How to Get Married in Rocky Mountain National Park (from someone who actually did it!)

For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that my husband and I got married in none other than the incredibly beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park! It was gorgeous, the weather literally couldn’t have been more perfect, and it was basically the kind of day that brides’ dreams are made of. 

But here’s something I bet you didn’t know: that day almost didn’t happen.

Now, it’s not what you’re thinking – Keith and I were always going to get married. But when we first got engaged, I got pretty far into the process of planning a wedding in a chapel in Fort Worth, Texas. I was trying to juggle dates and numbers and prices (and my mom’s feelings), and I started to feel very overwhelmed. One day, after a particularly stressful planning session, Keith sat me down (I was crying) and asked me a very important question:

“Forget everyone else. If we could get married anywhere, where would you want it to be?”

And the answer came to me so quickly that it shocked me. I must have subconsciously been thinking about it for weeks, because it was right there the moment he asked. 

“In a national park.” 

And he said “OK.” 

I had never heard of anyone getting married in a national park; I wasn’t even sure it was possible. But at least I knew what I wanted. 

Over the next few weeks and months, I still had a lot of planning to do. I still had to juggle dates, numbers, and prices (and my mom’s feelings) – but this time I wasn’t planning something just because I thought it was what I was supposed to be planning – I was planning a day that was about Keith and me, and for Keith and me. And that made all the difference in the world. 

So after Keith and I decided to get married in a national park, the next step was to choose which park would be best for us. The questions that were helpful to us as we made that decision were:

1. What kind of location are we wanting (desert, mountains, forests, etc.)?
2. How easy will it be for us (and our guests) to get there?
3. Will the area be able to accommodate all our needs (lodging, restaurants, etc.)?

For us, the park that all our answers pointed to was Rocky Mountain National Park. We knew we wanted mountains, it was within a day’s drive from where both of our families lived, and the town of Estes Park is right there at the entrance of the national park and it had everything we needed for our wedding weekend. 

Once we chose Rocky Mountain National Park for our wedding, I scoured their website and made several phone calls just trying to figure out how on earth to make my dream wedding happen. It took a lot of time and effort on my part. But since you have chosen to read this far today, I’m going to help you out and tell you exactly what you need to do to get married in RMNP. 

The very first thing I did when considering RMNP for my wedding was visit their web page with ALL the information I needed to plan my day there. That page lists all the rules and regulations that anyone wanting to get married there ABSOLUTELY needs to read … things like group size, permits required, parking instructions, etc. are all addressed on there. After reading through the whole page, I was able to get a clearer picture of what my wedding day there would look like – a simple ceremony with no decorations, no seating options (everyone stood), and no audio equipment. For me, that aligned with the vision I had for my wedding. 

Next, I had to choose the location for my ceremony. There are 13 wedding ceremony locations within RMNP, and they have a lot of really helpful information on this page that goes over each specific site in detail and provides information regarding the allowed group size, number of vehicles, site restrictions, and site descriptions. I knew we wanted one of the sites that allowed a larger group size, so we chose Upper Beaver Meadows for our ceremony – at the time Upper Beaver Meadows allowed a group of up to 60 people (currently in 2021 the max group size for any ceremony site in the whole park is 30 people due to COVID restrictions). That location also has access to a bathroom and is adjacent to a parking lot, which made things very easy logistically. Plus it’s beautiful as heck, so there’s that. 

If you have anxiety (like me), I definitely recommend planning at least a year in advance. The earliest you can reserve a wedding location is at the beginning of the month one year in advance. For example, I got married on September 29, 2019, so I submitted my “Special Use Application” on September 1, 2018, and I was able to secure my first choice for ceremony location and time. *Applications can also be submitted up until seven days before the ceremony.* 

A Special Use Application is required to secure the ceremony location, date, and time. The link to download it is on the RMNP Wedding page, near the top. It must be downloaded, completed, and emailed back (the link to send it back to them is also on that page). A few things to note about the Special Use Permit that I really don’t want to get buried in the pile of information available on the RMNP website is that the cost to reserve any of the ceremony sites – regardless of the group size allowed at that particular site – is currently $200. That’s it. Of course, there are so many other costs associated with having a destination wedding in RMNP (unless you literally live in Estes Park), but I loved being able to “rent” my wedding venue for only $200. Also, that permit includes a photography permit, so your wedding photographer does not need to obtain a separate permit to be able to photograph your wedding or to post photos from your wedding on their website and/or social media (a normal photography permit for RMNP also costs $200). 

After the application got approved for our ceremony date and time, we were able to start planning the rest of our wedding weekend. One thing that really helped us was being able to visit Estes Park the October before our wedding. We planned a long weekend trip to visit my brother and his wife who live in the Denver area, and one of my bridesmaids went with us up to Estes for a day. That day we were able to visit our ceremony site, tour three different reception venues, and taste test some samples from a bakery.

One of the most important things we always kept in mind while planning our wedding weekend was that this was a destination wedding (on a budget). Which meant that we wanted to be able to give ourselves, our wedding party, and our guests an experience they would never forget. We wanted everything to run smoothly, and we wanted people to be able to relax and enjoy themselves. I planned my booty off and made extremely detailed timelines that were distributed to everyone involved in the wedding. I also put together a website using The Knot that had ALL the information my guests needed to be prepared for our day. I wanted to give them the courtesy of knowing what to expect when attending our wedding. I’m not going to lie to you and say that the planning process was easy, because it wasn’t, but it was TOTALLY worth it when we had the wedding of our dreams. 

