To say “I do” in Colorado (and do it up), couples should prepare to shell out around $30,000

Couples hoping to tie the knot in Colorado in 2023 will spend an average of almost $30,000 on their ceremonies and receptions.

With its picturesque mountains and easy access to the Great Outdoors, the state encourages Coloradans to join nonresidents in hosting destination weddings to say “I do.” And last year, the American wedding industry boomed as couples postponed their nuptials during the COVID-19 pandemic and came out looking to get hitched, according to wedding marketplace The Knot.

The site pinned the average cost of a wedding in the Denver area at $29,000 – a little less than the U.S. average of $30,000 spent on the ceremony and reception, and on par with event expenses in Atlanta and Detroit.

It’s a cheaper price point than New York at $60,000; Chicago at $47,000; Washington, D.C., at $40,000; and Los Angeles at $37,000, according to The Knot. But Denver ranks as more expensive than Dallas, Houston, Seattle and Tampa (all at $28,000), as well as Minneapolis at $25,000 and Phoenix at $24,000.

A budget breakdown by financial services company OneMain Financial says the most expensive part of a wedding is the venue, followed by catering and apparel.

Holy matrimony not only packs a punch to the bank accounts of wedding parties, but also to those of guests. Over the past five years, 40% of Americans who’ve attended a wedding have taken on debt to do so, with 62% of wedding party members stacking up debt to participate, online lending marketplace LendingTree reported.

According to a spreadsheet by Denverite Harper Hall, she and her new husband, Conor, spent almost $60,000 on their June wedding at Deer Creek Mountain Camp in Bailey – about an hour southwest of Denver – and their afterparty in the city at Mercury Cafe.

The camp property was “the perfect place,” she said. The couple hosted a multi-day, midweek affair from June 13 to 15 in the style of an adult summer camp, with a guest list of almost 125.

Their expenses consisted of:

• $13,500 for on-site catering by A Perfect Pear Catering

• $12,560 for the venue

• $7,000 for photography and videography by Good Moon Collective

• $3,500 for alcohol from Argonaut Wine & Liquor

• $3,400 for wedding coordination for 90 days by Hitched AF

• $2,500 for DJ services by Dancin’ Shoes DJ and Lighting

• $1,600 for floral arrangements by KaraKara Blooms

• $1,200 for wedding-day bartending by Twist & Spout

• $1,200 for the wedding dress from BHLDN

• $600 for the groom’s suit from Indochino

• $600 for party favors

• $350 for bridal hair and makeup by Beauty on Location Studio

• $250 for custom hats from Gem Hats

The newlyweds and both of their families each covered a third of the total cost.

Their love story

The union between the bride, 32, and the groom, 33, was more than a decade in the making. Thirteen years ago, the pair attended a liberal arts college in Indiana together. Hall – a native of Bloomington, Ind. – was first friends with her future husband’s sister. After receiving the sibling’s blessing, romance ensued.

A defining moment in their relationship came early on when, at the age of 20, Conor was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma, forcing him to drop out of college to fight the disease before eventually recovering.

“We had dreamt up our wedding together throughout the years,” Hall said. In January 2022, the “very exciting, epic” proposal finally happened on a boat in Punta Mita, México, as whales splashed around them.

On Wednesday, June 14, the pair made it official at the altar.

That Saturday, they held a wedding afterparty at Mercury Cafe, spending $7,000 on alcohol and food and $5,500 for musicians, the Diamond Empire Band. The venue’s owners are friends of the Halls, so the rental fee was waived.

The couple flew to the Greek island of Santorini soon after for their honeymoon.

Looking back, Hall said she could have cut out the expense of her hair and makeup. Otherwise, “it was everything that I wanted.”

“I woke up the next day after our wedding, and I was like, ‘There was nothing I would do differently.’ ”

Where to have the wedding in Colorado

A couple’s venue choice can define their financial plan. For example, a warehouse space in Longmont could cost between $3,000 to $4,000, while a site in Steamboat Springs could reach $30,000, said Brittany Cook, owner of Denver’s Cloud 9 Weddings & Papers.

Cook estimates an average price tag of around $10,000 for the venue, with the guest count typically falling around 150 attendees. She considers the most expensive aspect of the event to be the catering and bar, making up roughly 40% of the budget. But, ultimately, a wedding’s final bill is largely determined by the expectations for it.

Cook’s favorite venues include Spruce Mountain Ranch in Larkspur – in part for its proximity to the airport – and Flying Diamond Ranch in Steamboat Springs for its “breathtaking” views.

