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When you book a Pikes Peak Wedding or one of our other wedding packages, we know that you want a ceremony that's a little different from most. Our Secret Garden, full of flowers and birdsong, is a poetic place to wed. Sounds of our hillside waterfall will provide the perfect background for your very romantic event. A deer may wander by to watch you wed, and you are sure to be celebrated by butterflies among the flowers and birds singing overhead. Rose petals will be strewn in the bride's path.
In summer, our handsome wedding tent will provide you with shade. It creates a soft filtered light that makes wedding photographs sing.
In winter, some brides choose to be wed in the snow, borrowing our white satin cape or furry capelet. Red rose petals on snow create a dramatic background for a wedding. We can accommodate a group of twenty-four wedding guests indoors, and seventy-five guests have plenty of room in the garden.
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As part of our wedding package, your wedding officiant is included. We have several officiants of differing backgrounds from which you may choose one whose belief structure is most similar to your own. After booking, we will provide you with biographies of our officiants.
Our particular officiants have been chosen for Blue Skies Inn because of the beauty of their services and the care with which they perform them.
If there are children who should be included in your day, a family circle may be joined with all pledging to support the marriage. If bride and groom want to write special vows, recite a poem or play an instrument for the other, we are happy to personalize your day in that fashion. Our goal is to present a wedding that is meaningful to you.
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Prospective brides and grooms have noticed that many of our weddings feature brightly colored ribbons. They are part of a ceremony that is especially suited to a garden wedding, a Ribbon Ceremony. Of course, we do not require any particular ceremony for our wedding couples, but if you wish, you may choose our Ribbon Ceremony for your vows.
Blue Skies Inn has taken the idea of the ancient Celtic wedding tradition of hand-fasting and developed a sweet ceremony around it. For the exchange of vows, the couple faces each other and touches the other's hand, palm to palm. Rather than wrapping one cord to symbolize the union as was the tradition in the Middle Ages, seven ribbons are used, each a different color of the rainbow.
You may choose up to seven friends or family members to come forward to wrap each ribbon as vows are said. This is a lovely way to involve your family or children in the wedding ceremony. Some examples of the vows are, "Will you respect one another, will you laugh with one another, and so forth." After each vow, the pastor says, "And your spirits are joined anew." |
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When all seven vows have been said, the ribbons are slipped off and tied in a loose knot by the officiant. The bride and groom each hold one end of the ribbons and complete the tying of the knot to symbolize the union of their spirits. The couple takes the ribbons home and hangs them in a special place to remind them of their wedding day and the vows that they have said to each other.
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The Waterfall Garden Wedding Site
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Our gardens constantly change. Plants vary with the seasons, and we are always adding to and improving the landscaping and garden features.
To the left is a view of the Waterfall Garden as seen from the top of the stairs by the small bridge - the waterfall runs through the stones on the left.
It’s a bride’s view, since this is the stairway most Waterfall Garden brides use to make their entrance. Guests would be seated under the tent.
To the top left, under the umbrella, is the raised dais we use for wedding license signing and the service of wedding cake. On the far side of the tent is the bridge that leads over to the Woodland Garden. |
This is a wedding guests’ view of the Waterfall Garden taken from under our tent. You can see the small bridge at the top, and the waterfall pools outlined in red stone that run down the right side of the stairs. |
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On the far side of the tent is the large bridge that leads to the Woodland Garden. The raised dais where we stage our cake-cutting and license signing is just out of sight to the left. |
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The Woodland Garden Wedding Site
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The Woodland Garden path extends down toward our 1873 Carriagehouse. Brides have been making an entrance by crossing a small wooden bridge by the carriage house and ascending the Woodland Garden pathway though a series of landings up to the Woodland Garden ceremonial area.
To the right, you can see the ceremonial area of the Woodland Garden as a bride will see it. Her guests and her groom will be waiting at the wooded altar area at the end of the aisle between the guest chairs.
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The Woodland Garden ceremonial area. Notice one side of an arch to the left. That arch leads to the large bridge that crosses over into the tent area. |
The raised ceremonial dais for the Woodland Garden is straight ahead. There is a small waterfall feature behind the dais. When the ceremony is over, the bride and groom normally go across the large bridge, which is just outside this picture to the left. |
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Sally will be waiting to photograph the wedding party as they pass over the large bridge from the Woodland Garden.
The bride and groom turn right to the raised dais that has their wedding cake and license.
Guests turn left to pick up a flute of sparkling cider to toast the newlyweds.
Then everyone retires to the shelter of our large tent for some wedding cake.
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402 Manitou Avenue
Manitou Springs, CO 80829
(800) 398-7949
(719) 685-3899
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