The 10 best wedding venues in Boise

Twelve to eighteen months is normal for a Saturday in the busy late-May-to-June or September stretch, and single-room venues such as Still Water Hollow or Telaya go first because they can only take one wedding a day. Midweek and Sunday dates open up considerably, and winter dates are widely available. If your date lands near a Boise State home game, lock the hotel block at the same time as the venue rather than afterwards.

Yes — Idaho does not require either partner to be a resident, and the license is issued by the Ada County Recorder's office in downtown Boise rather than by the state. Both partners normally apply together in person with government-issued photo ID, so build a weekday office visit into your travel dates instead of assuming it can be done on the morning of the wedding. Confirm the current fee, accepted documents and age rules with the Recorder directly, as those details change.

An Idaho marriage license and certificate are ordinary US civil documents. Most countries will recognize them, but you will normally need the certificate apostilled and then registered with your own authorities before it has any legal effect at home. Some countries, and most religious systems that require a state ceremony of their own, still expect a separate civil marriage in your home country — check with your consulate rather than assuming the Boise ceremony is the only step. Order several certified copies while you are still in Ada County; requesting them later from overseas is slow.

The Old Idaho Penitentiary is the largest by a wide margin: the renovated Shirt Factory seats 225 with heating and air conditioning, and the walled main yard is cleared for up to 1,000 once you rent chairs and tables. The Stueckle Sky Center runs to around 300 across its combined spaces, and the Grove Hotel's Grand Ballroom is the conventional downtown answer at that size. For anything large and outdoors, budget for power and a heat contingency — the Penitentiary's Women's Ward, for one, expects the renter to bring generators.