Your Guide to Planning a Colorado Micro-Wedding

We’ve bundled every bit of micro-wedding planning, micro-wedding venues, and actual micro-wedding costs into one easy to follow guide!

If your priorities include:

• Gathering 50 or less of your closest family and friends in one place to make meaningful memories outside of just your wedding day.
• A weekend itinerary that includes morning hikes, and quaint little coffee shops, afternoon hot spring soaks, and evenings spent around a campfire at your Airbnb.
• A wedding day inspired by your surroundings.
• Less fluff and more fun, like renting jeeps to get to your ceremony spot rather than butler service and cha cha slides…

We see you nodding your head ‘YASSS’ and we’re so excited you’re here! Mountainesque KNOWS the intimate experience you are craving and is sharing the inside scoop on how to make it happen. Read on my friend.

Photo by Kelsey Kaplan Photography

Colorado Wedding Location

Your location determines more than just the wedding day, it’s where your list of weekend activities take place, it’s the cozy accommodations for you and your guests, and it’s the restaurants and social scene you’re looking to enjoy for a long weekend.

“But how do we decide where in Colorado to get married?”

Are you looking for:

• Gorgeous mountain views without being too remote.
• Adorable mountain towns that aren’t overwhelmingly touristy
• Comfortable accommodations, maybe large enough for most of your guests to stay.

Are you still nodding ‘yes’? Well your excitement level is about to go through the roof!

The Colorado wedding location that checks every one of these boxes and some (drumroll please).

The San Juan Mountains

Southwest Colorado a.k.a The Switzerland of America is home to some of the dreamiest hidden gems! Ouray, Telluride, Silverton and Durango happen to be some of the prettiest spots in the state and some of the dreamiest places to host your special day!

I’ll just leave these here to prove our point 😉

Okay, now that we have your location decided let’s move on to actually planning your micro-wedding in the mountains!

5 of our favorite micro-wedding venues in Southwest Colorado

The Black Diamond Lodge (Durango, Colorado)

Gold Mountain Ranch (Ouray, Colorado)

Eureka Lodge (Silverton, Colorado)

Mountain Lodge Telluride (Telluride, Colorado)

Red Mountain Alpine Lodge (Ouray, Colorado)

Each of these venues provide incredible views of the mountains, areas for hosting a beautiful micro-wedding, as well as on-site accommodations for some if not all of your guests.

*When you work with Mountainesque we make it our mission to not only pair you with vendors of your style and budget, but also with those who have experience at these venues. It’s important to note, that small mountain towns don’t have quite the vendor pool compared to big cities and it can be hard to find what you’re looking for. We’ve crafted a list of the best ones over the years, so that this dream can happen without a hitch!

Now that we’ve narrowed down your venue search, let’s talk numbers!

An average micro-wedding budget

The topic that’s hardest to find answers to because every location is different. It’s important to understand that Colorado is a desirable destination, and hosting 50 guests anywhere is an absolute luxury.

We’ve put together a handy dandy pie chart to break down costs easier. With projected costs for micro-weddings in Southwest Colorado to fall between $35k – $50k in the 2025 season.

*Please note that these percentages are based on the averages in our area. These numbers can change based on vendor experience, guest count and overall scale of event.

We hope this helps you better paint a picture of this experience investment!

How to start planning your micro-wedding

We have certainly saved you from hundreds of hours already; searching the internet for the dreamiest spots, and costs of vendors. We would love to save you 300 more hours in helping you plan this epic celebration!

We’ve created a no frills, no hidden fees, just-for-couples-like-you, Micro-Wedding Planning Package!

We’re leaving you with one more freebie bit of information too so you can get started with ease!

• Choose some date options for your special day!
• Determine 3 non-negotiables for your day.
• Determine your budget, and who will be helping with costs.
• Compile your dream guest list.
• Reach out to a planner!
• Research venues.
• Research wedding dress styles, and schedule a few bridal appointments.
• Create a wedding website (we suggest Minted)

This Micro-Wedding guide was designed to eliminate a bit of stress as you begin this exciting journey! We are happy you landed on this page though, and are confident you are off to a great start! The excitement is REAL for you two!

Happy Planning!

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Meet your planner, professional third-wheel and always-down-to-adventure buddy

Hi, I’m Emily!