What to Pack for an Adventure Elopement
Don’t forget the rings on your wedding day! Here is a list of essential items for the bride, groom, and guests of an adventure elopement.
Best Places to Elope in the US
Dreaming of an adventure wedding? We have been blessed with breathtaking locations all over the world but choosing one of those locations for your dream elopement can be overwhelming. We’ve created a list of the best elopement destinations to help narrow down your search.
Yosemite National Park
Best time of year to visit: The most ideal time to visit is Spring, Summer, or Fall. The months of June, July, and August are the busiest months out of the year. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with visiting in October!
Landscape/Scenery: Yosemite’s amazing scenery consists of trees, mountain views and waterfalls. The most common places to hold a ceremony are Glacier Point, Taft Point, Half Dome, and Bridal Veil Falls. If you’re looking for a more secluded area, there are plenty of places to hike to that will get you away from the crowds!
- Glacier Point: Easily accessible, only a few feet from where you park
- Taft Point: 2 miles round trip from trailhead, 200 ft elevation gain
- Half Dome: 16 miles round trip from trailhead, 5200 ft elevation gain
- Bridal Veil Falls: 0.5 mile round trip paved trail, 80 ft elevation gain
Lodging: You can opt to camp in the park but there are also many places near the park to lodge.
Permits: For overnight camping, a wilderness permit is required year-round. For day hiking, you won’t need a permit unless you are planning to hike half dome when the cables are up. A wedding permit is required to have a ceremony in Yosemite, even for an elopement. It’s $150 and can be reserved up to a year in advance.
Moab, UT
Best time of year to visit: Fall through Spring are the best times to elope here because it’s a desert. Keep in mind that if you decide to do your ceremony in the Winter and want to camp, nights get real cold.
Landscape/Scenery: Moab is a city that has multiple national parks located within it. Red rocks canyons will surround you no matter where you choose to elope here! If you happened to be here at night, the stars will be nothing like you’ve ever seen. These are some popular and epic locations to look into:
Arches National Park: Located about 10 minutes from downtown Moab, this park has over 2,000 natural stone arches and tons of trails ranging from easy to hard to get you to awesome locations. Arches currently allows ceremonies in 10 different locations throughout the park with a range of how many people are allowed to attend.
Canyonlands National Park: Located about 45 minutes from downtown, this park will be a little more secluded than Arches. It has 3 approved ceremony locations and all of them are located with Island in the Sky.
Dead Horse State Park: This park is located about 40 minutes from downtown Moab and you can drive to almost all of the ceremony locations here and there are 5 approved locations within this park.
BLM Land: BLM land is public land for recreational use and Moab contain 1.8 million acres of it! You will have to be pre-approved before having a ceremony on this land and your photographer will need a special recreations permit in order to photograph here.
Lodging: You’ll have a wide range of places to stay in Moab and lots of camping options if you want to go that route (you can camp pretty much anywhere on BLM land) but here are some of our favorites:
Permits: Each park requires something a little bit different and they all have specific ceremony approved locations. Be sure to check out each park individually within Moab to see what is required. Most of them also require you to obtain a permit at least 10-20 days in advance and the earlier, the better!
Glacier National Park
Best time of year to visit: Weather wise, summer is the best time to visit—the wildflowers are in full force and the Going-the-Sun-Road is open! If you visit in the Winter, you will have limited elopement locations to choose from, but West Glacier is open. Ideal time for less crowds is early Spring or Fall.
Landscape/Scenery: During Spring and Summer, there is no shortage of wildflowers throughout the park. You’ll experience mountain views, waterfalls and Glacier is one of the best locations to see wildlife! Glacier doesn’t require to have your ceremony in a specific area of the park so you are free to go anywhere you want! I’ve listed the most common places for ceremonies below:
- Hidden Lake Trail: 5.3 miles round trip, 1300 ft elevation gain
- Going to the Sun Road: A drive that takes you through multiple locations with awesome views (vehicle restrictions apply)
- Avalanche lake: 5.7 miles round trip, 750 ft elevation gain
- Trail of the Cedars: 1 mile loop, 60 ft elevation gain
- Sun Point Nature Trail: 1.7 miles round trip, 213 ft elevation gain
Lodging: There are quite few campgrounds located throughout the park most of which are first come, first serve. If you don’t want to camp, there are lots of lodging accommodations located just outside the park and some awesome Airbnbs.
Permits: Overnight backpacking permits are required and typically open up for reservations in March. A wedding permit is required for all elopements with a $100 fee and preference of your top two ceremony locations upon submission.
