Mountain Wedding Venue with a Chairlift RideWedding Details:

Sitting with a cup of coffee reflecting on the wedding day the thing that comes to mind is how it felt unique.  Nate and Ellen realistically were more normal in the wedding activities and didn’t ride down the aisle on mountain bikes, have a best man dog, parachute into the ceremony, or ski down to the reception.  We are thankful they didn’t try to ski since it was summer and well in August for weddings the only snow would be a dusting on a 14er.

The uniqueness also wasn’t the seen in the details of the things they spent money on.  Sure there were some cool wooden signs, table card spoons that appeared to be encased in chocolate, an awesome looking wedding cake, and elegant decor but yet that wasn’t really what made things different.  What made the day unique was the feel and the flow.

The flow was good and had minimal downtime.  This is unique as we were there for 11 hours which may not seem different but in reality the statistical average wedding day for us is 7.9 hours long.  Emotion was also rich throughout the day without the help of Mr. Alcohol for everyone.  Often the earlier and more Mr. Alcohol is there on the wedding day the more vivid the emotion is throughout the day.

Granby Ranch Review:

Anytime you get to ride a chair lift to the wedding ceremony site you know you are going to have a good view.  Granby Ranch is a beautiful Colorado mountain wedding venue.  It is a bigger place then you might think but yet there wasn’t a lot of interference from people enjoying the ranch.  We did notice people pop up on mountain bikes back by the ceremony site from time to time before the ceremony but the venue staff shut things off and also asked some people to leave.

The bridal party got ready down in Base Camp One.  Up top there is a yurt for the women to do the final touches of getting ready.  The mountain top is filled with Aspen trees which started to show signs of turning yellow even at the end of August.  If you are looking for a beautiful fall color venue area then book them about two weeks into September.

The reception at the Grill had good flow to it.  It had an intimate feel to it even though it was rather open inside. The only thing odd that occurred for the wedding is that no one knew where the bridal party was housed.  We had two wedding day coordinators and a venue coordinator and well we found it ironic that no one could get us that information.  We loved the venue and would look forward to getting back in the future.

Lighting Notes:

Lighting wise for the ceremony site it wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst we have had.  We say that as the sun was to the side of everyone which on this beautifully sunny day will make for harsh lighting on faces at certain angles.  The morning light or early evening light when the light would drop behind the trees would likely be the most ideal.  This is merely a nit picky type thing from a photographer who loves lighting.  We will never complain having a clean space with an epic view.