Longmont & Lyons
Wedding & Elopement Guide 2025
Hi! We’re Jess & Austin Drawhorn, Longmont locals and longtime wedding & elopement photographers! We’re so proud of our hidden gem town and are here to share everything we know about getting married in one of the most charming places along Colorado’s Front Range.
Why Longmont & Lyons together? Well, our little towns bump right into each other, and while both towns definitely have distinct personalities and communities, for the purposes of this guide we’re gonna put them both together. Your wedding plans could easily end up being split between staying in Longmont, having your ceremony in Lyons, and your reception back in Longmont — so this guide will be a great hub for understanding the lay of the land. Whether you’re planning a huge wedding, a micro-wedding with just a few guests, or a total private elopement – we’ve got ideas, pricing and contact options for you below!
We’re pretty used to people having never heard of Longmont —“it’s about 20 minutes north of Boulder” comes out of my mouth every single day. You may assume that the only people who would ever get married here are locals, but I’m here to tell you that it’s definitely got destination appeal as well. Longmont is the perfect place to get married if you’re drawn to the amazing Rocky Mountain views but also want a destination that’s affordable, relaxed & accessible.
Why get married in Longmont or Lyons anyway?
Why getting married in Longmont or Lyons could be perfect for you:
We’re only about 45 minutes from the Denver airport, with the same beautiful views of the Rockies as Boulder, but a distinctly more small-town vibe.
There are incredible venues here that work for most budgets, with options from high end historic architecture to gorgeous riverside meadows tucked into towering canyons.
This is the halfway point from Denver to Rocky Mountain National Park, making Longmont the perfect home based for a weekend full of adventures for you and your guests.
A note on venue pricing:
Wedding venue pricing can be complicated because every wedding is a unique event, and there are so many factors that go into pricing events. How many guests you have, the layout and timeline of your event, and the day of the week can make huge differences.
The average price for a Saturday wedding venue in Longmont or Lyons is around $9000, but we have options on this list from $0 - $12,000 with everything in between! We listed the current Saturday pricing for every venue because that will always be the maximum each venue charges – so if you have a smaller budget, don’t count any of these places out. Every single venue on this list offers dynamic pricing for smaller events, weekday weddings and off-season dates, so it’s very likely you’ll find something that works for you!
The best wedding venues in Longmont & Lyons
Bestow Events
Bestow is a brand new venue — it just opened at the end of 2024, but we’re already seriously impressed. The enormous building was beautifully renovated by the team at A Florae and features a gorgeous long dining room with custom farmhouse-style tables, as well as a few different options for cocktails and hang outs like a lounge, entrance foyer & an outdoor patio. Bestow can accommodate up to 120 people for a seated dinner or many more for a less formal event. One of our favorite features of Bestow is the incredible light — during the day, the wall of windows brings in so much natural light, and in the evening the room is charmingly lit by hundreds of candles.
Because Bestow is so new to the scene, right now is the perfect time to book for your wedding. This is seriously the best value spot in town, but that’s not going to last long! Pricing for Saturdays: $5950
Shupe Homestead
Shupe Homestead has the best mountain view of any wedding venue in Longmont. Their more than 20 acres of wide open space along the front range has a perfect view of Long’s Peak and the surrounding foot hills. We love their ceremony spot in a shady cottonwood grove, their natural pond surrounded by native plants and wildflowers, and their roomy indoor reception hall. About 100 guests is the sweet spot here.
Not only is Shupe Homestead beautiful, everyone raves about the owners and the staff there! Our couples who have gotten married at Shupe have just had nothing but amazing things to say about their experience working with their team. Pricing for Saturdays: $11,400
© The St. Vrain
The St. Vrain
The St. Vrain is a real gem, right in the middle of Longmont — a historic landmark building with indoor and outdoor options for hosting up to 250 guests! We love this stylish building from the 1900s and their expert team who are well equipped to pull off very large events. They even have a liquor license, allowing you to offer your guests a full bar. Pricing for Saturdays: $8500
The Callahan House & Garden
The Callahan House is a historic home in Longmont that was built in 1892, and has been meticulously preserved ever since. Their property includes the main house, a beautiful rose garden with a classic fountain, and a carriage house — plenty of room for up to 125 guests in the summer, and up to 32 guests for sit down events in the winter. Because the Callahan House is owned by the city of Longmont, the costs are much more affordable than some other venues in the area. Saturday price: $6490
(303) 776-5191
The Lyons Farmette
The Lyons Farmette is one of our favorite venues ever — its an incredible colorful & charming working flower farm with so much character, and the ability to host up to 125 guests for a seated dinner. Their property features a climate controlled farmhouse with two getting ready suites, an Airstream, two bars and five acres of property to roam admiring their flowers. They also have a commercial kitchen onsite for bringing in outside catering. Saturday pricing: $9500
© Alex + Jess Photography
Planet Bluegrass
Planet Bluegrass is world renown for their iconic music festivals — Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival & RockyGrass, as well as countless one off concerts throughout the year. When the venue isn’t full of music fans, they host gorgeous weddings for up to 250 guests on their sprawling property. The St. Vrain River flows right by the 25 acre festival grounds, carving out a stunning red rock canyon wall. The venue offers a 5000 square foot heated pavilion and of course a world class sound system. This is the perfect venue for nature lovers who want to party! Saturday pricing: $15,000
A few other wedding venues in Longmont & Lyons
Black Cat Farm in Longmont
River Bend in Lyons
Crane Hollow Farm in Longmont
Lions Crest Manor in Longmont
The best elopement locations in Longmont & Lyons
Public Lands
To be totally honest, there are not a lot of great options in Longmont & Lyons for a classic adventure elopement out in nature — but there are a few that we have up our sleeves! We don’t hold that info back to gatekeep or to be annoying though. It’s actually illegal for us to “advertise” our services on certain public lands, even when it’s totally legal for us to work there! Our clients get full access to our detailed location list.
