CEREMONY SITE AVAILABILITY
There are lots of reasons why a site may be unavailable during certain months and we try to capture that as best we can. If we think a site has full or even partial availability within a given month, we’ll mark it as ‘available’. But we strongly recommend you reach out to the Admin Authority to get the most current and most reliable information. What follows below are some reasons why certain sites may become unavailable.
Covered in Snow
Some areas, particularly mountain passes and overlooks can get covered in more than 8 ft. of snow. The exact dates that a site may be usable or unusable vary with the weather and are notoriously hard to predict. So be cautious when you’re booking in the fall and spring and reach out to the Admin Authority to find out more about conditions at the site.
Road Closures
While snow and ice cause some common and well know road closures (we’re looking at you Trail Ridge Road), sometimes road closures result from mud slides, avalanches and poor weather conditions. When we check for availability we’ll give you the rough dates when seasonal roads are typically closed and or opened. However, when unexpected events happen, alternative routes become useful if not necessary.
Admin Preferences
Admin Authorities sometimes use weddings as filler between other activities. An amphitheater may prefer to book music events or a ski resort may cater towards mountain bikers or skiers. A vacation home may set aside winters or summers for the owner. As such, some availability shifts due to these types of factors.
Water Management
From time to time, reservoirs are drained to lower levels for maintenance and during drought conditions lakes can drop below what you’ve seen in photos. In extreme cases, they may close entire areas down.
Overcrowding
The Denver Metro Area is filled with 2.8 million people who enjoy the outdoors. Campsites, pavilions, trailheads or just about anywhere outdoors can get incredibly overcrowded on peak days. Unless you have a reservation or permit for an area that’s near Denver or along I-70, we’d recommend avoiding weekends if possible and especially holiday weekends.
Wildfires
Wildfires are unpredictable, but they can occur. The most common consequence is that the smoke blows through the mountains and towards the Denver Metro Area. Sometimes it creates an interesting ‘smoky’ mountain effect and sometimes the smoke can be irritating to breathe. That said, wildfires can cause road closures and damage sites.
Flooding
Generally speaking there aren’t many areas at risk for flooding and it’s a rare occasion when it happens. But they can occur in canyons and valleys when wet storms linger in mountains and all of the rain gets funneled down into the lower land below. Typically most of the mountain highways follow these creeks and rivers and can be subject to these rare occurrences when they happen.