Wedding Details
the carpenter wedding
Why Telluride?
I (Andrea) was lucky to fall in love with the town of Telluride at a young age when I took my first ski turns at the age of 5. Not surprisingly, 17 years later, I dragged Andrew out for his first ski season in Telluride. Our love for Telluride only grew from there. Every season is special in its own way: winter for skiing, summer for hikes and wildflowers, spring for a gondola rides. But one season really sticks out to us: FALL! The sides of the mountains turn a beautiful gold with the aspen leaves. It is truly a beautiful time of year, and we can’t wait to celebrate the best day of our lives in the beautiful scenery with our closest friends and family.
Airport Options
Montrose, CO (MTJ)
We recommend checking flights for Montrose as they are usually the best value option in close proximity. Telluride is a short 1.5 hour ride on the Telluride Express shuttle!
Bonus: the ride from Montrose to Telluride has some of Andrea’s favorite mountain views in Colorado!
Telluride, CO (TEX)
While there are a couple of flights a day from Denver, most of the flights into Telluride are private jets. Feel free to check out Boutique Air — they have commercial flights to Telluride and code-share with United so you can book a single ticket all the way to Telluride if you are flying on United.
Please note: These planes are small 8 seaters — not ideal for those uncomfortable with a lot of turbulence, short runways, or small planes.
Denver, CO (DEN)
If there are few other options, Denver often has decent flight selections and prices from many airports around the country. However, the downside is that the drive to Telluride is quite far – almost 7 hours! While this might be the cheapest option, we don’t recommend this for most of our guests, so reach out to us if you think it’s the best choice for you.
All nearby airports:
For those that like to shop around, here are all of the airport codes and approximate drive times in the daylight with dry roads. (Note: these might not actually end up being cheaper when you account for a rental car):
Telluride, TEX, 15 minutes.
Montrose, MTJ, 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Cortez, CEZ, 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Durango, DRO, 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Grand Junction, GJT, 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Gunnison, GUC, 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Denver, DIA, 6 hours and 30 minutes.
Albuquerque, ABQ, 5 hours and 30 minutes.
Salt Lake City, SLC, 6 hours and 30 minutes.
Transportation
From the Airport (Montrose or Telluride):
We encourage everyone to take the Telluride Express shuttle up to town, and skip renting a car. Bonus – it allows you to really enjoy the views! Book your ride with the code SHAVERCARPENTER10 to save 10%.
Once in Telluride:
You will not need a car to get around — there is no Lyft or Uber, but you will be able to walk, take the free bus, or ride the gondola (one of a kind transport — pictured here!) anywhere you need to go!
Accommodations
We have a couple of suggestions for lodging for our guest to explore:
– Camel’s Garden & Ice House (Call to reserve and get 20% off when you mention the Shaver/Carpenter wedding. Availability is first come, first served)
– Other Telluride “budget” hotels: The Victorian Inn and Mountainside Inn (these are no frills options, but will most likely be cheapest in cost.
– We also recommend looking at Airbnb and VRBO to find additional options.
– Telluride Alpine Lodging: option for condos and larger houses in the Town of Telluride. Will have a large selection. Try the code 15SHOW to see if you can get a 15% discount!
This is not a super busy weekend in Telluride, but is still considered peak season for the fall colors, so it is likely that prices/lodging options will increase in cost from here. We encourage you to book your hotels ASAP.
We encourage you to stay in the Town of Telluride proper. It is a very walkable town and you will not need a car once you get here!
If you think of questions as you are booking hotels, please reach out! We can make sure you’re booking in the correct place 🙂
Attire
Our wedding attire is semi-formal with a mountain twist. What does this mean you might ask? Dress like you would for a semi-formal wedding; but bring enough layers to make it through potential weather conditions. We wouldn’t mind a classy affair, so feel free to wear floor length dresses and suits if you feel so inclined.
How to Pack
The weather is a mixed bag; from 70s and sunny to 30s and snowy to everything in between. The key words are “come prepared.” We have our fingers crossed for amazing weather and beautiful fall aspen leaves — but you never quite know! We strongly recommend wearing layers that are easy to add and remove. Gloves and a hat are a nice thing to bring along too, as it can get quite chilly at night.
The “exciting” thing about hanging out in the mountains during the fall is that you really can see the weather dramatically change in under ten minutes. We’re almost guaranteed the sun will make an appearance on our day.
A few other notes about travel and altitude…
Have you ever been to alititude? The town of Telluride has an elevation of 8750′ above sea level. Some people can adjust very quickly to the altitude change, but for others, it can take some time. Taking it slow and allowing an extra day in the front of the trip is not necessarily a bad idea. We would hate for you to feel sick on our wedding day! If you are concerned about it, we recommend our guests travel in on Wednesday or Thursday to allow time to adjust to altitude and avoiding travel delays and issues. If you end up not having any problems with the alitutide, you’ll be able to enjoy the views an extra day!
Tips to overcoming alitutide sickness:
– Spend a night at lower altitude (like Montrose) before coming up the hill to Telluride
– Drink LOTS of water!
– Pack healthy snacks to fuel up
– Avoid alcohol and cigarettes
If you’re going to come into town early, we are planning some fun organized activities as part of our weekend. Feel free to check them out!
