Do you play weddings in Telluride?

Yes, the whole day or any one part of it. Telluride is a far resort from Denver, about six hours each way, so the quote carries the fee for the music, one travel line for the drive, and a night's lodging at cost, which means the receipt with no markup on it. San Sophia Overlook, Gorrono Ranch and Allred's on the mountain, the Madeline and Mountain Lodge in Mountain Village, and the Sheridan Opera House and Town Park in town are the venues that come up most.

What are Telluride's rules on amplified music at a wedding?

The town's code allows amplified sound, indoors and out, from 7am to 11pm on Fridays, Saturdays and defined holidays under a permit, as long as it isn't plainly audible beyond what the permit sets. So the floor's last song lands before eleven on a Saturday, and a ceremony guitarist and a cocktail hour duo sit inside the rule on their own. The figure is cited and dated on our mountain corridor page, and we confirm the current version with the venue before the day.

Can the ceremony be at San Sophia Overlook?

Yes. The overlook is reached by gondola, so the guitarist and a small battery-powered system ride up with the guests, the system carries the officiant's microphone as well as the guitar, and the reception happens back in Mountain Village or in town afterward. A ceremony that high is planned for the light and the cold, and the guitarist is set up and tuned well before the first guest steps off the gondola.

How far ahead should we book wedding musicians in Telluride?

As early as the venue. A Telluride venue books its summer Saturdays well over a year out, the lodging in a small town goes with it, and the musicians' night in town has to be booked as well, so the date is the first thing we need. Tell us the date and the ceremony site and we'll come back quickly with an answer and a price for the day, travel and lodging itemised.

Telluride weddings

Live music for a Telluride wedding.

A Telluride wedding is the one guests fly in for. The ceremony is up the gondola with the whole box canyon below it, the cocktail hour is on a Mountain Village terrace at nine and a half thousand feet, and the floor fills a lodge, an opera house or a tent in Town Park inside the hours the town allows for amplified sound. So the music is a guitarist who rides up with the guests, a duo for the terrace before the cold comes down, and a band or the DJ for the dancing with the last song planned to the town’s clock, on a quote that carries the drive and the night in town honestly.

This is the Telluride 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, one travel line for the drive, and a night’s lodging at cost.

Check a Date See Pricing

Trusted and booked by

The look

A Malagueña for the processional, and a guitarist in the open air.

A Malagueña on solo Spanish guitar, the prelude and processional sound and the size that rides the gondola to a ceremony above town, and a guitarist playing outdoors.

A guitarist in a white shirt seated on a stool under a pergola, playing a nylon-string guitar between white columns.

The day

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

The gondola sets the ceremony plan, the altitude sets the sound check, and the town’s amplified-sound hours set the last song. The music rides with the guests from one to the next.

The ceremony, up the gondola: One guitarist, acoustic, jazz or Spanish, with a small battery-powered system that carries the officiant’s microphone too, riding up with the guests to an overlook or a ranch on the mountain. Nothing about the ceremony music changes at nine thousand feet except the tuning, which happens twice, and the order and timing of the pieces is on the ceremony page.
The cocktail hour, on a Mountain Village terrace: A jazz duo or an acoustic duo at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, while the couple is off with the photographer and the light is still on the peaks. The terrace turns cold the moment the sun leaves the canyon, so the hour is timed to the light and the move indoors is agreed before the day. What plays in the hour is on the cocktail hour page.
The floor, before eleven: A trio or a quartet in a lodge, on the Opera House stage or in a tent in Town Park, or the DJ from the end of dinner to the last song, with that last song planned to the town’s amplified-sound hours rather than discovered at the door. Tejas Singh starts as a duo and finishes as a quartet on one contract, and the wedding jazz band grows through the day the same way.

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

On the mountain, in Mountain Village, and in town.

The mountain holds the ceremony people fly in for. San Sophia Overlook is reached by gondola and looks straight down the canyon at the town, Gorrono Ranch is the on-mountain site for a ceremony and a reception in one place, and Allred’s sits at the top of the gondola with the peaks on one side and the town’s lights on the other once it’s dark. A guitarist and a battery-powered system ride up to any of them; a band plays the ones with power and a floor.