Olympic National Park
Best time of year to visit: Located in the PNW, Summer is the best time of year for weather to elope here. However, you can’t beat the moody vibe of a stormy Fall day!
Landscape/Scenery: This park is the only park in Washington State that is open all year and it really has everything; mountains, alpine lakes, rainforest and a rugged coastline. There aren’t specific entrances to this park so choose your ideal viewpoint and research locations from there. Below are a few of our favorites:
- Ruby Beach: A popular beach on the coastline of the park located just outside of Forks
- Shi Shi Beach: 2-4 mile walk from where you park
- Lake Cushman: a great lake option located just outside of Olympia
- Mount Storm King: 5.3 miles roundtrip with a 2075 ft elevation gain
- Hurricane Ridge: range from 0.5 miles to 8 miles depending on the scenery you want but has great mountain views!
Lodging: Since Olympic National Park covers 1,442 square miles, lodging is going to completely depend on where in the park you decide to have your ceremony. Camping is usually an option at many of these spots with reservations!
Permits: Wilderness permits and reservations are required for all overnight stays in the park and wedding permits are required for any ceremony that will take place in the park. More information of both of those can be found here:
Mount Rainier National Park
Best time of year to visit: July, August, and early September are going to be your highest chances of no rain. Winter is beautiful but chilly!
Landscape/Scenery: Mt Rainier is home to many glaciers, wildflowers, forest and panoramic views of mountains towering above you. There are five entrances to the park and there are no specific ceremony spots required so you have over 200,000 to work with! Some popular areas for a ceremony:
- Summerland Trail: 8.4 miles round trip, 2100 ft elevation gain
- Tolmie Peak: 6.5 miles round trip, 1010 ft elevation gain
- Skyline Trail/Panorama Point: 5.4 miles round trip, 1700 ft elevation gain
- Mount Freemont Lookout Trail: 5.6 miles round trip, 1150 ft elevation gain
Lodging: Since there are 5 entrances to different areas of the park, decide where you want to elope before you start looking for lodging. One option is to camp inside the park, you can also stay right outside of the park in a hotel or an AirBnB.
Permits: Permits are required for all overnight hiking and climbing and are granted by reservation only. Wedding permits are required for all ceremonies performed in the park! More information on both of those below:
Big Sur, CA
Best time of the year to visit: Located in Northern California, Big Sur is a great place all year around to elope in. If you choose to visit in the winter, you’ll avoid the crowds and still have a good chance of beautiful weather! Keep in mind that being on the coast, you will most likely experience wind.
Landscape/Scenery: Big Sur is one of the longest stretches of coastlines in the US—the rugged rocks sit above the water and make for beautiful areas to take photos! If you choose to visit Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, you’ll get to experience the beauty of the giant redwoods. You’ll have to decide weather you want to have your ceremony at one of the state parks (where you will be surrounded by redwoods) or at a venue that would be better if you prefer coastal views. Here are some of the most common locations:
- Garrapata State Park: one of the easiest locations to access with cliffside and coastal views.
- Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: lots of trails within this park will lead you to a great ceremony location. This is a great option if you’re wanting to be surrounded by Redwoods.
- Pfeiffer Beach: a great location because it’s FREE. If the parking lot is full, you will not be able to enter until a car has left. You also wouldn’t be as secluded and it would be harder to get away from people.
- Public Land: there is lots of public land in Big Sur where you can elopement and the great part is it’s usually relatively inexpensive or free! Different locations have different requirements so be sure to do your research.
There are lots of all-inclusive venue options throughout Big Sur if you are looking for a slightly larger elopement with about 20-25 guests that can include ceremony/reception locations and catering.
Lodging: There are lots of lodging accommodations in Big Sur. A few of our favorites are:
Permits: If you are going to elope in one of the state parks, a permit is required. More information on that here
Stephanie Keegan
I’m an adventure elopement and wedding photographer based in Seattle and the surrounding Pacific Northwest. I focus on capturing love in beautiful places while sharing a passion for the outdoors. Rock climbing, backpacking, hiking – I love it all!
Hey! I'm Stephanie.
I'm an adventure elopement photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. My job is to help couples craft and document their dream day in the outdoors.
Elopement Resources
Elopement Day Emergency Kit
It’s never a bad thing to over prepare for something going wrong. As much as we envision our wedding day to be perfect without a single hiccup, chances are something will happen! Better to be prepared for it right?
How to decide: Hanging Food vs Bear Canisters
When it comes to keeping bears at a safe distance from camp and food rations, there a two primary options: hanging your food or using a bear canister. Here are the details on each.
