As for Jamie, she says she, too, was attracted to him.

“I did think he was cute,” she says. “More than once I told him he was marriage material but I just didn’t quite realize it would be with me.”

Their friendship blossomed into romance in the spring of 2013.

So what’s next for the newlyweds?

The honeymoon — somewhere outdoorsy using their “Yay Days,” of course!

“We’ve been saying for years that neither of us have been to the Grand Canyon,” says Ferguson, “and we might just have to drive to get there. There’s so much beauty in America and in our national parks and we need to keep promoting them and keep protecting them the best we can…and I want Rhiannon to be well versed in the national parks.”

Both of them say they feel incredibly lucky to work for a company that gives them paid days off to enjoy the outdoors.

“It’s wonderful,” says Jamie, who now works part-time at the store to care for Rhiannon. “They already had a great work-life balance because you earn your paid time off and your sick time as you go and they’re always pretty accommodating when you wanted to take off and do trips and stuff and then adding in the ‘Yay Days’ we’re just like, ‘Are you kidding me? This is amazing.’ “

from PEOPLE.com