Any of you Fodorites been Married in a National Park? If yes, please tell me where and your experience.
 

We're seriously thinking about this. Arches was my first choice but it looks like it would be Yosemite now. Not looking at technical details (paperwork, etc). I was hoping to hear more about the experience.

If you or know of someone who got married in ANY national park, can you please respond and let me know?

Many thanks!

anyone?

I haven't been, but on two different hikes in National Parks, I have come upon weddings. That's what you have to be prepared for...scruffy folks in shorts and t-shrits stopping to gawk at your wedding for a bit.

That's ok missiepie. I don't mind that so much. I've always felt that the hikers you meet along the way are part of a big family of nature lovers anyway. We're not planning to have it big - just us and a couple of friends as our witnesses.

We had friends marry in Glacier NP (they're from SC). Not sure of the details, though.

I know you didn't ask about technical details. . . but did you know Yosemite requres a $150 permit for weddings? They have a long list of requirements (I like the part about no butterfly releases). The good news is that your proposed site, Bridalveil Falls, is on the list of approved sites.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/weddings.htm

I actually lived in Yosemite when I got married (this was back when employees could live in the park). We chose to get married elsewhere, for many reasons.

I don't mean in any way to discourage you---I think it's a great idea and will be a memorable experience.

When we were in Yosemite a couple years ago, we saw a couple weddings going on. I think, if it were me, my biggest concern would be the travel and lodging for all my guests (they open their campground reservations 5 months in advance, and those book up quickly). We were there in October, so crowds weren't too bad. I think the summer would be a different story. There is a chapel in the valley where one of the weddings we saw was happening, and the other took place (the name of the road is slipping my mind right now) at the vista where you can see half dome from afar. It would be a beautiful spot to get married, in my opinion. There's also the Ahwahnee Hotel... not sure if they do weddings there, but I would assume they do.

Oh Enzian. Thanks so much for that link! I'll have to go through that list but no worries, I'm not discouraged at all.

Also, I know about the chappel and I wanted to be at bridal veil falls because I was there with my "man" of honor (not maid of honor because my best friend is a guy) a few summers back and was teasing me about getting the mist from bridal veil falls. The bus driver that was taking us up to gracier point for the hike down panorama trail told us the myth about single folks meeting the person of their dreams a year from the time the mist touches you. It's true, I met my honey 6 months after that. (although I don't know if it's the mist or the fact that we scrambled up those rocks since hte water was low and swam in the pools up there). In any case, I wouldn't want it to be in a chappel.

Yale, it's actually only going to be us and our witnesses (my "man" of honor and his best mate from the UK and his girlfriend). We're actually renting a house that's only 13 miles from the valley so that should be easy enough.

Thanks ofr the responses!

Just wanted to say congratulations!

Yosemite is one of our favorite places and was our honeymoon destination 20 years ago!

What a great place to get married! It will be truly beautiful!

thank you! we're very happy and excited to do this at a National Park we love!

maria,

you're most welcome, and I'm glad I could help. I think this is a wonderfully romantic idea, especialy in view of your meeting each other after you were touched by the mist of the falls. And I wasn't in any way suggesting the chapel---there is a link to "allowed" outdoor areas and Bridalveil Falls is one of them. Sounds perfect to me. (One thought, though, in September the falls may be low. . . you might need to consider that in your plans and have a "backup" in mind if it is the mist that you wnat).

The chapel is OK but if one is going to get married in Yosemite I think it should be outside with the beautiful scenery. Good luck to you and your sweetie.

Ah---I just read through and saw where it says that if your wedding party is smaller than 10, you are not limited to the listed locations. so, if Bridalveil is likely to be low (or non-existent---that can happen in the fall), you could have some other view spots in mind.

As I understand from your earlier post, a short hike would be OK. Lots of beautiful places come to mind.

Enzian, totally agree and I do have a few other spots in mind for Yosemite but we were also there in late Ausugt/early september with my best friend and why we were able to scramble up the rocks to swim in the pools up there because bridal veil falls was very low water since it's the end of the season. I kind of want the same amount of water because I was thinking a good scrambling up and jumping into that cold water would be a good thing to do after the ceremonies and pictures are done.

Now I just need to find a minister willing to do this or does Yosemite have one we can hire? I'll have to look into that but we're filling out paperwork this weekend to send out. We had to move it to end of August since they don't allow holidays for weddings.

There is a list of ministers, including ULC and Unitarian, and others, on that website.

I can just picture you jumping in the pool on your dress afterwards. I love it!

I'll post some pictures afterwards. Yeah, I'm not very traditional and I just love the outdoors!

Thanks for pointing out the list of people who can perform the ceremony!