Do you play weddings in Boulder?

Yes, the whole day or any one part of it. Boulder is a short drive from Denver, so the music is quoted at the same fee a Denver wedding sees plus one short travel line, with no lodging. Chautauqua's Community House and Dining Hall, the Hotel Boulderado, the St Julien, Flagstaff House and Rembrandt Yard are the venues that come up most, along with backyards in the neighbourhoods around them.

What are Boulder's rules on wedding music outdoors?

Boulder has its own rules on evening sound, and every venue in it has a policy of its own on top. We honour caps and curfews as written: tell us the number your venue, HOA or rental agreement puts on evening sound and the cut-off it sets, and both go into the contract, including how the last set lands on the cut-off. A ceremony guitarist and a cocktail hour duo sit inside any of them on their own; a dance floor goes indoors.

Can we have a band at Chautauqua?

Yes, at the size the site allows. Chautauqua sits inside a residential historic district, so its sound policy is the first thing to ask for, and a duo through dinner or a trio indoors in the Community House is what most weddings there book. The ceremony on the lawn takes a guitarist with a small system that carries the officiant's microphone too, and the lot shares a trailhead that fills on summer evenings, so the load-in is planned around it.

Is a trio enough for a Boulder wedding reception?

For most Boulder venues, yes, and it is often the biggest size the venue allows. A trio of guitar, bass and drums fills a floor without a stage in 12 by 8 feet on one dedicated circuit, and the DJ takes the same sound system when the band is done. The Boulderado and the St Julien ballrooms take a quartet, and we'll say so when a date wants four pieces.

How far ahead should we book wedding musicians in Boulder?

Boulder's short list of venues books its Saturdays a year or more out, and couples in wedding forums report booking music after the venue and before most of the rest of the list. Tell us the date and the venue and we'll come back quickly with an answer, and with the venue's sound rules checked.

Boulder weddings

Live music for a Boulder wedding.

A Boulder wedding happens close to other people. The ceremony is on a lawn with houses beyond the trees, the cocktail hour is on a porch with the Flatirons going pink behind it, and the floor fills a dining hall or a hotel ballroom that has a sound policy on the wall. So the music is a guitarist for the vows, a duo for the hour after them at a volume the neighbours never hear, and a trio or the DJ for the dancing, indoors, under whatever number the venue sets.

This is the Boulder version of our weddings page. Book one part of the day or all of it on one contract, with sound support that’s the right size for the space, a personal contact through the day, and one short travel line for the drive up from Denver.

Check a Date See Pricing

Trusted and booked by

The look

A duo at cocktail-hour volume, and a guitarist outdoors.

Autumn Leaves on upright bass and guitar, the size a Boulder cocktail hour books because it sits under the cap on its own, and an acoustic set on a lawn.

A guitarist playing an acoustic set outdoors at a wedding.

The day

The three parts of a Boulder wedding day, and what suits each one.

The neighbours set the volume and the venue sets the size. A guitarist and a duo fit anywhere in Boulder on their own; the floor is the part that has to be planned.

The ceremony, on a lawn or a porch: One guitarist, acoustic, jazz or Spanish, on a covered spot near the aisle with a small system that carries the officiant’s microphone as well. The system is small because it only has to reach the last row, and a guitarist stretches the processional to however long the walk takes. The order of ceremony music, and how many songs each part needs, is on the ceremony page.
The cocktail hour, at dinner volume: A jazz duo or an acoustic duo at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, which is a level the fence line never hears and the conversation sits on top of. On a Chautauqua porch or a hotel terrace this is the whole hour, and the move indoors when the evening cools is agreed before the day. What plays in the hour is on the cocktail hour page.
The floor, indoors: A trio of guitar, bass and drums fills a Boulder floor without a stage, and it’s often the biggest size the venue allows. Where the venue takes four, Tejas Singh starts as a duo and finishes as a quartet, and the wedding jazz band grows the same way through the day. The DJ takes the same sound system from the end of dinner to the last song, and the cut-off the venue sets is the cut-off we plan the last set around.

Every size arrives with sound, load-in and strike, a certificate of insurance and a W-9. The whole song list is on the repertoire page.

The venues

Chautauqua, the downtown hotels, and the backyards between them.

Chautauqua holds the Boulder wedding people picture: the ceremony on the lawn with the Flatirons behind it, the cocktail hour on the porch, the dinner in the Dining Hall or the floor in the Community House. It also sits inside a residential historic district, so its sound policy is the first document to ask for, and the sizes that book there are a guitarist for the ceremony, a duo for the hour and a duo or a trio inside for the rest.