In Colorado, couples can choose from either traditional or adventurous venues, like Butterfly Pavilion at 6252 W. 104th Ave. in Westminster.

“Where else can you get married in a tropical rainforest with 1,600 live butterflies as your guests?” said Russ Pecoraro, vice president of marketing and communications.

Since the nonprofit invertebrate zoo started holding weddings in 2012, it’s hosted around 30 annually. This year, 16 weddings are currently on the books, Pecoraro said. On average, the venue costs between $3,500 to $4,500.

“So many folks come to us who came here on a school trip or whatever, and fell in love with it way back when,” he said. “And, then, it becomes the next great milestone for them.”

A longer wedding season

With a decade in the wedding industry, Cloud 9 Weddings & Papers’ Cook has noticed changes since the pandemic. Wedding season in Colorado usually takes place from June through September, but it’s now lengthening to include May and October as the demand for more wedding dates climbs after the end of COVID-19 lockdowns. “Going into next year, most Saturdays are already booked,” and couples now need to reserve venues between 18 and 24 months earlier because of the popularity of weekends, Cook added.

She described wedding planning as “pretty much like a part-time job,” with couples dedicating 10 to 15 hours every week to figuring out the event’s logistics. She encourages couples to hire a wedding coordinator to make the process more enjoyable and to help navigate the many decisions before the big day.

A common objective shared by many of Cook’s clients: Adding Fido to the guest list. Pets play a role in wedding ceremonies between 50% to 75% of the time – usually dogs and occasionally horses, she said.

Another couple’s story

Newly engaged couple Werner Friedmann, 37, and Christy Baugh, 27, are in the nascent stages of planning their wedding, which they’re aiming to host next fall for 120 to 150 guests.

“We have a decent budget,” Friedmann said. Baugh’s parents’ have offered up to $50,000 for the wedding, with Friedmann’s family also extending financial support. “I’m definitely not trying to spend all of that,” he added.

Once the pair pins down a date and time, their next steps will be hiring a wedding planner and putting a deposit down on a venue. Current contenders include the Denver Botanic Gardens and Arrowhead Golf Course in Littleton, which is conveniently located near their home in the Roxborough Park area.

Friedmann, a New Orleans native, estimates that the highest price points for the wedding will likely be the event’s supply of alcohol, the photographer and the venue, which he roughly guesses would cost around $10,000. Neither one of them feels strongly about floral arrangements and other decorations, so that’s one area where they could potentially save money, he said.

“We’ve joked about getting Chick-fil-A to cater,” Friedmann added.

One big expense the couple had help with: Friedmann was able to utilize a diamond from his great-great grandmother as the centerpiece of Baugh’s engagement ring, creating something “I never would have been able to afford on my own,” he said.

Friedmann proposed to Baugh on May 13 at the top of Mount Falcon in Jefferson County. The day’s rains paused in time for their moment, which came more than two years after they first matched on Tinder and “froze” throughout their first date at Breckenridge Brewery in December 2020.

It only took one more date at Improper Brewing to seal the deal, as Friedmann and Baugh “pretty much have been inseparable since,” he said.

“She’s brought peace to my life,” said Friedmann, a single father of two. “Life’s just easier with her.”

Dressing up

The standard budget for a wedding includes the bride’s dress, the cake, the venue and more. But those prices can vary dramatically, depending on the couple’s tastes. Little White Dress Bridal Shop at 1130 31st St. in Denver sees hundreds of brides every year, with options for every budget, according to owner Kelly Leggett.

While the store’s collection skews toward higher-end designers – with the highest price point for in-store gowns at $16,000 – shoppers can also find dresses for $500.

“We do see quite a range, and it’s really hard to pinpoint an average” that brides typically spend on gowns, Leggett said.

Three labels that are popular with her clients right now include Israel’s Galia Lahav, Monique Lhuillier in Los Angeles and Savin London. More than half of the shop’s designers are foreign, and it doesn’t carry any Colorado designers.

“The production support just really isn’t here in Colorado, so most U.S. designers are in, really, New York or L.A.,” Leggett said.

After 15 years in business, Leggett describes 2022 as “an anomaly” for her industry, with many destination weddings held in the Centennial State. She pointed to the “post-COVID rush” where couples spent money more loosely after pandemic lockdowns put these events on pause.

“That has ended a bit this year,” given the shaky state of the U.S. economy, she added.