Top of the Pines Wedding in Ridgeway, COWedding Details:

We love the non standard wedding venues with epic mountain views.  Ridgeway is a gorgeous part of Colorado.  We travel all over the state for weddings.  The last time we were in Ridgeway was for this wedding at there CC Blue Ranch. While this might sound crazy we do not charge for travel in Colorado.  Part of the reason is we want to incentivize getting to shoot at locations like this one.  Some are closer, others further out – in the end it will balance out.  The couple had people camping out but our take was why not drive home, skip any traffic, and dodge some deer?

We started off the day with Zack and Skylar with a few getting ready pictures before a first look.  Couples photos were in the field. As some clouds rolled in we could shoot fast in pretty much any direction.  There were some bridal party photos and some time with their dogs.  We actually had 3 different times to ‘take them out’ for couples photos.  It was all right there so not sure we really went anywhere.

On the dog front there was a random dog someone brought who just made themself at home particularly in the ceremony.  Due to shooting with dogs over the years we have gained a skill in holding a dog while shooting.  Its like holding a beer that moves.  Well maybe we shouldn’t write blogs in the morning and go get some more coffee.  All that to say it is a dog friendly venue.

The party was lively and we think maybe a little too much for certain guests.  We did recount one woman barely able to stand stumbling off into the dark.  At altitude we hear alcohol will effect you more.  We saw it hit some people really hard.  The dancing was on a dance floor under the night sky.  They had some rope lighting added.  The perk is that this frames the space and will inspire more dancing.

Top of the Pines Wedding Location Review:

The view is amazing, epic, worth the drive . . . what other ways can we say about the Top of the Pines?  Ironically the couple booked the venue based on photos that had the background photoshopped into it.  We do not do this but it seems someone was trying to make it look better than they shot it.  From a quick glance it looked fine but as you looked closer you could see boxes in the image and different sized pixels.  While not everything someone does in photoshop is possible in camera we strived to meet their hopes and dreams.  One big one was in trying to keep the background in focus along with them.  We do not normally get this request but with the cloudy day there was enough even light to make it work without having to overly supplement.  As for the stars they were not out due to the cloudy sky so that was a bit of a bummer but would have been awesome.

The location is a big open field with some trees ideal for camping out.  The road takes up up to this open area that looks over Mt Sneffels.  This is a 14er among a really cool range of mountains not far from Telluride.  There is a building up top with some bathrooms but  most guests will not want to venture up there into the night.  You could roll the dice with an under the stars wedding reception but a tent might be lower risk.  Setup can be a big venture so you would either need to keep it simple or hire in a large team.

Most people seem to face mount Sneffles for the ceremony and ideally for photos.  From that perspective the sun would be behind you in the noon timeframe. The functional sunset on a clear day would be a fairly rough time to shoot as it would be harsh lighting to your side. At dusk it was multiple layers of awesome. We got the tail end with the red hues due to toasts.  Overall for the cost for the view it is an awesome wedding venue location.