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!
While it’s never fun to have to change your wedding day, we’re secretly happy that Maggie and Dan had to upend their plans. If the Canadian border had stayed open, we wouldn’t have gotten to meet these two amazing souls or been able to photograph their Garden of the Gods Resort wedding.
When Katherine and Ben reached out to us over a year ago about photographing their Arapahoe Basin wedding, we were excited out of the gates. After 14 years of photographing weddings, we’ve been to a lot of wedding venues. But there are still a lot more on our “want to photograph” list and A-Basin was one of them.
Kristine and Dustin warned their guests that their spring wedding at the Black Canyon Inn might see any kind of weather. After all, springtime in the Rockies is notorious for its variety. But it turned out that the Weather of the Day was perfect for their Workout of the Day with the right amount of sun and just a little breeze.
No matter how big or small your wedding is, I can promise that at some point, you’re going to worry about the weather. Will it be too hot? Will it rain? Maybe your dream is for your ceremony to take place in a veritable snow globe. For Jackie and JJ’s Brainard Lake elopement, we checked…
Estes Park has always been one of our favorite places to visit, not just in Colorado, but in the entire world. And Black Canyon Inn is one of our all-time favorite wedding venues to shoot. Ashleigh and Alex’s Black Canyon Inn wedding earlier this month will always hold a special place in our hearts because…
My photography journey started way back in 2003 when I decided to attend Central Michigan University to study journalism with a concentration in photojournalism. I had a blast during my four years in Mount Pleasant (which isn’t anywhere near a mountain) and made a ton of lifelong friendships along the way. One of those friends…
As the last stop on our epic Mountain West Road Trip, after photo shoots in the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Summit County, Jesse and I headed northward for Heather and John’s Grand Teton elopement. We already knew their wedding was going to be a good time. After all, not every couple will travel…
Spruce Mountain Ranch has been one of our all-time favorite wedding venues ever since we photographed our first wedding there way back in 2015. We’ve shot several weddings at SMR since then, but we’ve always worked at the “Upper Ranch” venue. Little did we know, the sprawling complex has a second wedding venue location called…
We seriously get all the best clients. Like Ashleigh and Tony, who proved that they’d not only follow us into a desert for their White Sands National Park Alt Session, they’d trek to the top of a mountain for their Vail elopement!
When we showed up for Andy and Mate’s Aspen Meadows Resort wedding last weekend, we had a secret. We’d been let in on a not-so-little surprise that Andy had arranged for Mate. Now, Jesse and I are no strangers to wedding surprises. From over-the-water bungalows to Big Buck Hunter to shark-themed first looks, I thought…
This wedding season has been the year of white whales! First, we finally made it to the Stanley Hotel in May. Then we got to take a couple up Trail Ridge Road. And last weekend, we were fortunate to photograph Marissa and Abe’s Pine Creek Cookhouse wedding, just outside of Aspen. How did the Ashcroft…
I doubt it’s a surprise to anyone that my favorite thing about living in Colorado is all the amazing views of the mountains. There are far too many epic vistas to count. With each new wedding, however, we do our best to find a spot we’ve never photographed before. Jean Marie and Jamie’s Black Canyon…
