Denver is the practical elopement. You can pick up your license downtown in the morning, be standing in a red-rock amphitheater or a foothills meadow before lunch, and sit down to a serious dinner that night without a mountain pass between you and the airport. The foothills west of the city, from Golden and Morrison up to Evergreen and Georgetown, hold more public ceremony sites than any other region in the state, each with its own landlord and its own rules.
Why elope here
Three land managers own the good spots: the City and County of Denver, whose Mountain Parks include Red Rocks and Lookout Mountain; Jefferson County Open Space, which runs Mount Falcon and Lookout Mountain Nature Preserve; and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, with Staunton, Golden Gate Canyon and Roxborough. Learn which one you are dealing with and the rest is easy. The payoff is choice: sandstone, aspen, granite, alpine tundra and a city skyline, all inside an hour.
Best ceremony spots
Red Rocks Park. The 300-foot monoliths around the famous amphitheater belong to Denver Mountain Parks, and the park outside the venue is open to the public. A private ceremony here goes through Denver’s parks permit office, not the concert venue, and on show days the park closes early for concert traffic. The amphitheater itself is a rental through Denver Arts and Venues.
Mount Falcon Park. A Jefferson County Open Space park above Morrison with the stone ruins of the Walker home and a view east over the plains and west to Mount Blue Sky. From the west trailhead near Indian Hills it is a mile of easy trail to the ruins; from Morrison it is a steep climb. Small groups walk in; paid officiants and photographers need Jeffco commercial permits.
Staunton State Park. Near Conifer, a granite-and-meadow park whose Marmot Burrow amphitheater comes with an arch and bench seating for 60 guests, reserved through the park. The most turnkey public option in the foothills.
Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Forty minutes from Golden, with Panorama Point’s deck facing a hundred miles of the Continental Divide. Ceremonies run through the park’s special activity agreement and every vehicle needs a pass.
Guanella Pass. South of Georgetown, a paved road to 11,670 feet with Mount Bierstadt across the willows. Dispersed national forest, nothing to book, and a tiny ceremony with no props needs no permit. Open from roughly late May until the first big snow, and the lot fills with hikers by 7 a.m. on summer weekends.
Roxborough State Park. South of the city, with two overlooks for up to 25 guests each in front of the Fountain Formation’s red slabs, reserved through the park.
Permits and rules
Our page on Red Rocks and the foothills ceremony sites goes deeper on Red Rocks, Lookout Mountain, Mount Falcon and Jeffco Open Space rules.
Denver treats a private, invitation-only ceremony in any Denver park, including the Mountain Parks, as a special occasion. Applications go to the parks permit office by email at least 30 days before the date, and the most popular sites and dates open for the following year on a single morning in early November, so plan ahead. The process and resources are on Denver’s special occasion permits page. Cheesman Park’s pavilion, City Park and Washington Park follow the same route, and Denver Botanic Gardens is a private venue.
Jefferson County Open Space issues commercial officiant and portrait photography permits for its parks, and larger gatherings fall under its once-a-year special activity application; details and fees are on the Jeffco permits page. State parks require a special activity agreement for weddings; see Colorado Parks and Wildlife. On the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, non-commercial groups under 75 people with no props generally need no permit, but the Forest Service does not permit weddings along the Mount Blue Sky road or at its developed sites, so Guanella Pass and Echo Lake’s forest side are your alpine options; read the Forest Service events page before you commit.
Your marriage license
Any Colorado county clerk can issue a license that works statewide. You both appear with photo ID (a notarized absentee affidavit covers a partner who cannot), the fee is $30, there is no waiting period, blood test or witness requirement, and under C.R.S. 14-2-109 you may solemnize your own marriage. Use the license within 35 days and return the signed certificate to the issuing clerk within 63 days of the ceremony.
The Denver Clerk and Recorder issues licenses by appointment at 200 W. 14th Ave. downtown; see our Denver marriage license guide. The Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder in Golden, which takes drop ins Monday through Thursday, is closest to Red Rocks, Mount Falcon and Evergreen, the Clear Creek County Clerk in Georgetown serves Guanella Pass, and the Douglas County Clerk in Castle Rock is nearest Roxborough. Denver posts its own marriage license page.
When to go
December through February is mild in the city, with sunny 40s between fast-moving storms. Red Rocks, Mount Falcon and Lookout Mountain are open; Guanella Pass is closed at the gate.
March and April carry Denver’s biggest snows, then warm days that melt them in 48 hours. Keep a backup date.
May is green everywhere, with the pass usually opening around Memorial Day and wildflowers at Roxborough.
June through August bring hot afternoons in the city, thunderstorms over the foothills by 2 p.m., and heavy weekend traffic at Red Rocks and Guanella. Sunrise, weekdays, or both.
September and early October are the sweet spot: dry days, aspens turning on Guanella Pass in the last two weeks of September, and golden cottonwoods along the creeks.
November is quiet and brown, with the pass closed and the parks empty.
Sunrise or sunset, and a sample day
Red Rocks faces east, so the monoliths glow at sunrise and the city lights come up behind them at dusk. Mount Falcon’s ruins catch sunset light with the plains going purple below. Guanella Pass is a sunrise site; the wind and the storms both arrive after noon.
A September Friday:
- 8:30 a.m. Pick up the license at the Jefferson County Clerk in Golden.
- 10:00 a.m. Hair and makeup at your hotel in Golden or Morrison.
- 3:30 p.m. Drive to the Mount Falcon west trailhead. Walk a mile to the Walker ruins.
- 5:45 p.m. Vows at the ruins as the light goes long.
- 6:45 p.m. Portraits at the overlook, then back to the cars by dark.
- 8:00 p.m. Dinner in Morrison or downtown Denver.
For a dinner of 10 to 50 people after the ceremony, our hand picked list of Denver micro wedding venues covers a historic mansion, an arts district loft, gardens and foothills ranches.
Where to stay
Golden puts you at the mouth of the canyons with a walkable main street and the county clerk two miles away. Morrison is tiny, right at Red Rocks’ gate. Evergreen is the forest option, 30 minutes up Bear Creek, with the lake and a small downtown. Georgetown and Idaho Springs are the bases for Guanella Pass. In Denver, LoHi, RiNo and Capitol Hill have the hotels and the restaurants.
Getting there
Denver International is 35 minutes to downtown, 45 to Golden or Red Rocks, an hour to Evergreen and about an hour and a half to Guanella Pass. The airport’s rental car center has every option, and the A Line train reaches Union Station in 37 minutes if your plans stay in the city.
Vendors in this region
The Denver area has the largest pool of vendors in the state, many of whom travel everywhere else. Browse everyone based in Denver and the foothills, then start with photographers, officiants who hold Jeffco permits, florists, hair and makeup, planners for the Denver permit calendar, and venues for dinner.
Choose your landlord, file the permit, and heart the vendors you want to meet. Your free planner keeps the permit date, the license window and every quote together. Start My Planner.
