How to Plan a Destination Elopement

A bride and groom walk down a path in the North Cascades. This guide is about how to plan a destination elopement.

So you’ve decided you want to elope in a romantic outdoors destination and say your vows to your partner against a gorgeous backdrop of nature. CONGRATS! I am seriously so excited for you. At this point, you’re probably wondering: NOW WHAT?! I get it, wedding planning can be overwhelming. But luckily, I’ve helped many couples through this process and I’m sharing all of my tips for how to plan a destination elopement!

Where to start with planning your destination elopement

First things first: check out my guide on how to elope for a birds-eye view of every step you’ll need to take.

10 Steps to Plan your Elopement

If you haven’t chosen a location yet, this list of the best elopement locations for every month could help you narrow down a destination or a season to get married! The rest of this guide to how to plan a destination elopement is mostly for what happens after you’ve decided when and where you want to get married. Read on for all of my best tips!

Your Wedding Week Activities

If you’re trying to plan a destination elopement, chances are you aren’t just going to fly in the day before your wedding and immediately fly out. If you’re going to make the trip, you might as well make it FUN! That’s why I always encourage my couples to start with viewing their wedding as a more experience-focused elopement. Why limit the fun to just one day?! Make a whole trip of it! Before you get too far into planning, take a minute to decide what you want the wedding week vibe to be like and how you can make it a once-in-a-lifetime experience with your person. You may choose to include some of your guests in your activities leading up to (or after) the big day, or you may opt for planning some quality one-on-one time between you and your partner.

What can those activities look like? In short, literally anything you and your partner would have fun doing! At the end of every destination elopement guide blog I write, I ALWAYS include a list of fun activities to do at that destination that don’t involve saying your vows on a trail. While it’s great to plan fun activities just for the sake of planning them, it’s also a blast to include them as part of a multi-day elopement package! This means I join you on your wedding weekend festivities to capture photos of you and your person doing all of your favorite things together – or even trying something new. Wedding photos where you are ATVing or riding a helicopter to a glacier in Alaska are anything but basic!

Planner

You may or may not need a planner based on how big you want your elopement to be. If you’re having upwards of 10 people at your destination elopement, you may want to involve a professional planner to smooth over details and make things less stressful. But regardless of the size of your guest list, you’ll get planning and research support from me for your big day! If you’re having an intimate elopement, this may be all you need.

Photography

This might be my favorite step of how to plan a destination elopement to discuss, and I can’t imagine why?! Your elopement photographer is an essential part of your wedding day. Think about it – if you’re having an intimate ceremony, chances are you aren’t having a huge number of guests, so your photos are what you’ll have to share from your wedding day with guests who weren’t there. On top of that, choosing an elopement photographer means choosing another person to adventure with you on the biggest day of your life! It’s a little different than choosing a photographer for a massive wedding where you won’t interact with them directly as much. You’ll be hiking and exploring with them throughout your wedding day, so choose someone you vibe with!

Ceremony Location

I LOVE this part! Choosing where you will say your vows is such a big deal. Make it some place you absolutely love! You can choose a trail, a hotel, a venue, an overlook – there are so many options depending on the destination. If you’re opting for a more formal venue, you’ll want to nail this down early in the process so you can lock in your ideal wedding date.

Legal Paperwork

Just like if you were to get married where you live, you’d have to go through all the legal steps to get a marriage license to legally plan a destination elopement. Only this time, you’re figuring out how to do it in a different location with different rules than the ones where you live. My elopement location guides always have details on what you’ll need for licenses, officiants, witnesses and permits, but if it’s a location I haven’t written about yet, I can help! Working with me as your elopement photographer means you have expert help on how to obtain everything you need from a legal standpoint.

One of the keys of how to plan a destination elopement includes figuring out the paperwork ahead of time. Remember, you’ll need to plan to pick up your license during business hours of the county clerk or whatever local entity issues them. Some states even have waiting periods before your marriage license is valid, so you’ll need to plan your travel around arriving to the destination far enough in advance for you to pick up your license and have it be valid on your wedding day. I know, it’s a lot to process, and something you don’t usually think about when you first jump into the wedding planning process! Not to worry, I’ve help with this plenty of times.

You’ll also need to know what requirements that destination has for officiants and how many witnesses they require for a legal ceremony. Not every state requires an officiant, but if they do – my husband is an officiant so we can have that covered! I can usually sign as a witness, but if the state requires two witnesses, you’ll need to have a plan for who will be witness No. 2. Sometimes we can find another hiker on the trail to sign!

Permits

If you’re getting married on public lands, chances are you’ll need a permit to do so. Some places even require a permit just to take portraits there! Researching permitting ahead of time can also direct decisions like how many people can be on your guest list, what décor you have at your ceremony, and whether or not you can have music. Often parks have designated areas where they allow ceremonies and they limit the number of guests on that trail or for that type of permit. Sometimes permits are only issued on certain days of the week, so that may also affect your plans. Don’t start making plans until you at the very least know what is and isn’t allowed at that destination.

Lodging

This is, in my opinion, one of the most fun aspects of how to plan a destination elopement! Your lodging isn’t just where you’ll sleep for the weekend, it’s where you’ll take your getting ready photos and share your first memories as a married couple. You want it to be somewhere you enjoy! I love finding cute Airbnbs and boutique hotels in elopement destinations that have a romantic vibe.

