So you’ve decided you want to elope in Colorado. Excellent choice.
Now you’re staring at a map wondering how you’re supposed to choose a spot when there are approximately 4,000 beautiful mountains, lakes, forests, red rocks, and tiny mountain towns calling your name. I get it. Choosing where to elope in Colorado can be a hard decision. I’m here to make it easier.
First things first – the good news. You don’t need the most beautiful place in Colorado. You need the place that feels like you. Maybe that’s a windswept mountain with nobody around. Maybe it’s pine trees, or red rocks and sunshine instead of snow, or a mountain town with really good pie.
With so many unique regions, It can be a lot to narrow down your choice. So, let me help you.
A Few Regions to Consider
First, let’s take a broader look at some of my favorite regions to get you started:
- The San Juan Mountains around Ouray & Telluride – this region is hard to beat if you want big dramatic peaks with walkable, romantic towns to match. (visitourayco.com, visittelluride.com)
- Crested Butte – CB offers the same wild, tucked-away feeling as the San Juans but with a little bit more spaced out privacy. It’s known as the wild flower capitol of Colorado making it a prime Summer elopement destination. (gunnisoncrestedbutte.com)
- Rocky Mountain National Park – If you’re drawn to alpine lakes and iconic mountain views, RMNP always delivers – just know that a park elopement comes with its own permit process, which you can read about directly on the NPS site.
- Breckenridge – If a cozy ski-town backdrop is calling your name, Breck and the rest of Summit County make that an easy pull off. These are the places that out-of-towners think of when they think Colorado ski culture. (gobreck.com)
There’s no wrong choice when choosing which part of Colorado you want to elope in as long as it speaks to you. I plan elopements all around. Give me some high alpine elevation, wildflowers, running water, or towering aspens and I’m there! And for really popular locations, I’ll come up with a plan for making sure your elopement is as intimate as possible.
Some of my Favorite Locations
We’ve talked about regions. Now, let’s look a bit closer at a few locations. Some of these are really popular and that’s okay. With the right planning, we can make just about anything happen for your dream day. Others, you may not have considered before.
Ouray & The San Juan Mountains
If you want the Colorado mountains to feel BIG BIG, put Ouray on your list.
The San Juan Mountains are rugged and dramatic in a way that feels completely different from the Front Range — peaks rising straight out of the earth, roads winding through ridiculous scenery, and that little-mountain-town charm that makes you want to stay awhile.
If you’re the kind of couple who wants your elopement to feel like an adventure, the San Juans are hard to beat. Hike. Explore. Drive scenic roads or go on an off-roading adventure! Find a quiet overlook, a hot springs, camping, a waterfall, an alpine lake. Pop champagne. Get rained on and laugh about it. The possibilities are endless in this region with so much to see and do without a lot of driving in between locations to do things. All the while, we take pictures of all of it. That’s my favorite kind of wedding day.
From Denver, it’s about a 4 hour drive or you can take a puddle jumper flight from DIA into Montrose or the Aspen airport (when it’s open – it’s closed for part of the 2027 season while CDOT does some much needed work on the interstate). Whatever your chosen mode of transportation though, Ouray is well worth the trek.
Rocky Mountain National Park & Estes Park
RMNP is probably the first place that comes to mind when you picture a Colorado mountain elopement. Alpine lakes, rocky peaks, elk wandering through meadows, big sweeping views. It’s iconic for a reason.
Here’s the part I want to be upfront about: designated in-park ceremony locations are limited and require a Special Use Permit that can book out a year in advance. If you’re working with an elopement timeline instead of the year-plus a traditional wedding usually allows, landing one of those spots isn’t always realistic.
The good news? You only need this permit if you actually exchange vows in the park. There’s no rules about taking portraits there in your elopement attire. If you want a Rocky Mountain elopement but don’t want to rely on getting a permit and being restricted to one of the 6 Park ceremony locations, we can easily make that happen.
A lot of my couples say their vows just outside the park, in Estes Park or Larimer County, where there’s no shortage of locations with incredible views of those same peaks and none of the permit competition. Afterwards, we head into the park for portraits, so you still get that unmistakable RMNP backdrop.
And there’s plenty to build into the day beyond the ceremony: a private guided trail ride, a hike, or a ride up the tramway in Estes Park for a totally different vantage point of the peaks.
Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs
Not every couple wants to hike a mountain before breakfast. Respect.
