Yellowstone National Park Wedding

I don't have any suggestions on how to pull it off, but a few thoughts I have just from vacationing there last year...

1. How will you reserve rooms for you and your family/friends? Hotels at Yellowstone book up over a year in advance and I'm not sure if they let you do a room block.

2. If you are lodging outside the park, will you arrange transportation for inside the park? Yellowstone is HUGE and it can take hours to get from one place in the park to another. Not to mention that summer is the busy season and parking is really hard to find.

3. Call the park and the county to make sure everything you are doing is legal and allowed. They should have all the details on what you need to do.

4. Have a backup plan for weather. Parts of Yellowstone are very high in the mountains and weather can change rapidly.

5. Think about how you will communicate all the details and any changes with your guests. Cell service inside Yellowstone is almost nonexistent.

6. Please stress the importance to your guests (and you and FH) that Yellowstone is a National Park and needs to be respected. The animals and thermal features are not there for entertainment and should be left alone (and can be dangerous/deadly).

7. I know we were allowed to have a beer or two at our campground, but I don't know what the rules are for serving food and alcohol inside the park.

8. The park is super crowded in the summer so I don't know if you can expect any level of privacy or to not have random tourists in your pictures.

Where in the park are you thinking of doing this? Just seems like there are a lot of things to think about, but it could be cool if you plan it out well. On the other hand, if you just want a mountain setting, it might be easier to do that on private land or somewhere that is not a national park and doesn't have all the restrictions and issues that come with that.

Thought of one more thing: There is a $30 entrance fee to get into the park.. I feel like you and FH should pay that for your guests because they shouldn't have to pay to get into your wedding. Just something to factor into your budget.

I don't know how to do it, maybe contact the parks department with a phone call?

There is a lodge in the park that does weddings.... I almost went that route instead of tahoe. I would look into that if u need an acual vender. Otherwise, park website or call. Even if person on phone doesn't know, they should be able to point you in right direction.

You seem to have the wedding permit under control. I know it says you only need to turn your permit application in 2 weeks before the wedding, but I wouldn't suggest waiting that long. Just in case something weird happens, you don't want to be scrambling to send in another application. To find the ceremony spot, I would recommend searching the internet for blogs from other intimate weddings in Yellowstone. Or if you can, take a trip out there and see it in person. Something to think about is how far you and your families are willing to hike and how much space you need to fit everyone.

As far as your ceremony logistics, because you have a small guest count, you have quite a bit of freedom for what you do. Your guests will likely be standing. When we got married, we arranged our guests in a semi-circle around us. If you're wanting to walk down the aisle, you can put a family member in charge of arranging everyone in two halves so that you can walk between them, or you could even walk in from the side.

Once you've chosen a place for your reception (it sounds like you're considering a cabin, which would be amazing), I highly recommend setting a time for everyone to meet back there a couple hours after the ceremony. That way you and your FH can have plenty of time to explore the park and capture some gorgeous moments with your photo/video crew. Meanwhile, your families can also experience more of the park on their own. We did this for our wedding and it was so nice not feeling rushed to get back to our reception (because no one was waiting on us). Plus during dinner it was fun to talk about what everyone saw.

Okay so I looked into something similar. If you have an officiant in the family and <10 people attending I don't think you really need to make the "wedding" part a big deal and you should just go somewhere in the park and have a private little small ceremony. No chairs, no arch. Dinner at one of the restaurants. I do agree with another person who said you should pay for the park entry fee for your guests.

Yes!! We did plan on paying entry fee for guests of course. And for lodging we're working right now to get a 16 person cabin rented for the whole week so we can be sure to have plenty of fun with guests and whatnot.

In reply to Melissa, there is a fee to get a permit to marry inside the park, and once we have that we can get married wherever.

And Lisa, I love the circle idea! That's what I was looking for mostly. We do think we're going to have the reception in the cabin we're staying in, mostly outback. I was wondering if anyone had any woodland themed ideas for that.

Additionally, we were planning on booking that whole week for time with our families and each other and making the actual ceremony date flexible due to weather.

You can also try the Grand Tetons next door if Yellowstone doesn't work out for hotels. No fee for entering and there are lovely lodges. I got engaged there.

Edit to add- you really don't need much to decorate as Mother Nature makes it beautiful enough.

Here is some great information regarding getting a permit from Yellowstone for your ceremony.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/weddinginfo.htm

They also apparently have a chapel available for use as well. I think a destination wedding to Yellowstone sounds amazing! Especially if you're keeping it small and intimate!

If you are searching for a photographer, I'd love to chat! I travel anywhere and everywhere and specialize in elopements and intimate weddings. <3

Lisa K. OMG that dress LOVE