For a more traditional ceremony, Father Dyer United Methodist Church, located at 310 Wellington Road in Breckenridge, offers a wonderful space for a marriage ceremony, and during the summer months the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail is a place where a wedding party can be surrounded by spectacular wildflowers at certain times of the year. We have flowers blooming at different times, but during those months it's absolutely spectacular. We have the Mountain Perennial Garden for smaller weddings and the new Alpine Rock Garden with a 100-foot waterfall and the Gore Range as a backdrop for larger ceremonies. Weddings are generally held between mid-June and Labor Day and there are already three bookings for this summer. Along with the tamer places to hold a wedding, there are also plenty of places where people can marry in nontraditional ways.
Many weddings take place on area ski slopes or at the top of mountains.
One such place is the Loveland Ski Area, which holds an annual mass wedding on Valentine's Day. Known as Marry Me and Ski for Free, the mass wedding is performed by an official justice of the peace and includes first-timers and couples who are renewing their vows. Couples are warned that they must be able to ski or snowboard, as there is no other way down the mountain after the ceremony, and a marriage license must be obtained in advance. If a wedding on the slopes isn't to your taste, maybe tying the knot on a sailboat on Lake Dillon is what you are looking for. There are also area ranches, like the Keystone Ranch and Piney River Ranch, located 12 miles north of Vail, which offer, not only space for a wedding, but also horseback and sleigh rides and hunting and fishing for outdoor-type newlywed couples.