Rachelle + Josh got married at their favorite brewery in Downtown Denver. But before the ceremony and party started over at Great Divide Brewing Company, the couple decided to do the bulk of their bridal party pictures in the city, starting at Union Station and then making their way to Coors Field.

If you are thinking about getting your bridal party pictures done in downtown, PLEASE be sure to leave a good gap out time to navigate this process. Especially with a larger bridal party. You will want to be prepared for traffic in the city, working around other people, and the potential of happening upon a random protest.

Also, if you are getting your bridal pictures done in the middle of the day, you’re probably going to be fighting some strong sunlight and harsh shadows. Work with your photographer and trust the process! Especially if you are shooting on the road in front of Union Station with not a cloud in the sky, just know the photographer is not going to be able to fix the light in photos, but they will just have to embrace the lighting and work with however it is hitting at that time of day.

Otherwise, the great thing about downtown is being able to mostly hide within shadows of nearby skyscrapers and get some amazing city scape shots.

If you are wanting to do some pictures inside of Union Station, there is something really important to know.

Your photographer must apply for a (free) permit for the access and legal ability to do so, but this permit is ONLY available between 1-3pm between Sundays through Wednesdays.

This means, if you are getting married on Saturday, you are not legally allowed to hold a session inside the main corridors of Union Station. This is not the kind of drama you want to find out about and be dealing with the day of your wedding, so make sure to hire a professional photographer who knows the legalities of where they are shooting.

What about the parking and driving situation when doing a bridal party session downtown?

My best advice to you is to not drive and not deal with the nonsense of 6-8 different cars having to try to find parking. This will eat up way too much time that you can be spending taking photos and enjoying yourself. No one needs that type of stress on their wedding day.

Book a party bus.

Or if that isn’t in the budget, book a hotel that is at least close enough to the locations you want to do pictures at. Make sure its about a 10 minute walk, or ideally less. You have to think of your feet in those heels, but also think about the time of year. It could either be really hot or even snowy, but at least there are lots of places that the group can stop for a breather and get some photos in between too.

Important things to know about booking a hotel for your wedding

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Before I was a wedding photographer, I worked in the hotel industry for a little over a year with the front desk. If you are planning to book a hotel just for your wedding night, you might need to rethink that and consider either booking for 2 nights or scratch the idea all together.

This is because most hotels are unable to guarantee early check in, so if you were hoping to arrive at the hotel at 10am the morning of your wedding for your reservation booked for that night, it might not be ready. And you don’t need that stress on your wedding day. Most check in times are not until about 3 or 4pm, which definitely wouldn’t work if your ceremony starts at 4:30pm.

Surprisingly, this is actually not because their hotel staff is trying to be mean or anything (lol). It’s because they must keep the availability open in case they sell out the night before, from a revenue standpoint, they cannot block off the room the night before if no one is paying for it. And if they do book out, the staff can’t force out the previous guests earlier than their promised check out time in order for the wedding party to get in early.

The best thing you can do is either speak to the front desk manager and pay a fee for an early check in (if that is even an option), or just book for the two nights in order to make sure your day runs as smoothly as possible.

With that being said, make sure to clean up the space and make it at tidy so your getting ready pictures are not cluttered!

Your hotel might even be able to offer an awesome rooftop location for first look!

The Source Hotel had an amazing rooftop restaurant and bar which had an overlook of Downtown Denver! So the couple spoke to management and they were able to do their first look there. However, because it is still an operating business, they could not guarantee or block off other customers from using this space. Luckily most people saw what was going on and allowed the couple the space to share their first look and personal vows.

Let’s face it, if someone really comes out in the middle of an emotional moment and sits directly next to you, they are not only an a$$hole but also weird as heck. I, for one, would feel incredibly awkward, and most the general population would too.