Moraine Park Amphitheater Micro Wedding - 2024 Guide
A wedding couple outside of Moraine Park amphitheater.
Everything You Need To Know & Updated For 2024:
A Beautiful Amphitheater In The Heart Of Rocky Mountain National Park
Photos by partner company Colorado Photographer Squad
The amphitheater next to Moraine Park is perfect for a Colorado micro wedding. Standing in Moraine Park itself, you are surrounded by meadow and mountain as far as the eye can see. Glaciers once occupied much of this valley, carving its wide floor and then retreating west to carve the jagged peaks you see in the distance. The result is this big vista that brings invokes peace and the desire to breathe a bit more slowly and take it all in.
A great place for after-ceremony photos, Moraine Park is just a two-minute drive from Moraine Park Amphitheater where you can have your ceremony. Then hop over to romp and play in the meadow with this amazing backdrop for “just the two of you” photos. Take in the beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park as you let “Wow, we’re married” settle in…
Moraine Park Amphitheater meadow after the wedding.
Photos by our team photographer Sharee Davenport.
All The Deets
Best Time Of Year: Mid-June through Early October is ideal for weather, but it is also accessible year-round.
Group Size: Just the two of you, or bring a micro wedding of the two of you plus up to 26 guests.
The Drive: The Rocky Mountain National Park entrance is a 20-minute to 45-minute drive from Estes Park depending on traffic, then another 10 to 45-minutes drive from the entrance to Moraine Park Amphitheater and Moraine Park itself.
The Walk: It’s just a walk from a parking lot to Moraine Park Amphitheater for your ceremony, and then Moraine Park is accessible from the road for after-ceremony photos. You’ll want comfortable shoes to walk in the meadow for after-ceremony pics and you can wear your fancy wedding shoes for the ceremony itself.
Permit: An RMNP wedding permit is required and costs $300. You can obtain it yourselves or we’ll do it for you (and we’ll pay for it too) as part of your elopement package with us. If you apply for it yourselves, it can sometimes take several weeks, whereas our relationship with the park gives us about a week turnaround time and makes the process stress-free and easy for you. Plus there’s nothing better than knowing sooner than later that you’ve secured a coveted RMNP wedding permit!
The Amphitheater At Moraine Park
Photo from the Rocky Mountain National Park website.
This is such a beautiful and sweet spot for a micro wedding ceremony. A mini amphitheater right in the middle of Rocky Mountain National Park!
If you’ve got a small number of guests, you can have them sit close in, or if you’re a larger group, your peeps can fill up the benches row by row.
You get married with Ponderosa Pines as your backdrop - a true forest wedding.
Once you’ve had your ceremony, take group shots with your family and friends, then head over to the Moraine Park meadow for romantic photos. Here’s a photo shoot at Moraine Park when the sunset was simply blowing us away…
Sweet romantic moment in the meadow.
Explore The Meadow
There are several paths and bridges to explore and wander as your photographer takes pics. You get to just have fun and enjoy the beautiful view…
Light rain didn’t stop the beautiful views.
And… the kiss :)
Other Fave Views At Moraine Park
The photos above are just one angle in Moraine Park, but there are others too. Walk a little farther in and you get to explore dreamy meadows and little forests. A playground for your romantic portrait shoot!
Local Tips & Tricks For A Moraine Park Amphitheater Micro Wedding
Date Timing
Moraine Park is a very busy part of the park, so planning your elopement or micro wedding on a weekday is ideal if you can. And super early in the morning or near sunset are quiet times in the park, plus also the best time for photography and light.
Cell Service Tip
It’s good to know that once you drive about 5 minutes into the park from the Beaver Meadows entrance, you’ll lose cell signal, then it’s another 20 minutes to Sprague where there is mostly no cell service.
A nice benefit is that you won’t have your cell phone to distract you from all the fab nature, but make sure that you take care of all your communications with officiant, photographer and guests before you enter the park, plus make sure that everyone has great driving directions because if they get lost they won’t be able to call you.
Park Wedding Permit Tip
Due to high volumes of visitors to the park each year, the park has limited the number of weddings to 250 max in 2024 and only so many weddings can happen at each spot on any given day.
So you want to apply for your park permit sooner than later. Permits cost $300, and you can either apply yourselves here or secure a package with us and we’ll do it all for you - we can obtain your permit within a week because of our relationship with the park, plus we’ll pay for it too!
Colorado Elopement Package: Ceremonies With Lisa Elopement Packages
Photos by partner company Colorado Photographer Squad
To see other elopements at this location: Moraine Park Amphitheater Summer Magic
Meet the officiants and photographers who I’m partnered with Here
If you want to know more about how your elopement will work…
Let’s make your Moraine Park elopement real.
(Or at any of my other fave locations. Love them all.)
Officiant Lisa- your elopement guide.
Let’s make it happen.
Hey it’s Lisa :) I’m an officiant, elopement expert and mountain girl at heart. I can’t wait to tell you all about these sweet mini adventures and how it all works.
Reach out using this handy form and I’ll send all the info to make your elopement day real, see if we’re a fit and hop on a call to lay out your dream day and package quote. Can’t wait to get to know you!
