Denver Area Venues??

When you say outside catering do you mean a catering company or bringing in your own food?

Have you tried the venues tab?

Outside catering is either bringing my own food or restaurant catering. Haven't decided yet. Yes, I've tried the venues tab, but I can't see that I'm able to sort by catering. Every venue I click on is only bookable with their catering.

See if the Denver City Parks has any spaces left. There are incredible venues like the Montclair Civic Center, Washington Park Boathouse, or the City Park Pavillion. Most of these are very affordable and you can bring in your own catering/food and beverages.

Any responsible venue is not going to let you bring your own food because you don't have insurance to be serving people. People can get ill and if they sue, the venue would be responsible.

Please don't poison your friends and family and use an actual caterer.

I'm begging you to please use an actual caterer.

City Park Pavilion ETA - Cheif Hosa Lodge & other government owned properties. I know there's a house in Wheat Ridge you can rent from the city as well.

There some local wedding CO magazines that have some venues that advertise venues that allow outside catering companies. (The venue doesn't have direct partnerships)

Is there a reason you don't want to use partnership catering from venues?

I looked into parks for my wedding, and you get a raw as fuck deal here. You get a permit to have the wedding at whichever park and they spell out for you that you can't prevent people from literally walking through your ceremony to see the pretty views. And then there's the huge cost and hassle of having tables, chairs, linens, dinnerware, etc transported to and set up in a public area. It's a giant headache waiting to happen so we are opting to get married at an actual venue where they do our catering for us and do all of the set up and tear down for us, and I couldn't be happier!

ETA: our venue is Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton, Colorado.

Just as @little demon said, I also looked into doing this & it ended up being more of a hassle than it was worth. Have you checked out Mount Vernon Country Club? That's where I got married. It was fabulous. They do not charge a venue fee. You just have to pay for everyone's meal. The staff was amazing and the views are to die for.

Are you looking to do your own outside catering because of cost? Would you consider a venue that had their own catering if it fit your budget? I know of a very cost friendly place in Fort Collins.

Please keep in mind that at places where you can bring in outside catering in Colorado, you will have to provide your own million dollar liability insurance as well as get a liquor license. You will also have to hire a licensed bartender. It ends up costing more than having a venue cater your wedding.

Thank you for the helpful responses. I'm leaning towards restaurant catering. I grew up going to a lot of Mexican weddings in Greeley with wonderful self-catered food, and that's just what I'm used to. I may turn to a Mexican restaurant instead.

I'm not very interested in any of the options that I've seen venue catering offer. A slab of chicken, steak or salmon with assorted veggies is just not what I'm looking for, and I don't want to pay a huge fee for it.

No one is freaking out except you. WE have our wedding venues set with proper catering.

You don't.

I'm not freaking out, just trying to be helpful. I've been married twice so, I have scoured the Denver area venues. You really should check out Mount Vernon. I was really impressed with their catering. & because you don't pay for the venue, it's super affordable. Good luck

Geez.. @Mayeve- no one was freaking out. a little sensitive much. Read to understand not to get offended.

I am glad you are considering using a restaurant. Good for you!

@Mayeve :

If your just wanting to use an alternate catering company (Mexican food) go grab one of those giant books where all the venues advertise in. I think I found mine at a wedding dress store. It was called Colorado Brides or something similar.

I remember there being a couple that did not have partnership caterers.

I would still look for an actual caterer and not a restaurant if I were you though. You're going to want staff to serve the food and keep it at the proper temperatures and a restaurant will not do that for you outside of their walls.

@mayeve I didn't want the typical meat and veggies type catering either which is what a lot of the catering places seemed to offer. However, when I reached out to a few they had a wider variety of foods offered than what was on their website menu. We found many catering companies that offered a taco bar like we were wanting initially. I don't have any suggestions for CO, but definitely reach out to catering companies and restaurants to see what foods they may offer. Surprisingly to me, many can come up with a menu you like to fit your budget.

Thank you to those who let me know about the liabilities, I definitely wasn't fully aware of that. But does anyone actually know of any venues where I could bring in restaurant catering? I'm still just seeing a lot of venues that are exclusive to their own catering.

I have made notes of the few that have provided venue names, thank you!