Donovan Pavilion Weddings in Vail

Gallery of Donovan Pavilion Wedding Photos

Donovan Pavilion Wedding Amenities

Donovan Pavilion Rules & Regulations

Donovan Pavilion Wedding Cost

Donovan Pavilion Wedding Information

Phone: 970-477-3699

Website: Donovan Pavilion Wedding Website

The Donovan Pavilion is one of the best wedding venues in Vail, Colorado. It’s owned and operated by the city of Vail and has been used as a venue for weddings in the Vail Valley for nearly 20 years now. It’s a huge, modern-style, timber and stone building perfect for wedding celebrations with 5,200 square feet of indoor space. You’ll be able to host weddings for up to 200 guests at this beautiful Vail wedding space. 

There is really a lot I love about the Donovan Pavilion but the following are just a small handful of my favorite features. It has super tall ceilings with arched wood beams running across it. On the south wall of the building, there is a huge wall of windows letting in tons of natural light while allowing your guests to look out at the patio space. Speaking of the patio, it’s also quite large and perfect for wedding ceremonies since it’s surrounded by a garden and a forest. The surrounding greenery provides a nice, secluded and private feel for your nuptials while still allowing you to hear the rush of the nearby Gore Creek mountain stream. There is a large lawn to the west of the building which would make a nice lawn game area during cocktail hour and there is also a large gas fire pit over on that side of the event center as well. I should note that this grassy area is part of the main park and alcohol is not allowed in that area but if you need some space to spread out, it’s there. I love creating photos for my couples along the sidewalk that leads down to Gore Creek since there are some nice aspen trees dotting the landscape along that walk and of course there are some nice couples wedding pictures to be created down by the water.  

When you rent the Donovan Pavilion for your wedding, you’ll get the use of a full commercial kitchen so if you plan to host a wedding for less than 60 people, you can opt to self cater and save a lot of money that way. They also have a full service event coordinator on staff who can help you with selecting a caterer for your wedding in Vail. The Donovan Pavilion has an in-house sound system and audio equipment like microphones and flat screen TVs available for your use. They have all of the tables and chairs you’ll need so no need to rent those from an outside company. One extra bonus I find quite neat is that the outdoor patio is actually heated so if you wanted to set up a tent out there during winter, that’s also a possibility! One last really great thing about this venue is that there is a ton of parking available making it really easy and convenient for your guests to attend your wedding!

I thought I’d highlight just a few of the rules and restrictions for the Donovan Pavilion. A big one is the restriction of fireworks/smoke machines. As with most Colorado mountain wedding venues, sparklers aren’t allowed due to the near constant fire risk here in Colorado. You have heard, but we have been dealing with some of the largest, most destructive fires in our state’s history so most of our wedding venues do not allow them at all. I previously mentioned that the Donovan Pavilion is one of the few wedding venues that do allow self-catering for your wedding, but they restrict this to weddings with less than 60 guests. You can save a good amount on your alcohol though as you can purchase your own as long as you hire a TIPS certified bartender to serve it.

The Donovan Pavilion is a year-round wedding venue which isn’t always easy to find in the ski resort towns of Colorado since many shut down some of their beautiful venues during ski season. Donovan Pavilion wedding prices for 2021 are $7,395 during peak season. There is both a winter peak season and a summer peak season at the Donovan Pavilion from January 31st-March 31st and June 1st-September 30th. If you want to save quite a bit of money, you can book your wedding outside of those dates (consider early October, there might still be a little bit of color on the trees!) for $3,700. These rates are for 8 hours of time but you can also add additional 2 hour time blocks for $635 each. They do also charge $55 per hour of alcohol security per security person. The Donovan Pavilion also charges extra to book a holiday date for your wedding. You’ll have to contact them directly to find out how much holiday rates are.

I’d love to be your Donovan Pavilion wedding photographer. I’ve been photographing weddings at this lovely event center for over 13 years and I’d love to see what we can create together. Please be sure to check out the WEDDINGS page of my site and get in touch to tell me more about yourselves!

 Address: 1600 South Frontage Rd. Vail, CO 81657