Garden of the Gods gives you dramatic scenery without the backcountry commitment: towering red sandstone formations, wide-open skies, gorgeous light, views of Pikes Peak – no need to climb to 12,000 feet. The red rocks give you otherworldly photo ops. It’s also a great option if you’re bringing family members who aren’t up for a strenuous hike. It’s mostly accessible with well-maintained walking paths and the stunning formations just a short walk from any parking.
There are rules around commercial photography in the park, so we’ll make sure we’re following current requirements before your session.
And parking can sometimes be a pain. Those spots that are the most gorgeous and scenic enough to stand up as your elopement backdrop? They’re also the most popular. But with careful planning and timing, these things are no sweat!
And then? We chase the light. Blue Hour and Golden Hour just hit differently when you’re surrounded by ancient red sandstone.
GoG isn’t always the first location elopement couples think of with Colorado Springs being further away from those high elevation peaks. But that also means it’s not always as crowded.
State Parks & Public Lands
Ouray, RMNP, and Garden of the Gods are often within a couple’s radar. But there’s a whole other category worth knowing about: Colorado’s state parks and public lands.
Public lands make up nearly 40% of Colorado’s total area.
In the Rocky Mountain region, public lands come with scenic wildflower hikes, quiet overlooks, and alpine lakes all over – not just in the handful of places that show up on every “best of Colorado” list.
Two of my favorites are Officers Gulch, near Summit County, for that crisp high-country lake-and-mountain combination, and Mueller State Park near Divide, for pine forests and open meadows without the crowds. Both offer gorgeous mountain views whether it’s Spring, Summer, Winter, or Fall.
And those are just two examples out of dozens of these public locations scattered across the state. If you want an elopement location uniquely you, that comes with a little less red tape than some of the more popular locations, public lands are typically a safe bet with a caveat – public land in Colorado doesn’t mean private.
People come from all over to visit the Centennial State throughout the year. So unless I do some real location scouting, we’ll be pretty hard pressed to not run into another single soul.
And that’s okay! Elopements are normal out on our trails. People are generally respectful and keep to themselves.
Finding Your Perfect Colorado Elopement Location
Once I get to know you two, I love looking for locations that go beyond this list.
Maybe that’s a scenic drive instead of a hike, somewhere private enough to actually hear each other say your vows, a favorite little mountain town, or somewhere neither of us has heard of yet.
I’ll do the digging so you don’t have to.
Maps, access, permits, timing, elevation, all the logistics that are much less fun when you’re planning your own wedding? I’ll handle all of that from the very beginning. You come with the dream and I’ll develop the plan.
Then I’ll put together a custom location guide and walk through the options with you. I’m not here to tell you where to get married. I’m here to make sure you have good information to choose it yourself.
So…where should you actually elope in Colorado?
Don’t start by asking, “What’s the prettiest place?” Start by asking what you want your wedding day to feel like.
Do you want to hike? Bring your dog? Explore all day? Watch the sunrise turn the mountains pink? Camp? Go off-roading? Or something entirely different? Those answers will narrow things down much faster than any “Top 10 Colorado Elopement Locations” list.
Because your elopement doesn’t need to look like someone else’s Pinterest board. It gets to look like you. And honestly? That’s much more fun to photograph.
Additional Resources
Still deciding where to elope? Here are 10 questions to help you figure it out
- What kind of scenery pulls at us most — towering peaks, alpine lakes, red rocks, or golden aspen groves?
- Do we want total privacy, or are we okay sharing a trail with other people?
- How far are we willing to hike (or drive a rough road) to reach our ceremony spot?
- How many guests are coming, and does that change where we’re even allowed to go?
- Does our dream spot require a permit, reservation, or fee we need to plan around?
- How comfortable are we with altitude, and does that rule any locations out?
- Do we want to build a whole day of adventure (hiking, off-roading, hot springs) around the location, or keep it simple?
- Is there a specific town or region we’re already drawn to, or are we starting from scratch?
- How far are we willing to travel from lodging or an airport to reach the ceremony spot?
- Are we choosing this place for the view, or because it actually feels like “us”?
- Still deciding when to say your vows? Here are 10 questions to help you figure that out too → When to Elope in Colorado: Choosing the Best Season for your Elopement
- Not sure how to elope in Colorado? Check out my How-to post and checklist → How to Elope in Colorado
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