Rocky Mountain National Park runs the most structured wedding permit program in Colorado. That is good news if you like clear rules and bad news if you were hoping to improvise at an overlook. Every ceremony inside the park, from a two person elopement to a thirty person gathering, needs a Special Use Permit, happens at one of thirteen designated sites, and fits inside a two hour window. This page walks through the process in the order you will actually experience it, using what the park publishes on its official wedding page.
Availability as of October 10, 2026
The park’s wedding page, last updated September 14, 2026, carries a 2026 calendar notice. In the park’s own words: “All dates for May - June and August-October 2026 are fully booked.” It adds that “several months are starting to reach maximum permit limits” for the 2026 calendar year.
Read that as a planning signal rather than a closed door. The park accepts applications one year ahead of the wedding month, so the months that are full for 2026 are the months to apply for on the first day they open for 2027. July 2026 and the winter months were not named as full on the date we checked. Confirm the current notice on the park’s wedding page before you commit to travel, because the park updates it as months fill.
Who needs the permit
Anyone. The park states that a permit is required when two or more people engage in the activity, which means an elopement with no guests still needs one. The couple, the photographer and the officiant are all on the hook if a ceremony happens outside a designated site, and the park says it treats any sign of an undesignated ceremony as a violation subject to citation.
The permit also covers your photographer and videographer for the permitted period. You do not need a separate photography permit for the ceremony itself, and after the ceremony you are free to move to other parts of the park for portraits without an additional permit. The one hard exception is drones, which are prohibited park wide for everyone, licensed or not.
The fee and how you pay it
The administrative fee is $300 and it is non refundable. You do not send payment with your application. The park reviews your application first, then emails you a draft permit along with instructions for paying the fee. You sign the permit, return it with payment, and receive a fully executed copy by email. Keep a printed or digital copy with you on the day, because the permit is your written approval and also your timed entry reservation.
Normal entrance fees still apply to every vehicle associated with the ceremony. The park sells a seven day vehicle pass and honors the America the Beautiful annual pass; current prices are on the fees page.
The timeline
Applications are accepted one year in advance of your desired wedding month, and review begins on the first of that month in the order received. For a September 2027 ceremony, that means emailing your application on September 1, 2026. Allow 7 to 10 days for a response. Mailed, faxed and phoned requests are not accepted; everything goes to romo_fees_permits@nps.gov.
The park caps itself at 60 ceremonies a month from May through October and 40 a month from November through April. No site hosts more than two weddings a day and the park schedules no more than six ceremonies on any day. Those caps are why the summer and fall months fill in the first weeks they open.
Your application must name a specific date, a specific site, and a specific two hour window. It also needs your best estimate of people and vehicles, a description of what you plan to bring, and a signature. Incomplete applications are not processed, so download the current form from the park page and fill in every section.
Our Colorado elopement timeline shows where the permit falls in the full twelve month plan and how to build the two hour window into the day.
Designated ceremony sites and group limits
Group size counts everyone: the couple, every guest including infants, the officiant, and the photographer and videographer. Summer limits run from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the second Monday in October; winter is the rest of the year.
- 3M Curve: 15 people, 3 vehicles. A pullout on US 36 between Upper Beaver Meadows and Deer Ridge Junction, open year round, the park’s signature winter site.
- Alluvial Fan: 20 people, 5 vehicles.
- Bear Lake: 20 people, 5 vehicles, winter only and no weekends.
- Copeland Lake: 30 people, 10 vehicles, in the Wild Basin area.
- Harbison Meadows: 30 people, 10 vehicles, on the Grand Lake side.
- Hidden Valley: 30 people, 10 vehicles.
- Lily Lake Dock: 10 people, 3 vehicles. Wheelchair accessible.
- Lily Lake Trail: 20 people, 5 vehicles.
- Lily Lake Southside Picnic Area: 30 people, 10 vehicles. Reached by a rocky dirt path, so the park rates it not accessible.
- Moraine Park Discovery Center Amphitheater: 30 people, 10 vehicles.
- Sprague Lake: 15 people and 3 vehicles in summer, 30 people and 10 vehicles in winter.
- Timber Creek Campground Amphitheater: 20 people, 5 vehicles, closed in winter.
- Upper Beaver Meadows: 30 people, 10 vehicles.
Thirty is the absolute ceiling anywhere in the park. If your list is longer, the honest move is a private venue in the Estes Valley and a portrait session inside the park afterward. Our Estes Park guide covers the sites in more detail and the venues category lists lodges and ranches near the park.
What is prohibited
The permit restricts or prohibits decorations, altars and arches, tables, tents, floral displays, scattering anything, generators and amplified sound. A few chairs are allowed for people who cannot stand for the ceremony. Ceremonies are not permitted in visitor centers, roadside turnouts, parking areas, overlooks or wildlife viewing areas, however small the group. You do not get exclusive use of any site; the public may be there alongside you. Carpooling is strongly encouraged and may be required, because every site has a vehicle cap.
Construction can affect a site at any time, and the park does not refund for it, though it will discuss moving your ceremony to another site. Weather is on you too: every site is outdoors and rustic, and some have no restrooms nearby.
Two hours, start to finish
The two hour window includes setup, the ceremony, photos at the site and departure. Most couples use the structure to their advantage: arrive at first light, hold a short ceremony, shoot portraits at the site, then spend the rest of the morning elsewhere in the park with no clock running. Photographers listed in our Estes Park and RMNP region know the sites and the light, and an experienced officiant will keep the ceremony inside the window without rushing it.
To compare the sites side by side, with parking, accessibility and timed entry notes for each, see Rocky Mountain National Park wedding sites compared. If you want the quieter west side of the park, read our Grand Lake elopement guide.
Your marriage license
The permit has nothing to do with your license. Colorado issues marriage licenses through any county clerk for $30, with no waiting period and no witnesses required, and you may solemnize your own marriage under C.R.S. 14-2-109. The nearest clerk is the Larimer County office in Estes Park at 1601 Brodie Avenue, by appointment only; Fort Collins takes walk ins; our Larimer County license guide has the hours and ID list. In winter, read our winter elopement guide for the sites and roads that stay open. Details are on our Colorado marriage license page and the self solemnization page.
Contact
The Commercial Services Office handles wedding permits at 970-586-1210. If something on this page and the park page ever disagree, the park page wins, and we would appreciate a note through our contact page so we can fix it.
Related reading: our guide to vow renewals in Colorado.
