A Picture-Perfect Wedding Palette

Your guide to venues that dazzle, florals that flourish and photographers who just click

By Chloe-Anne Swink

From the timeless to the trendy, Colorado’s striking backdrops never go out of style. But fantasies of golden-hour wedding portraits and sprawling mountain meadows can quickly lead to a rabbit hole of indecision. We’ve gathered Colorado’s best, from Boulder to Buena Vista, to help you reclaim the joy in planning the wedding of your dreams.

Rustic Chic

Venue: Boulder Creek by Wedgewood Weddings

This versatile venue is conveniently located minutes from downtown Boulder. With both indoor and outdoor options for the ceremony and reception, picturesque mature trees and a creek on the property, Boulder Creek by Wedgewood Weddings makes the perfect backdrop to dress up or pare down for your Boulder wedding.

Florals: Sturtz & Copeland

A Boulder staple since 1929, Sturtz & Copeland sources flowers from around the world, lending a dynamic selection to suit your most fantastic floral fantasies. Yet, they still maintain a focus on supporting local blooms when possible. Couples can choose from premade elopement bouquets or request elaborate custom designs.

Photos: Be Boulder Photography

Eleanor Williamson describes herself as “a quiet observer.” Her appreciation for raw human connection and background as a magazine art director results in honest, poignant photos set to the iconic Boulder landscape where she resides and loves to shoot weddings.

“I get goosebumps when I look through the camera and I know that it’s something that I love,” she says. 

Mountain Elegance

Venue: Greystone Castle

Seemingly transporting you and your guests to a romantic English countryside, Greystone Castle is a true hidden gem tucked up behind the Flatirons, only five miles past Chautauqua Park. 

Greystone Castle invites guests to embrace unexpected luxury in an English Tudor-style mansion situated on 70 acres of manicured mountain meadow property. With Jacqueline Malcolm-Peck, owner and chef, leading the charge, Greystone Castle leads with a strong emphasis on hospitality. All food and beverage services are executed in-house, leaning into farm-to-table ethics.

Florals: Fern Floral Studio

Fern Floral Studio is a boutique floral design studio currently serving Boulder, Denver and the Rocky Mountains—and expanding to New England this August. This private studio was established in 2019 by owner and floral designer Miranda (Mia) Kerr. Kerr designs meticulously with a focus on seasonality and principles of fine art.

Photos: Christa Tippmann Photography

Born, raised and residing in Northern Colorado, Christa Tippmann is a local wedding, family, portrait and interiors photographer. Her work is crisp and clean. Timeless and graceful. If you want true-to-life wedding photos with classic elegance Christa Tippmann, captures couples across all of Colorado.

Artistic & Modern 

Venue: Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMOCA)

BMOCA is a one-of-a-kind venue in the heart of downtown Boulder. This contemporary art museum curates rotating exhibitions that, juxtaposed with the historic landmark building established in 1906, create a truly unique setting to set your vows to. 

“We are flexible and enjoy guiding the couples to ‘sculpt’ the space to reflect their personal vision of their special day,” says BMOCA Marketing Manager Jennifer Chaparro.

Florals: Boulder Blooms

Boulder Blooms embrace abstract designs, and they take impressive care to reduce their carbon footprint while also supporting the community. Sourcing flowers locally reduces the toxic load their staff and clients are exposed to from chemicals like formaldehyde, which are used as preservatives when flowers are shipped. They reduce waste by composting flower trimmings and cut down on microplastics by “designing foam-free” when the project allows as well as utilizing innovative alternatives like Agra Wool. 

Photos: Alex Medvick

Alex Medvick is a non-traditional wedding and elopement photographer based in Boulder, Colorado, willing to travel virtually anywhere. His photography style prioritizes and encourages the story you want to tell—however you choose to tell it. The coolest part? Medvick provides an heirloom album of tangible memories to every couple he works with. 

Bohemian Beauty

Venue: The Lyons Farmette

Quirky, eccentric and unforgettable, The Lyons Farmette provides a venue for couples to celebrate with up to 125 guests. A wedding at the four-acre farmette includes rustic details like an onsite flower garden and face-time with the resident farm animals. There’s a barn perfect for receptions and you can even add a “Beverage Burro” to your day (yes, a donkey that serves beers!).

Florals: Plume & Furrow

Plume and Furrow is a cut flower farm and design studio located at The Lyons Farmette. They grow their own blooms and source locally as needed. Preferring to communicate through color, Plume and Furrow provides striking floral designs for weddings and elopements both at The Farmette and throughout Colorado. 

Photos: Northern Glow Photography

David Manak has captured candid, organic moments of couples’ most memorable days for over a decade. He photographs weddings and elopements of all sizes, but he has a soft spot for classic aspects of traditional weddings. Manak is as much an artist as he is a master at creating spaces in which couples feel comfortable letting go and expressing themselves—allowing intimate and easily missed moments to unfold for him to memorialize. 

“I always kind of joke that I’m more of like a psychologist than a photographer these days,” says Manak. “It’s about creating a stress-free environment, and then organic moments will happen.” 

Woodland Whimsy 

Venue: Treehaus Colorado

An idyllic mountain cabin near Blackhawk, just 22 miles from Boulder, Treehaus CO is an event venue and accommodation available on Airbnb that allows elopements of up to four guests. It accommodates slightly larger elopement parties a few times a year, too. The house itself is picturesque with a sunroom boasting floor-to-ceiling windows where you can soak in the surrounding forest. 

Florals: RLY RLY Studio

RLY RLY is a full-service graphic, event and floral design studio that excels in bringing all-encompassing concept-based events to life (i.e., a Marie Antoinette-themed tea party wedding). Founded by Sky Armstrong, RLY RLY strives to be a little bit punchy and a little bit edgy. They help pull their clients out of the Pinterest pigeonhole and “do something that’s a little bit more—[something that’s] really dialed into your personality,” says Armstrong.

Photos: Castner Photography

Castner Photography consists of husband-and-wife duo, Anna and Nate Castner. Both Anna and Nate are present for each wedding booked, meaning you always have two shooters on your big day. “We help out with timeline planning to make sure we get all the great photos they’re expecting, including carving out time for some magical golden hour photos,” say the Castners.

Off the Beaten Path

Venue: The Surf Hotel

Perched along the banks of The Arkansas River in downtown Buena Vista sits the charming Surf Hotel. The Surf flaunts the ease of all-inclusive hospitality with an on-site craft cocktail bar and farm-to-table restaurant, a hotel to accommodate guests, a premium sound system catering to live music and two impeccably designed spaces—The Ivy Ballroom and The Courtyard.

“We get a lot of out-of-state couples and then we get a lot of couples where they’re not from BV, but they are from Boulder or Colorado Springs, and they’re looking to have a little bit of a destination feel to their wedding,” says Event and Hospitality Director Tana Scott.

Florals: Ladybird Lusk

Ysabella Rankin is the creative mastermind behind Ladybird Lusk in Salida, Colorado. Her designs are flower-heavy and often include eye-catching, artistic statement installations. She loves designing for bigger weddings with various design elements to play with and “relax into her creativity”. Rankin values transparency in her operations and strives to bring her client’s floral visions to life within the guidelines of their budget.

Photos: Larsen Photo Co. 

Newly-weds love Nina Larsen Reed’s photography for how she balances the couple with the surrounding landscape. Nina specializes in adventure-driven elopements of under 50 people, working closely with couples to help them identify locations, secure appropriate permits, plan timelines and adhere to Leave No Trace principles. 

Ultimately, she values building relationships with her clients to foster a sense of comfort and capture cinematic moments. And she’s all about embracing the resurgence of film photography.