Colorado Outdoor Weddings, Wedding Planner (Denver)

Colorado Outdoor Weddings is a Denver team that plans, photographs and runs the whole day for couples marrying outdoors in Colorado. Their own description of it: "One team plans, photographs, and runs your whole day, from just the two of you to fifty guests."

The idea is that you book once, instead of assembling a photographer, a planner, a florist, a hair and makeup artist and an officiant who have never met.

Elopement or micro wedding

They count an elopement as fewer than sixteen guests, often only the two of you, and a micro wedding as up to fifty people including the couple. Most of their couples land somewhere between 2 and 20. The number is not small talk: in Colorado it decides which ceremony spots stay permit free and which do not, which is why they ask about it before anything else.

Planned from wherever you live

Most of their couples are planning from another state. Location scouting, the timeline, the permits and the vendor team are handled remotely, so the first time you need to be in Colorado is your wedding week.

• The Summit package: photography, videography, hair and makeup, an officiant and florals, plus location scouting, a custom timeline and a planning portal. Coverage runs 2 to 12 hours. Published starting price $4,475 for two hours
• The Alpine package: a local planner, handpicked locations, a custom timeline, the planning portal, photography, florals, hair and makeup. Published starting price $2,685 for two hours
• The Meadow package: planning support, help finding the location, a custom timeline and photography, for couples who mainly want the pictures. Published price $1,795 for two hours
• Add-ons booked on their own: videography, hair and makeup, an officiant, florals, on-site coordination and content creation
• Booking terms: a $250 deposit holds the date and is refundable for seven days, with interest free monthly payments across the months before the wedding
• What you keep afterwards: an online gallery of high resolution edited photographs, with unlimited downloads and printing rights

Colorado lets a couple solemnise their own marriage, which means you can legally marry each other with no officiant and no witnesses. Only a handful of states allow it, and it is a large part of why so many elopements happen here. If you would rather somebody led the ceremony, an officiant is one of the things this team arranges.

The licence is unfussy. It costs $30 at any county clerk's office, there is no waiting period, and it is valid anywhere in the state. After the ceremony you sign it and return it to the clerk, typically within 63 days. Colorado will also accept a dog as a witness, signing with a paw print, which their FAQ mentions in the same breath as the legal detail.

The state recognises and protects same sex marriage.

The regions their own site names are Breckenridge, Aspen and Maroon Bells, Vail and Beaver Creek, Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak, Telluride and Ouray, and Leadville and Buena Vista. They also work around Denver and Boulder, and say they keep a set of quieter overlooks and private access spots for couples who book with them.

Permits are the real constraint. National parks and the well known overlooks generally need one, plenty of other places do not, and that is the practical reason guest numbers come up early. They say most of their locations sit within five minutes of parking, so a mountain ceremony does not have to involve a hike, and that they work to Leave No Trace principles in the places they use.

Weather gets planned around rather than hoped about: backup locations, flexible timing, and an optional add-on that lets you move to the day before or the day after. Summer and autumn dates typically book 6 to 18 months ahead. A weekday or a winter date can sometimes come together in a few weeks.