Meet Dan Gustad

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dan Gustad and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dan, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve never been the type to want to go to the same place every day, work the same hours, and then clock out. I’ve always found that life to be – boring isn’t the right word – methodical. The excitement over starting a new job (and I’ve had many over the years), would always fade rather quickly once I had gotten through the initial learning phase.

I always felt the most success In the jobs where I would have variety in my work environment and even more so when I could choose my own schedule. Starting and running my own business gives me those freedoms – I tend to do my best work late at night and up against a deadline, for example. I thrive under the pressure of knowing that I’m the only person that can complete a specific task, and that it needs to be done by a certain time.

What should our readers know about your business?
Growing up, my father ran his own residential construction company, building decks and finishing basements, etc. For the most part, it was only him, unless myself or my brothers were available and could go to work with him. I spent portions of every summer as a kid building stud walls and hanging sheetrock. I can’t say that I loved the actual work – being totally exhausted at the end of the day drove me away from trade work. But the experience made me respect the amount of dedication it takes to create and run a business.

When I graduated from the University of Colorado at Denver with a degree in Music Business, I tried to start my own company, working with musical artists on DIY career development. The company failed – not because it wasn’t a useful concept or there wasn’t demand – but because I didn’t have the support system, or the inferred impetus (such as providing for a family) that my father had to push him to keep going when prospects were bleak. I learned a lot from that failure.

So, years later I was asked to officiate two close friends’ wedding. I loved the experience; leading the rehearsal, keeping everyone calm when there was nothing but chaos immediately before the wedding, even performing their first dance song on piano, everything seemed right up my alley. Immediately after, I told my partner that I would love to officiate weddings as a career – there’s something about being with people on the best day of their lives that invigorates the soul.

But there was a caveat – I had learned from my previous entrepreneurial venture that there were a few things I wasn’t good at; namely advertising and social media marketing. Plus, I knew that if I were to succeed in another business, I couldn’t go it alone, I needed a support system. In college I took an Entrepreneurship class, and the top lesson I took from that class – albeit after I tried to think that “it didn’t apply to me,” – was that I needed an accountability partner to keep me moving forward and being responsible.

Enter the Facebook Ad. At the time I was casually working concurrently for five different organizations: substitute teaching for two different school districts during the school year, managing adult sports activities and being a sports official for a local city recreation department year-round, directing the oldest age group at a summer day camp, and writing drill and working as the visual caption head for a high school marching band. Among everything I had nine different calendars to keep track of, and it was every bit of stressful as can be imagined. So, when I was scrolling through Facebook one day and came upon the cheesiest, scammiest-looking Ad that simply said “Want to make $200 an hour working from home?” I certainly thought “I can’t add anything else onto my plate.”

But then I saw the name of the company: Colorado Microweddings. I did a double take (double scroll?) Against all of the advice I’ve ever told my parents about internet safety, I clicked the link, hoping beyond hope that this was what I thought it might be. A legit-enough looking website opened up, with an embedded video of the most interesting person talking to his phone’s camera in selfie mode while walking along a mountain trail. “Hi, my name’s Iver, and I’m the lead planner for Colorado Microweddings. I plan elopements and microweddings for couples coming to Colorado from all over the United States. I have a network of photographers, hair and makeup stylists, florists, and everything you need for a small wedding. But I don’t have enough officiants….” Jackpot.

Below the video was a contact form. I filled it out, and got a text from Iver almost immediately. He invited me to come meet him at a Starbucks across the city later that weekend. Timidly, I went. But the moment I sat down with Iver and he began to explain his business model plus what he’s hoping to accomplish with these “interviews,” I found myself nodding my head. I knew exactly what he was proposing – I’d run my own business as a wedding officiant, I wouldn’t be his employee, and as inquiries came in to his website, he’d check on my availability. He “interviewed” twenty people that weekend at that Starbucks, I was the only one who stuck around.

One of the lessons that I’ve learned throughout all of my professional endeavors is that companies and people forget about you the first time you tell them you can’t do something for them. Teachers do this all of the time when requesting a sub – you can have a positive, profound impact on their students, leave the best, most detailed sub report, paperclip your memorable business card to the report, and ask them to contact you about future absences, but when they do reach out, if you can’t do that first job for them, they’ll never contact you again.

I knew that this opportunity was one of those situations: I had to say yes to everything, or I wouldn’t get another shot. So, in that first half a year, I said yes to 29 weddings. I was hoping for five or six to give me a little extra gas money. But because Iver realized that I was going to work my tail off and do my best work every time, he increased his advertising to accommodate being able to handle more bookings.

