Dreaming up a Montana elopement at one of the most beautiful national parks in the country?! You’re in luck - today we're talking about how to elope in Glacier National Park!!

Here’s what I’ll be going through in this blog post:

The best places to elope in Glacier National Park
Picking a season + date
Glacier National Park wedding permits
Inviting your guests
How to Leave No Trace with your elopement
Hiking vs. not hiking
(Not) bringing your four-legged friends
Where to stay near Glacier NP
Glacier National Park elopement packages

Let’s not waste any more time and get right into the good stuff!

Best places to elope in Glacier National Park

First off, let’s start dreaming up your perfect location for your Glacier NP elopement!! Location is SO important to the vibe of your day and making sure it’s truly special + meaningful to you.

Before I give you five location ideas, first think about if there’s already a spot in the park that’s special to you. Maybe there’s a spot you went hiking together, you had your first kiss, you traveled to one year for a birthday, or maybe just a spot you’ve been dreaming of visiting together.

That makes it easy to choose your elopement location - because you already have a place in mind that will be special to celebrate in (as long as weddings are allowed at that location, of course)!

And a little disclaimer: some of these locations I’m giving you will be a bit more general, only because I keep my secret specific spots for my booked couples ;) Reach out now to become one of my amazing couples so I can give you alllll the deets!!

Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake is a freaking STUNNING lake that lies southwest of Bearhat Mountain. It’s a 5-mile roundtrip hike from the Trail of the Cedars Trailhead, which is a loop hike that ends along the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

I photographed Hannah & Ben at Avalanche Lake and man, if these photos don’t make you want to elope here ASAP, I don’t know what will!!

Many Glacier Hotel

If you’d rather hold your elopement at an actual building, the Many Glacier Hotel might be perfect for you! The hotel is located in the northeastern part of the park, sometimes called the “Switzerland of America.” And for damn good reason!!

This hotel has THE most insane views of Many Glacier, that big pointy one you may see in photos. If you simply Google search “Many Glacier Hotel wedding,” you’re going to find weddings & elopements in front of these majestic views that will have your jaw on the freaking flooooor.

There are many other places within the park where you can get incredible views of Many Glacier, too - ask me about those when you book with me & let’s find the perf spot!

Logan Pass

Logan Pass is such a freaking dreamyyyy spot for an elopement with its lush greenery, wildflower fields, and stunning mountain views. This is a super popular location and there’s often limited parking, so consider taking the free shuttle to avoid waiting forever for a parking spot!

The light here at sunrise is also incredibleee, so who wants to get up at the crack of dawn with me to get that alpenglow over the mountains?!

Note that you cannot say your vows or hold your ceremony at Logan Pass, but you can take portraits there!

Hidden Lake

The Hidden Lake Trail to - you guessed it - Hidden Lake, is a popular 5.3-mile back trail, with a stop at the most incredible lookout (Hidden Lake Overlook). It’s definitely a harder hike, but pays off when you get to the lookout over the mountains, valleys, and blue lake, and then further down to the actual water itself!

Lake McDonald Valley

The Lake McDonald Valley is a MUST SEE location within Glacier National Park. The lake is the largest in the park and is super popular for its insane mountain views, hiking trails, the cozy Lake McDonald Lodge!

If you want a variety of hike options, incredible lake + mountain views, and plenty of nearby activities to incorporate into your elopement day, Lake McDonald might be for you!

Picking a season + date

After you dream up your top couple of locations, it’s time to pick the time of year you want your elopement to be in, then narrow down a date!

There are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind when picking out the time of year that you want to elope in Glacier National Park:

Weather
Road/trail accessibility
Crowds

Weather

Before anything else, you want to make sure that you’ll be 100% comfortable and feeling like your best self on your elopement day. So if you know that you hate being cold and will feel super frustrated/not be in the best mood if it ends up being freezing cold on your elopement day, fall & winter mayyyyy not be the seasons for you!

You’ll also want to think through the logistics, such as what you’ll do in case of bad weather, or how the weather will affect your elopement day.

If you want to elope in the fall with the prettiest warm colors, you’ll need to have a backup plan (or two) in case it pours rain, is colder than planned, or snows. The last thing we want to happen is that we arrive at your dream location only for it to start downpouring and then we have nowhere else to go!

And if you want to hike or do certain activities, you’ll need to consider how the weather will affect those.

If you want to do a harder 5-mile hike, will you be able to do it if you’re sweating your ass off in the summer?

Do you want to go kayaking or canoeing in the lake? Then a winter elopement isn’t the right choice!

Make a list of your dream activities & locations for your elopement day, and then brainstorm everything that could go wrong or could potentially be an obstacle as far as weather/Mother Nature goes! We want to be prepared for whatever situation we end up in!