One place we can direct you to is Rocky Mountain National Park, our home away from home. Just 40 minutes up the canyon from Longmont (and 30 from Lyons!), Rocky is a year round mountain paradise that contains so many possibilities for all levels of adventure.
We highly recommend having your weekday elopement ceremony in one of our suggested locations in Longmont, Boulder, or Rocky, and then checking out the reception options below for your celebration dinner!
Bestow
Bestow is a fantastic option for a stylish ceremony-only vow exchange or a micro-wedding with a handful of guests. They offer hourly rentals at $300 per hour for events Sunday-Friday and have both indoor and outdoor options. Their cocktail lounge would be so perfect for a cozy 10-20 person dinner!
Callahan House & Gardens
The Callahan House offers hourly rentals of the entire property, just the house, or just the garden for ceremony-only weddings with no on site dinner or dancing. Saying your vows in the rose garden before going out for cocktails sounds pretty chic to me.
Pricing for elopements really depends on exactly what you need — but they do allow you to say your vows for free in the garden if you don’t mind the gardens being open to the public, or just $100 per hour if you do want them all to yourself!
Lyons Farmette
The Lyons Farmette offers hourly rentals for elopements starting at $300 per hour, with a minimum of 4 hours — making this an amazing option for a simple weekday ceremony with a small number of guests!
The best wedding reception venues in Longmont & Lyons
Traditional weddings: 20-150 people
If you’re getting married at a church or other private area and are looking for a “reception-only” venue for this many people — you’re basically just looking at wedding venues anyway! Check out some of the classic wedding venues above, like Bestow or the St. Vrain.
Another option would be to contact some of the many amazing organic farms in the area that are already set up to host farm dinners. Many farms have a kitchen staff on site for dinners, or allow you to bring in food trucks or caterers for your large group! We love Black Cat Farm, Lone Hawk Farm, Ollin Farms, and Ya Ya Farm & Orchard!
Intimate dinners: 8 -20 guests
Most restaurants can seat up to 8 people without making special accommodations, but once you get in the 8-20 guest range, you may need a reservation, a private dining area, a fixed menu or even to do a buyout of a whole space. There are definitely lots of places to have a small reception in Longmont or Lyons though if you’d like to elope somewhere like Rocky Mountain NP or Callahan Garden and then celebrate with a little dinner:
High end restaurants for a group:
Casual spots & breweries:
MainStage Brewing (owned by our besties!)
Small venues that require catering:
“Just us” elopement celebrations
If it’s just the two of you and no guests, obviously you can snag a res at just about any restaurant in Longmont, Lyons or Boulder, including the ones above — but here are some of our faves! We definitely recommend going out for dinner after sunset btw. It’s so fun to go out in your wedding clothes, but don’t miss the best light of the day!
Dry Land Distillery — this is our date night spot in Longmont! Dry Land makes award-winning spirits from all Colorado sources, including a wonderful tequila-like Cactus spirit. They have a beautiful tasting room with amazing cocktails and a small but mighty food menu. They also allow you to bring your own food, so we often bring takeout sushi or a picnic spread and plate it up nicely for a really unique experience.
Marigold — a lovely restaurant in Lyons with an excellent farm to table menu and natural wine program
Farra — also in Lyons, a cozy spot with Spanish influences and an impeccable vibe
Lucile’s Creole Cafe — an iconic brunch spot, which could be a great way to kick off the day, or to celebrate your sunrise elopement!