Mountain Village holds the terrace hour and the lodge reception. The Madeline’s terraces take a duo while the light is on the peaks, Mountain Lodge Telluride takes a duo through dinner and a trio for the floor, and both are a gondola ride from a ceremony above them and from the town below, so the day moves without a car.

Town holds the wedding that wants Telluride itself around it. The Sheridan Opera House has a stage and a floor and a hundred years of shows in it, and a band on that stage is the reception the couple remembers, and Town Park, at the box canyon end of Colorado Avenue, takes a tent, a band and the town’s amplified-sound permit, with the last song landing before eleven on a Saturday.

Logistics

The drive, the night in town, the altitude and the sound hours.

Telluride is a far resort from Denver, about six hours each way over the passes, and a band that has driven six hours isn’t driving home the same night. So the quote carries three things honestly: the fee for the music, one travel line for the drive, and a night’s lodging at cost, which means the receipt with no markup on it. A winter date is planned with the passes in mind and the musicians travel a day early when the forecast says so.

The town allows amplified sound, indoors and out, from 7am to 11pm on Fridays, Saturdays and defined holidays under a permit, as long as it isn’t plainly audible beyond what the permit sets. That is the clock the floor is planned to, and a ceremony guitarist and a cocktail hour duo sit inside it on their own. The rule is cited and dated on our mountain corridor page, and we confirm the current version with the venue before the day.

The altitude reaches the gear and the guests. Telluride sits at 8,750 feet and Mountain Village at about 9,545, the air is thin and dry, strings drift between an afternoon ceremony and an evening set and get retuned, and anyone singing or playing a horn paces a set differently, so the sound check is longer here than anywhere else we play. A ceremony reached by gondola runs on a battery-powered system or the site’s own circuit, and the guitarist is set up and tuned well before the first guest steps off.

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 resort’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. The I-70 wedding with no lodging line is on the Vail wedding page, and a corporate group at the far resorts is on the corporate retreats page.

Questions

Asked about Telluride weddings.

Do you play weddings in Telluride?: Yes, the whole day or any one part of it. Telluride is a far resort from Denver, about six hours each way, so the quote carries the fee for the music, one travel line for the drive, and a night's lodging at cost, which means the receipt with no markup on it. San Sophia Overlook, Gorrono Ranch and Allred's on the mountain, the Madeline and Mountain Lodge in Mountain Village, and the Sheridan Opera House and Town Park in town are the venues that come up most.
What are Telluride's rules on amplified music at a wedding?: The town's code allows amplified sound, indoors and out, from 7am to 11pm on Fridays, Saturdays and defined holidays under a permit, as long as it isn't plainly audible beyond what the permit sets. So the floor's last song lands before eleven on a Saturday, and a ceremony guitarist and a cocktail hour duo sit inside the rule on their own. The figure is cited and dated on our mountain corridor page, and we confirm the current version with the venue before the day.
Can the ceremony be at San Sophia Overlook?: Yes. The overlook is reached by gondola, so the guitarist and a small battery-powered system ride up with the guests, the system carries the officiant's microphone as well as the guitar, and the reception happens back in Mountain Village or in town afterward. A ceremony that high is planned for the light and the cold, and the guitarist is set up and tuned well before the first guest steps off the gondola.
Does the altitude change anything for the musicians?: It changes the sound check. Telluride sits at 8,750 feet and Mountain Village at about 9,545, the air is thin and dry, strings drift between an afternoon ceremony and an evening set and get retuned, and anyone singing or playing a horn paces a set differently. We plan a longer sound check for it, and an outdoor set gets a covered, level and dry spot with power run to it.
How far ahead should we book wedding musicians in Telluride?: As early as the venue. A Telluride venue books its summer Saturdays well over a year out, the lodging in a small town goes with it, and the musicians' night in town has to be booked as well, so the date is the first thing we need. Tell us the date and the ceremony site and we'll come back quickly with an answer and a price for the day, travel and lodging itemised.

Send us the date and the ceremony site, and we'll price the day with the drive and the night in town on it.

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.