Road/trail accessibility

Along the lines of weather, road, and trail accessibility is a huge thing to keep in mind when planning your elopement season + date. Since Glacier National Park is in Montana and well, in the mountains & glaciers, it gets coldddd and snowy in the wintertime - faster than it does in town.

If you’re dreaming of going on a hike to an amazing overlook, that trail may very likely close in the fall, winter, or even early spring due to snow. And even if it doesn’t formally close, snow and ice are always possibilities on the trails.

Along with trails, you’ll need to consider roads: for example, portions of the Going-to-the-Sun Road close down in the winter. Which means you’ll be unable to access the locations you can only get to by that road! This is why planning ahead is super necessary, and why I suggest doing your research + looking at road statuses on the Glacier NP website. I don’t want you to plan your dream location for your fall elopement, only to find that the road to it often closes down come fall time!

Crowds

Finally, you’ll need to consider how crowded certain locations will be during certain times of the year. Obviously many locations will be way more crowded in the summertime since that’s when people take more vacations and that’s when it’s warmest + there’s the least amount of snow.

So if you are wanting to elope in the summertime at a pretty popular spot, consider the fact that there may be tons of people looking at the same views as you, hiking the same trails, in the background while you say your vows, etc. This is why I love finding (or hiking to) more secluded spots - you’re able to say your vows in private and not worry about others in your way!

Glacier National Park wedding permits/passes/fees

A super important aspect of eloping in Glacier National Park: getting the correct permit to legally get married within the park!

As the National Park Service’s website says, “Any and all vow exchanging, elopements, ceremonies, weddings, etc. require a Special Use Permit. This is regardless of the size of the group, whether or not it is “officiated” or if papers are being signed.”

You need to make sure you apply for this permit as in advance as possible, so you don’t end up stressed about getting it back in time at the last minute!

Here’s how to obtain that Special Use Permit:

Download the permit application
Use the information provided on the website & the Wedding Area Capacity Guide to fill out every area of the form with detail
Send the completed application through email to glac_sup@nps.gov and let them know you’d like to pay the $125 fee by credit card.
Once you receive your permit from the NPS, send them a signed copy back through email.

Read all of the specifics on this webpage!

Inviting your guests

The next step after picking your location, season, & date is to start inviting your guests - if you are inviting any at all!

You’ll want to make sure you’re aware of guest capacities & wedding limitations at the location you chose. See the Wedding Area Capacity Guide for all the information on what each location allows as far as wedding ceremonies go! Also, make sure you note how many vehicles are allowed & what restrictions the location has in place!

How to Leave No Trace with your Glacier National Park elopement

This is a super important one: please make sure you plan ahead to Leave No Trace with your Glacier NP elopement!!

If you’re not aware of what the Leave No Trace Principles are, they’re 7 principles to help us keep our impact on the land as minimal as possible. I follow all of these principles with my couples to ensure that we respect the beautiful land we’re visiting, and keep it as beautiful as we left it!

Here are the principles that we’ll be planning ahead to follow:

Plan ahead & prepare
Travel & camp on durable surfaces
Dispose of waste properly
Leave what you find
Minimize campfire impacts
Respect wildlife
Be considerate of other visitors

Visit the LNT Website to learn more!!

To hike or not to hike?

This is most likely something you thought through when picking your location, but you need to decide if you want to hike or not hike!

Some locations have different hike options, different trails to take, and different parking lots/visitor areas. So consider whether or not you’ll enjoy hiking on your elopement day, if it’ll be worth it to you when you get to an epic view, or if you’d rather take it easy & drive up to a beautiful location!!

Why you can’t bring your four-legged friends along

Sadly, no dogs are allowed inside Glacier National Park except for in picnic areas and a few other developed areas. So if you want to bring along your doggo(s), it’s best to bring them to a location once we leave the national park - maybe your Airbnb, or wherever you’ll be staying! We don’t want to disrupt the land when it’s not allowed, even though I know we want to bring our four-legged besties sooo badly. Trust me, I get it!

Where to stay near Glacier National Park

Finally, I want to give you a few places to stay near Glacier National Park!

Inside the park

Keep in mind that places inside the park book SUPER quickly, so plan as far in advance as possible if you want to stay in the park!!

Kalispell - 35 mi. from Glacier NP

Whitefish - 28 mi. from Glacier NP

Glacier National Park elopement packages

If you’re alllll ready to plan your big day and now need to find your dream Glacier National Park elopement photographer, let’s be BFF’s!! ;) Check out my Glacier National Park elopement packages below, and reach out to me here!