Plus, if you’re having guests, you’ll want to consider what the guests will do for lodging. Do you want to rent a house big enough for everyone to stay in? Or would you rather do a group block at a boutique hotel? You may even want to help your guests find the cutest Airbnbs in the area and create a list of options to send to them. You aren’t required to help guests with their lodging, but if you want everyone close, it can sometimes help to coordinate.

Invitations

If you’re inviting guests to your destination elopement, you’ll need to decide whether you’ll send invitations. Sometimes couples who are only inviting a couple of people to share the day with them opt out of this step. These days, an invite email that links to a wedding website is becoming more popular with small, unconventional travel weddings. If you’re planning a wedding weekend itinerary (like I mentioned at the top), you may want to still send out a paper invite with more details. If you’re not having guests, you can opt for elopement announcement stationary instead!

Florals

First, you’re going to want to back up to that permitting step and read the fine print on florals. Did you know some outdoors destinations have strict rules on what kinds of florals are and are not allowed? Some allow only dried flowers, while others prohibit dried florals and allow live flowers only, and others will only permit wood or silk flowers. The Blue Ridge Mountains, where I have shot MANY destination elopements, is one of those places that doesn’t allow live or dried flowers. I put together an entire blog about great faux floral alternatives, so I recommend checking that out if you happen upon one of these locations!

Rentals

If you’re eloping in a national park, you probably can’t have formal seating or any type of fixed wedding décor. The location itself is pretty enough for the backdrop! But if you’re doing something like an Airbnb elopement, you may want to rent things like a wedding arch, tables and chairs for a dinner, plates, glassware and other décor.

Music

Again, we’re circling back to the permitting. Does your wedding location allow speakers or live music? It may only allow one instrument, like an acoustic guitar. Figure this out ahead of time, and then decide what you want the musical vibe to be for your wedding day. This can land anywhere from just making a fun Spotify playlist together for the day, hiring a violinist, or even a DJ if you’re having a party back at the Airbnb afterwards.

Attire

Your dress and your suit are obvious here! But attire goes beyond just the clothing. You’ll also need to remember details like the right undergarments, shoes, jewelry, hair accessories, a veil, cuff links, a tie, a belt, socks, etc. You’ll also want to consider if you’ll want a second outfit for a reception or other adventure photos. You may also want a change of shoes for your hike to your ceremony.

Have a plan for packing your attire too – if you went with a poofy dress for your elopement, you may have to bring a separate suitcase for the dress alone so it doesn’t get crushed. It will probably still come out a little wrinkly though, so bring a steamer as well as a lint roller for the groom’s suit. Pro tip: bring your dress and suit in your CARRY-ON not your checked luggage! A lost checked bag with your wedding dress inside is a destination wedding nightmare, so avoid the chances of that happening by keeping the most important thing on your person at the airport.

Food

Even if it’s just the two of you plus your photographer for an intimate elopement on a trail, do not overlook the food aspect of your wedding day! The outdoors elopements I shoot are often in wilderness areas far from modern conveniences, so dropping by a Chick-fil-a or an In-N-Out if you forgot to eat is usually not an option. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to be feeling hangry or unable to enjoy the moment because you didn’t plan ahead for food on your wedding day.

You’ll need time to get ready, so plan on having a light breakfast at the very least if we’re doing a sunrise ceremony. If you’re hiking to say your vows, pack some snacks in your day pack. If you’re eloping around lunch or dinner time, one of my favorite solutions for food is packing an aesthetic picnic OR finding a local luxury picnic company to throw a picnic for you. (Something like this is where having a planner or designer would really make the magic happen for you!) This alpine lake picnic at Heather Meadows in the Cascades is the perfect inspiration. If you’re packing your own picnic, pay attention to Leave No Trace and follow the park’s policies: many don’t allow glassware and can even prohibit certain colors of paper products because if they get blown away, they’ll blend into the surrounding nature and be much harder to find for packing out.

If you’re having friends and family, having a plan for food becomes all the more important. I always include a list of the best restaurants in an area in my elopement location guides in case you want to plan a welcome dinner or have a local restaurant cater a meal. If you’re doing a more formal dinner for a bigger travel party, you’ll want to research caterers or even private chefs in the area.

Details

Now we’re really down to the nitty gritty of how to plan a destination elopement. This section addresses all the tiny details that you don’t think about when you first dive into the wedding planning process. Things like items for your detail shots and outdoors equipment fall into this category!

If you’re hiking for your ceremony, pack a day pack with all the usual hiking necessities inside. I also recommend packing a box full of all the things you want to go in your detail shots. This includes things like vow books, ring boxes, something old, new, borrowed and blue, your invitation suite, etc. You could also opt for some more unconventional items like a vintage map of the park, a signature perfume or cologne of the day or wooden “We Eloped” backpack signs. If you need more ideas on details to pack, check out my elopement packing list!

Now you know how to plan a destination elopement!

This covers just about every detail of how to plan a destination elopement! You have all the insider info on planning the perfect wedding day in your dream location. I’d love to chat about being the photographer who accompanies you on your elopement adventures and captures all these memories for you! When you work with me, you not only get wedding photos you’ll love to show off for years, you’ll also get an adventurer and a helping hand when it comes to planning all these aspects of your adventurous wedding day.