To be completely honest, Longmont and Lyons have really good food, but if you’re looking for an extremely high end fine dining experience, you’re not going to find it here. But Boulder is only a short drive away with several Michelin rated restaurants like Oak, Bramble & Hare, Frasca and Stella’s Cucina.
If you can’t find a place you’re digging, or if your elopement plans will keep you out pretty late, we recommend hiring a private chef to come to you!
The best wedding vendors in Longmont & Lyons
Hair & Makeup Artists
Wild Brides Backcountry (another absolute fave of ours)
Photographers ;)
Are we the best wedding photographers in Longmont? I don’t know if we could make that call, but I do think we’re among the best wedding and elopement photographers in the area. We’ve helped hundreds of couples celebrate getting married all over Colorado and the American West since 2017.
And we gotta say, we’re great at what we do — from planning and support to delivering a beautiful gallery of finished photos, to photographing your future milestones. We’d love to chat if you’re looking for a wedding photographer anywhere in Colorado, but especially here at home in Longmont.
When is the best time to get married in Longmont?
Time of year:
I think we’re really an all season kind of town – Longmont is right where the Plains meet the Rockies, and we follow the classic Colorado weather pattern of spring from April - May, summer from June - early September, fall from mid-September -October, a mild winter in November - December, and a heavier winter January - March.
Unless you’re super heat adverse (in that case, avoid the height of summer), there is no wrong time to get married here!
Time of day:
Sunrise makes for a lovely elopement ceremony, especially if you’re not expecting too many guests!
Sunset (or the last two hours of the day) is our favorite lighting in Colorado, so don’t skip seeing a sunset in favor of an early dinner! We always recommend timing your ceremony for the mid-afternoon so you can be somewhere beautiful for sunset, and save dinner and dancing for after nightfall!
Best day of the week:
Of course most traditional weddings at venues are still happening on Saturdays, but we do have some venues that give great discounts for weekday weddings, so try to think out of the box! If your guests are traveling to Colorado already, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a weekday – they’re likely going to make a vacation out of the trip anyway. Just give plenty of notice!!
If you’re eloping with no guests or just a few, we strongly recommend choosing a weekday for your ceremony. Most public lands on the Front Range are kind of nuts on the weekend year round, but weekdays are much more chill!
FAQs
Where do you get your marriage license in Longmont or Lyons?
You can actually go to any county clerk in the state to get your Colorado marriage license, but the Boulder County locations are most convenient:
Boulder: 1750 33rd St.
Map and Directions Boulder Location
Longmont: 529 Coffman St.
Map and Directions Longmont Location
Lafayette: 1755 S. Public Road
Map and Directions Lafayette Location
Where should we stay? Are there good Airbnb or hotel options?
There are a few hotels in the area! For Longmont, the local Hilton Garden Inn and Courtyard Marriott are nice standard hotel options that will do wedding blocks, while we have outstanding St. Julien and Boulderado hotels nearby for a luxe option. (I personally love doing spa days at the St. Julien, so that one is highly recommended). In Lyons we love the boutique hotel, A-Lodge and the tiny home village, Wee Casa.
Do you need a permit to elope in Longmont or Lyons?
Not really — all of the public lands here allow very small elopements without a permit. If you have more than like 2-5 guests, you will likely need to reserve a space like a picnic shelter, campground or book somewhere on private property.
If you want to elope 40 minutes up the road in Rocky Mountain National Park or down in Boulder, you will most likely need a permit — but we can help with that!
What else is there to do in Longmont or Lyons?
If you’re planning your wedding in Longmont/Lyons and looking for other stuff to do during your trip — we recommend bopping around cute downtown Longmont to grab donuts at Landline, do some local shopping at crafting paradise Maker General or browse the lovely stationary at Wolf & Wren, and have cocktails (or mocktails) on the patio at Dry Land! Don’t miss our Saturday farmer’s market or the opportunity to do some chill bird watching around Golden Ponds or Pella Crossing.
In Lyons, you’ve got to head to Laverne Johnson Park to float the river and then head to Marigold for drinks and MainStage for amazing pizza and live music on the patio.
While you’re in the area, Rocky Mountain National Park is a must-see. It’s really one of the best parks in the country and has adventures for every ability level.
How much does it cost to get married in Longmont or Lyons?
Truly it could be anywhere from $3000 to $40,000 — it really depends on how many guests you have! A venue space for hosting guests and feeding them are typically the biggest expenses of any wedding. So if it’s just the two of you eloping on a mountain and then having dinner, you’ll be on the low end of that range — while hosting 250 with an open bar is really another story entirely.
Photos from Longmont, Lyons & Rocky weddings
The next step:
If you’re getting married in Longmont, Lyons, Rocky Mountain National Park or anywhere in Colorado – we’d love to be your wedding photographers!