Alright, I get it. You didn’t decide on a Colorado wedding to not show your guests how rad our mountains are, and you didn’t spend all this time planning your ceremony for there not to be rad fuckin’ views in the background, so let’s get right to it. I’ve put together a comprehensive guide to Colorado Mountain Wedding Venues, included all my favorites based on location, experience, and views, and included them here with tons of info so that you don’t have to go down the search rabbit hole and waste all your time planning instead of touring fun venues with your boo.
So where to start? When you say “mountain wedding venues”, this can mean a whole lot in Colorado. The state is huge, and therefore when you’re picking your location, I would suggest you think about a few additional factors, first.
How to pick your Colorado Mountain Wedding Venue
- Decide on a season: Especially if you and/or your guests are coming from out of town, consider their willingness and experience to drive mountain roads in the winter, and what that might mean on the impact of your day. While I encourage most everyone to visit here in the winter (it’s my favorite Colorado season!!!), sometimes this can make a larger wedding day tough: what if there’s a snowstorm, and your vendors can’t make it into the mountains? Something to consider is that most of the wedding vendors live in the front range, and therefore are traveling for mountain weddings. You can avoid this by choosing vendors locally (although a smaller pool), or ensuring to pay proper travel fees to ensure vendors are onsite the day before. There’s pros/cons to every season, and as a seasoned Colorado wedding photographer I can help walk you through this, but I’d also suggest a trusted wedding planner by your side to help you choose what’s best for you.
- Decide on travel time: your Colorado mountain wedding venue could be between an hour, to up to 8 hours away from Denver, and it’s important that you decide ahead of time, how far you’re willing to travel and have guests travel! While seasonality plays a huge role in this, the drive time alone can be a factor. Also consider that guests that may have altitude sickness may want the ability to drive to lower elevation, so sometimes a venue within an hour or two is a better option, versus between 4-5 hours or sometimes further.
- All inclusive vs choosing vendors? I’ll always suggest the latter, and while all inclusive venues do sometimes create a more cost effective option, you’d be surprised by how much you can save and gain by also pricing out your individual vendors and ensuring you get the right team for you. What I mean to say is, don’t count out any Colorado mountain wedding venue just because it doesn’t offer an all inclusive option: there’s benefits to both!
Colorado Mountain Wedding Venues – Summit County area
A-Basin (yes, the ski mountain!)
Colorado Mountain Wedding Venues – Estes Park / Rocky Mountain National Park area
Trout Haven Resorts (I actually had my own reception here!)
Colorado Front Range / Boulder area venues (within 1 hour of Denver)
Aspen area Mountain Wedding Venues
Gunnison / Crested Butte area wedding venues
Durango / Telluride area venues
Alternative Colorado Wedding Photography Packages & Pricing
When you’re ready to pair your Colorado mountain wedding venue with a Colorado wedding and elopement photographer that specializes in offbeat, alternative, nerdy couples… I’ll be here to help create a day that actually feels like you.
Hey, I’m Steph – an alternative Colorado Wedding Photographer (and elopement photographer!), based in Colorado, Illinois, and Florida (and servicing worldwide). I specialize in non-traditional weddings for introverted, quirky, offbeat and nerdy couples. And I’d fucking love to be there for you. Here’s what you can expect from me as your Colorado wedding photographer:
- photography coverage from half day to all inclusive, comprehensive full day coverage options and flexible timelines for non-traditional events
- quirky, offbeat wedding photography captured in my raw, documentary style
- NEXT DAY gallery sneak peek
- a combination of moving gifs, polaroid and 35mm film coverage for a full analog and digital storytelling of your day
- Trusted vendor recommendations from folks that don’t suck
- Personalized timeline creation
- Colorado permit sourcing and marriage license information
- A digital online gallery, sharable with anyone you’d like
- travel fees included for the entire state of Colorado with a two-wheel drive vehicle (also included to Illinois and Florida, my other two bases!)
