Live music for cocktail hour at a Denver wedding.

The grand hotels

Downtown weddings keep the hour one floor away from dinner, in the lobby lounge or on the mezzanine. The Brown Palace runs it under the atrium lobby, and at the Four Seasons and The Oxford it lands in spaces where a banquet team is already working a tight service window. A duo that's set up and sound-checked before guests arrive fits the way these buildings run.

The galleries

Space Gallery on Santa Fe Drive is the pattern: concrete floors, white walls, art on every one of them. Hard surfaces carry sound further than carpet and drapery do, so the duo starts the hour lower than it would in a ballroom and lets the walls do the projecting.

The gardens

Denver Botanic Gardens puts the hour outdoors, where the evening gets cold fast after sunset, so moving indoors is agreed before the day. Open air also has no walls to hand the sound back: a guitar sounds close and detailed near the terrace rail and thins across a lawn, where a trio's upright bass carries to the far edge of the crowd. The cocktail hour page covers both.

The mansions and clubs

Grant-Humphreys Mansion and the University Club of Denver spread the crowd across parlors and landings rather than one open floor. The duo sets up within sight of the bar, where the crowd pools, and the far parlors stay usable for conversation.

The industrial floors

Mile High Station holds ceremony, cocktails and dinner under one roof, which makes it the venue flip in its purest form: the hour runs at one end of the building while the floor turns at the other, and the duo is what keeps the turn from feeling like a delay.

Nearly every Denver cocktail hour lands in one of these five kinds of venue, which is why the venue name is the first thing we ask for. Tell us the venue and the date, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price for that hour.

Denver questions

The general questions, what plays, how long, duo or DJ, are on the cocktail hour page, and the same duo plays private parties across the city. Stage sizes and circuits are on the technical page, timing against the caterer and the dinner call is on the run of show page, and the rest of the working documents are on the planners resources page.

What does setup look like at a downtown Denver venue?

It's small and early. A duo is one van and one trip: setup runs about 60 minutes and strike 45, through the service entrance, with dock windows and freight elevators settled with the banquet office before the day, so no cases cross the lobby. Where ceremony and reception share a building, the duo is set up and sound-checked before guests are seated. Signet Artists books Denver wedding cocktail hours.

What does the duo need for space, power and parking?

A corner of about 8 by 6 feet and one dedicated 20-amp circuit, and sharing a circuit with catering warmers is the most common cause of trouble. Parking is settled before the day: a hotel dock has a window, a gallery has a curb, and either way the van is gone before guests arrive.

Is there a travel charge for a Denver wedding?

No. Denver is our home market, so a Denver metro date carries no travel charge. Travel is priced with the date only outside the metro area: Boulder and Colorado Springs are a short drive, and mountain venues are a longer one.

Can the duo play an outdoor cocktail hour at a Denver garden venue?

Yes, on a covered, level and dry performance area with power run to it, and the move-indoors time written before the day, because Denver evenings get cold fast after sunset. Garden terraces with a pavilion make this the easiest outdoor booking on the calendar.

Is a duo enough for a cocktail hour at a Denver hotel?

Yes, for the guest counts these buildings hold at cocktail hour. Two musicians carry a lobby lounge or a mezzanine at a level guests who have just met can talk across. The trio is the size to book when the crowd spreads across a full ballroom.