Planning a mountain wedding
There’s just something about mountain weddings in Colorado. The air is clean, the people are happy and the views are breathtaking. And, our course, there are endless outdoor activities to keep wedding guests occupied if they’re coming in from out of town (skiing, hiking, fishing, mountain biking, snowmobiling, to name just a few). It’s no wonder that Colorado has become such a popular wedding destination for couples all over the world looking for a secluded location to tie the knot.
From Breckenridge to Durango, Aspen to Vail, Glenwood Springs to Steamboat Springs, there are countless mountain wedding venues in Colorado to choose from. We often joke that the state is so beautiful, you could pull your car over to the side of any road in the Rocky Mountains and it would be the perfect spot for a wedding.
When planning a mountain wedding, be sure to encourage your family and friends to drink water in abundance and alcohol in moderation, especially if they’re coming in from out of town and aren’t accustomed to being in the mountains. Altitude sickness is no joke! Also, make sure they carpool and/or rent all-wheel drive vehicles. Weather in the high Rockies can be unpredictable throughout all four months of the year. In fact, we photographed a wedding in Breckenridge on the summer solstice a few years ago and it snowed nearly two inches.
We’ve been photographing mountain weddings in Colorado since we moved here way back in 2008 and we have had the pleasure of traveling to every corner of the state. We’ve shot hundreds of weddings during that time, the vast majority of which have been in the mountains. Below, you’ll find just a handful of our favorite mountain weddings from over the years. Take some time to browse and let us know if you have any questions or would like to check our availability for your wedding. We’re just an email, text or phone call away!
The Hotel Colorado is known for its many famous guests. From Teddy Roosevelt, who stayed often enough that it became known as the “White House of the West,” to the unsinkable Molly Brown, to notorious gangster Al Capone. At the beginning of this month, it added Kristen and David and their wedding guests to the…
Weddings can be a lot of things. They can be poignant, joyful, exciting, stressful, uplifting – sometimes all of these at once. But the best word to describe Andi and Kevin’s fall wedding at Boettcher Mansion is short and simple: Fun. That’s it. It was just plain fun. Andi and Kevin were fun. Especially when…
Ciara and Jonathan’s Telluride wedding had all the things I love to see in a wedding. Not the details or the view (although those were gorgeous, anyway). After all, when the cake has been devoured and the flowers have withered and the last song has played, the things that remain from a wedding day are…
I think the most common question I get during timeline consultations is, “Is it too late to elope?” This is typically asked in jest; the final weeks leading up to a wedding can get pretty overwhelming. But if you’re like Laura and Connor, you probably know right away that a big wedding isn’t for you….
If you were on Carly and Elliot’s guest list for their Breckenridge Nordic Center wedding, you are a very lucky person. First off, you got to make a trip to Breckenridge on a beautiful holiday weekend. You enjoyed the bluebird skies, the warmth of the sun, and the crisp, cool evening. Not to mention the…
When we first heard about Narcissa and Bassil’s Dunafon Castle wedding, we were already familiar with and fans of the venue’s vibes. I love telling people about the Dunafon Castle, especially where it’s located. It’s such a surprise. Right in the middle of a windy mountain road is a castle surrounded by lush grounds, waterfalls,…
One of the best things about owning your own business is getting to make the decisions. We had officially closed our books for 2022 weddings when Shelley and Jonathan reached out to see if we were available for their Redstone Inn Wedding. We had the date open and had never been to Redstone before, so…
It might be a bit unusual to start telling you about Kenzie and Bo’s summer wedding at The Estes Park Resort by talking about worry and stress, but bear with me. Confession time: even after 15 years and hundreds of weddings, Jesse and I still get nervous before each wedding. This anxiety stems from a…
Laura and Brandon’s celebration wasn’t our first Della Terra Mountain Chateau wedding. We’ve been to this venue multiple times. But the amazing thing about Colorado is that there’s always something new to see, even at venues we’ve photographed before. Jesse and I like to challenge ourselves to bring a fresh perspective to each wedding so…
We started out this year’s Pride Month with Leigh and Sam’s gorgeous spring wedding at the Greenbriar Inn, and it couldn’t have been a more beautiful celebration. There’s no way for me to encapsulate this couple’s amazingness better than one of their attendants did during his toast. Matthew grew up in a place that wasn’t…
Wedding days will go wrong. They’ll be imperfect. But with the right attitude, they can be more enjoyable and create more lasting memories than a “perfect” wedding day. Nothing could have illustrated this better than Emily and Luther’s Wild Basin Lodge wedding last weekend! The Wednesday before their wedding found me shopping for snow chains…
Even though weddings feel like they’re the epitome of tradition, we here at J. La Plante Photo get most excited about the non-traditional elements our couples include in their day. Happily, Amy and Ian’s winter wedding at the Black Canyon Inn had no shortage of “non-traditions!” A few for your perusal: Non-traditional wedding party: Gone…