Let’s skip ahead to our wedding weekend, shall we?

Keith and I arrived at my brother’s house near Denver on a Wednesday evening. The next day was basically a spa day for me – I had a massage, got a mani/pedi, and got lash extensions. I had a mini breakdown after the lashes were applied and I looked in the mirror – if you know me at all you know I barely wear makeup and the sight of those very bold lashes gave me quite a shock. Looking back on the wedding photos, however, I’m really glad I got them. 

That night we put together our wedding favors. Wanting to have an edible favor that was local to Colorado, we ordered 1.5 oz. glass jars (so that guests would be able to take it back home with them on an airplane) and filled them with local Colorado honey. We then attached note tags that I had painstakingly written out and a miniature wooden honey dipper. The good thing about having a small or intimate wedding is that if you do have to DIY some things, the volume is manageable. 

Friday morning we drove to Estes Park (after making a stop at the airport to pick up some bridesmaids). We were the first of the wedding party to arrive, which was perfect since we still had to get our marriage license. Normally I would have wanted to have it in hand before arriving at Estes Park (because I have anxiety about those kinds of things going wrong), but after a few phone calls with the lovely employees at the Estes Park branch of the Larimer County Clerk and having the application already filled out, we decided it would be okay to go ahead and get the license on that Friday (our wedding was on Sunday). The only problem that we encountered was that there was some uncertainty about Keith’s mother’s birth name, and we had difficulty reaching her by phone since both the town of Estes Park (where we were) and the drive to get there (which is where she was at the time) have very limited cell phone reception. 

We had decided on The Ridgeline Hotel for our lodging and reception, and honestly I cannot say enough good things about it. From the moment we checked in until the moment we checked out, we had the best experience there (and no I’m not getting paid to say that haha). Both Keith and I had suites where we stayed the weekend with our respective parties. The rooms were absolutely beautiful and had recently been remodeled (sidebar – even though we did not need this feature, The Ridgeline also has rooms where pets are allowed). 

Our rehearsal dinner was that night, and even though the day had been so beautiful and sunny earlier, it started raining right before we left the hotel. Luckily, because I was a dang prepared bride, I had my rain boots and umbrella (and jacket – it got chilly there in the evenings) ready for the short walk from the hotel to the restaurant – don’t worry I changed into my heels as soon as I was out of the rain. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to rehearse for the ceremony (and do a few minor rearrangements to the furniture in our reception space). 

The next afternoon, the wedding party checked out complementary bicycles from the hotel and rode ALL the way around Lake Estes (it probably would have been easier if we’d had more than one day to adjust to the altitude). Later that night, we made s’mores (s’mores kits also came complimentary from the hotel) around a fire and took full advantage of the full sized swimming pool, hot tub, and arcade game room. Pretty much the best way to spend the night before your wedding, in my opinion. 

Finally, it was our wedding day.

If you hadn’t guessed by this point, we didn’t care much about tradition when planning our wedding. Since most of our guests had flown into Denver (about a two hour drive away from Estes Park), we wanted them to have time to get back home by Monday morning if they needed to. So instead of the traditional wedding day timeline, we planned to have a pre-ceremony brunch “reception” in the Front Foyer of The Ridgeline Hotel. The in-hotel restaurant, Latitude 105, catered a delicious breakfast taco bar, and our guests mingled while playing the reception games that Keith and I had made ourselves – corn hole, ring toss, giant tic-tac-toe, and a personalized word search. 

Since I wanted the first time Keith saw me in my wedding dress to be at the ceremony, I had an entirely different outfit for brunch. After we finished eating, our guests were shuttled into the park in two shifts – Keith, the groomsmen, and everyone who thought they could stand long enough for the second group of guests to arrive went on the first shuttle, giving me time to change into my second outfit and have a first look with my dad (it was one of my favorite moments from my wedding day – my dad’s reaction to seeing me in my dress was incredible – and I 10/10 recommend this to my brides). 

Our ceremony was perfectly imperfect, and afterwards we shared the most amazing pies with all our guests (we’ve never been big fans of wedding cake) – we seriously got so many compliments on these pies, and my only regret is that I only ate one piece. After that, everyone was free to leave while Keith and I drove around with our photographer and took pictures. 

Looking back, of course there are a few minor details that I would have changed slightly. But I loved our wedding, and the best part? At the end of the day we were married. It didn’t matter that there were some people who couldn’t make it to our wedding, or who would have preferred a different type of wedding, because it wasn’t for them. It was our wedding, and we planned the kind of day that we wanted. I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

If you’re planning a non-traditional wedding or have any other questions about the process of planning a wedding in RMNP, drop a comment here or DM me on Insta – I’d love to share more about my experience as a Rocky Mountain National Park bride and offer any tips I learned during my year of wedding planning (and I’d love to photograph your big day in the most perfect location!). 

I’m a wife, a dog mom, a foodie, a wanderer, a registered nurse, and a couples/intimate wedding/elopement photographer … and this blog will cover it all! If you enjoyed this post, first of all thank you, and second of all please follow me on Instagram + Facebook to get updates on future blog posts, see sneak peeks of my amazing couples, and so much more! If you have any questions about elopement photography, my journey from nursing to photography, or my time spent as a full-time RVer, drop a comment and I just might write a blog post answering your question (but I definitely will)!

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