Then the next year (2020) I continued to say yes to everything my calendar could possibly take. Covid hit and I had 34 weddings cancel throughout the year. But I still officiated 130.

The following year, and most areas of the country still weren’t allowing gatherings like full-sized weddings to happen. Destination, small weddings became a trendy option for engaged couples. I booked over 200 weddings in 2021, both officiating and working as a Day Of Coordinator, taking the couple’s plan and vision and turning it into a reality.

Recently I celebrated my 1000th wedding. It’s an interesting milestone, as I’ve had a direct hand in the marriage of one thousand couples, with one thousand unique journeys and adventures to get them from their first date to saying “I Do” in front of me. And it was just the other day that I realized how important a role I played in many of their stories, when I ran into one of the couples I married in 2022 while officiating the 2025 wedding of one of their brothers. They immediately sought me out to reconnect, and their mother gave me a big hug and thanked me for being a part of so many of their family’s special moments. This exchange moved me to tears, even after so many ceremonies.

That said, my story truly isn’t unique – every successful small business starts out as a person or group recognizing a need and doing everything possible and necessary to fill that need. There’s always sacrifice involved when doing something worthwhile; in my case I’m gone from home on weekends and evenings during the summer, as most couples want their ceremony to be around Golden Hour. I drive A LOT. My schedule is planned months or even years in advance, and I don’t get to call in sick.

But I love what I do – you could say that I love: love! And while I don’t subscribe to the idea that “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life,” merely because I still work hard, it certainly does help lessen the stress when the schedule gets out of hand.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I get asked this type of thing by my couples frequently as they plan their trips to come get married in Colorado. Assuming the couple is arriving and departing from Denver, below is an itinerary that would hit some of my favorite locations around the state:

Day 1: Arrive in Denver, drive to Estes Park. Stay: Stanley Hotel. Dinner: Mama Rose’s.

Day 2: Driving and hiking in the East half of Rocky Mountain National Park,
specifically the Bear Lake corridor. Favorite hike: Gem Lake (north of Estes). Stay: Stanley Hotel. Dinner: Bird and Jim.

Day 3: Drive over Trail Ridge Road, stop for lunch at Not=Cho Mama’s Cantina in Grand Lake before heading down to Breckenridge. Stay: AirBnb in Breck or Blue River (to hopefully see a moose!) Dinner: Castaways Cove Tiki Bar.

Day 4: Rent E-Bikes in Breck and ride up to Frisco to have breakfast at Butterhorn Bakery and Cafe, then ride around Lake Dillon before returning to Breck to take the Gondola to the base of Peak 8 and enjoy a game of minigolf, riding the mountain coaster, or just having a beer. Stay: AirBnb in Breck or Blue River. Dinner: Tin Plate

Day 5: Drive west along I-70 through Vail, Glenwood Canyon, and Rifle to Grand Junction before turning south to head to Ouray (5 hours) to stay in one of their many bed and breakfasts or the Box Canyon Lodge. Take a dip in the Ouray Hot Springs pool, and enjoy the scenery of the 1000 foot cliffs around the town. Dinner: Colorado Boy.

Day 6: Leave at sunrise and drive over the Million Dollar Highway (US 550) to Silverton, stopping every mile or two to take in the most beautiful drive in Colorado. Grab a breakfast sandwich at Coffee Bear while waiting for the Durango-Silverton train to come into town. If you have time and an appropriately 4WD vehicle, drive up to the Animas Forks ghost town east of Silverton. Return to Silverton and drive south to Durango, west to Dolores, and North to Telluride, enjoying the changing scenery along the way. Dinner: Steamies Burgers in Telluride (try the blueberry ketchup). Stay either in Telluride or back at the BnB in Ouray.

Day 7: Drive back to Denver via US 50 – through Gunnison over Monarch Pass. Stop to eat lunch at Jan’s in Buena Vista (say it like a local: “Biew-nah” Vista) and make sure to get a hash brown. Continue along highway 285 into South Park (yes, like the animated TV show) through Fairplay and then over Kenosha Pass on the way back to Denver. If time before running to the airport, make a quick stop at Red Rocks in Morrison to see the amphitheater.

Fin.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
While there’s many people I can acknowledge for having a hand in my success, the most immediate is Iver Marjerison with Colorado Microweddings. He took a chance on me without knowing practically anything about me, merely because he needed someone enthusiastic to take on some of his workload. And then he continued to give me more and more opportunities to grow as his own brand grew.

Website: https://wedbydan.com

Instagram: @WedbyDan

Image Credits
Noah Berg at Walnut Street Photography
Kate Merrill at Kate Merrill Photo
Erin Lassahn at Erin Lassahn Photography
Kyla Fear at KFearless Photography