The Hotel Boulderado and the St Julien carry the downtown wedding, with the ceremony and the reception a corridor apart and sleeping guests on the floors above, which is why their event floors have a number on evening sound. Both ballrooms take a quartet or the DJ. Flagstaff House holds the dinner that is booked for its view, up a mountain road with the city below it, and a duo on its terrace is the size that suits the terrace. Rembrandt Yard is the downtown gallery a block off the mall, one floor that takes a ceremony, a dinner and a trio in turn.

A backyard wedding on Mapleton Hill or in a neighbourhood off Broadway is a Boulder wedding too, and the plan for it is the plan for a house: a solo or a duo on the patio at dinner volume, a trio indoors, one dedicated circuit at the end of the run, and the number the neighbours and the city put on evening sound written into the contract before the invitations go out. What a house has to provide is on the Boulder private parties page.

Logistics

The sound policy, the parking, and the short drive.

Boulder has its own rules on evening sound and every venue in it has a policy on top, so the first question we ask about a Boulder date is the number. Whatever your venue, HOA or rental agreement puts on evening sound, and whatever cut-off it sets, both go into the contract, including how the last set lands on the cut-off. A ceremony guitarist and a cocktail hour duo sit inside any of those numbers on their own. A dance floor runs 88 to 95 dBA on the floor by design, which is why it goes indoors, and why a trio is the size most Boulder venues allow for it.

Parking is the question worth settling early. Downtown is metered, Chautauqua shares its lot with a trailhead that fills on summer evenings, and a house on the Hill shares its curb with students during the university year. Tell us the address and we plan the carry: a solo needs 6 by 4 feet and one dedicated circuit at the end of it, a duo 8 by 6 on one, a trio 12 by 8, and load-in at those sizes is one van and 45 to 60 minutes through whichever door the venue prefers.

The drive is one short line on the quote, up from Denver and back, with no mileage arithmetic and no lodging line, so the fee for the music itself is the one a Denver wedding sees. The evening cools fast once the sun is behind the Flatirons, so an outdoor cocktail hour is timed to the light and the move indoors is agreed ahead of time, and the ceremony gets a covered, level and dry spot with power run to it in case a summer afternoon turns.

Extras that can appear on a quote.

Front Range travel: Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins
I-70 corridor travel: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Winter Park
Far resort travel and a night's lodging: Aspen, Telluride, Steamboat, Crested Butte
Holiday and peak weekends, and New Year's Eve
Live-band karaoke
Learned songs, with four weeks' notice

Footprints, circuits and input lists for every size are on the technical page, in a form a venue’s events office can check line by line. How far ahead couples tend to book is set out in how far ahead to book wedding musicians in Colorado. A dinner party or a milestone in the same venues is on the Boulder private parties page, a wedding at altitude is on the Vail wedding page, and the wedding an hour north is on the Fort Collins wedding page.

Questions

Asked about Boulder weddings.

Do you play weddings in Boulder?: Yes, the whole day or any one part of it. Boulder is a short drive from Denver, so the music is quoted at the same fee a Denver wedding sees plus one short travel line, with no lodging. Chautauqua's Community House and Dining Hall, the Hotel Boulderado, the St Julien, Flagstaff House and Rembrandt Yard are the venues that come up most, along with backyards in the neighbourhoods around them.
What are Boulder's rules on wedding music outdoors?: Boulder has its own rules on evening sound, and every venue in it has a policy of its own on top. We honour caps and curfews as written: tell us the number your venue, HOA or rental agreement puts on evening sound and the cut-off it sets, and both go into the contract, including how the last set lands on the cut-off. A ceremony guitarist and a cocktail hour duo sit inside any of them on their own; a dance floor goes indoors.
Can we have a band at Chautauqua?: Yes, at the size the site allows. Chautauqua sits inside a residential historic district, so its sound policy is the first thing to ask for, and a duo through dinner or a trio indoors in the Community House is what most weddings there book. The ceremony on the lawn takes a guitarist with a small system that carries the officiant's microphone too, and the lot shares a trailhead that fills on summer evenings, so the load-in is planned around it.
Is a trio enough for a Boulder wedding reception?: For most Boulder venues, yes, and it is often the biggest size the venue allows. A trio of guitar, bass and drums fills a floor without a stage in 12 by 8 feet on one dedicated circuit, and the DJ takes the same sound system when the band is done. The Boulderado and the St Julien ballrooms take a quartet, and we'll say so when a date wants four pieces.
How far ahead should we book wedding musicians in Boulder?: Boulder's short list of venues books its Saturdays a year or more out, and couples in wedding forums report booking music after the venue and before most of the rest of the list. Tell us the date and the venue and we'll come back quickly with an answer, and with the venue's sound rules checked.

Send us the date and the Boulder venue, and we'll check its sound rules before we price the day.

Live music for your event, from a solo musician to a full band, with sound support that’s the right size for the venue and a personal contact for the night.

Check a Date

Send us the date and the venue, and we’ll come back with a recommendation and a price for your night. What live music costs in this market is on the pricing page.