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10 Best Places to Elope in the Pacific Northwest

The PNW is one of my all time favorite places to document elopements! You have sweeping mountain views, moody forests with moss-covered trees, stunning waterfalls, epic beaches and so much more. I mean, it really does have everything you could possibly ask for when picking out an epic backdrop and scenery for your PNW elopement! While this list could truly go on and on forever I’ve created a list of the 10 Best Places to Elope in the Pacific Northwest!

bride and groom elope on the oregon coast

Best Places to Elope in the Pacific Northwest

1. Olympic National Park

The Olympic Peninsula is home to some of the most beautiful beaches and rugged coastlines, mountain peaks, rain forests, and even hot springs! It holds some of the most stunning views in Washington. There is SO much explore here and the location options for your elopement are truly endless. No matter if you want to adventure in the mountains or enjoy a peaceful stroll around a lake or meadow Olympic National Park is the best place to be! From the moment you set your eyes on this place, you’ll see in an instant why it’s one of the best places to elope in the Pacific Northwest! Be sure to check out my Ultimate Olympic National Park Elopement Guide!

Epic spots to consider:

  • Hoh Rainforest
  • Ruby Beach
  • Hurricane Ridge
  • Lake Crescent

Distance from Seattle: 2-3 hours

2. Smith Rock State Park

Smith Rock is Oregon’s own mini version of Zion National Park! There is the main river that runs through the park with surround cliffs and rock faces stand tall all around. There are many campsites, areas for rock climbing and trails galore for you to explore during your elopement! The desert and forest vibes come together here to create an incredible place to elope in the PNW.

Epic hikes to consider:

  • Crooked River Trail
  • Wolf Tree Trail
  • Misery Ridge Trail
  • Smith Rock Canyon Trail

Distance from Portland: 2 hours and 45 minutesPNW Elopement Locations

 

3. Oregon Coast

The Oregon Coast is boasting of beautiful views all around! There are waterfalls on beaches, rugged cliffs overlooking the ocean, pristine beaches, and forests all up and down the coastline. The Oregon Coast one of the ultimate places to elope in the Pacific Northwest since there are so many options and locations for you to choose from!

Epic locations to consider:

  • Cannon Beach
  • Ecola State Park
  • Cape Kiwanda
  • Pacific Beach
  • Natural Bridges

Distance from Portland: 1.5 hours to 2 hours

4. Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier is known as a paradise and for a good reason! The gorgeous mountain views and wildflowers that pop up during spring and summer are truly amazing. You have many incredible hiking trails for all levels of hikers! This is one of the most popular places to elope in the pacific northwest for sure, but trust me, if you elope here you won’t regret it for one moment. Mount Rainer is one of my personal favorite places to elope in the PNW! Documenting elopements here truly never gets old! You can check out my Ultimate Mount Rainier Elopement Guide for more information!

Epic hikes to consider:

  • Naches Peak Loop
  • Sourdough Ridge
  • Tolmie Peaks
  • Fremont Lookout

Distance from Seattle: 1 hour 40 minutesPacific Northwest elopement locations

 

5. North Cascades

The North Cascades are full of gorgeous alpine lakes and mountain peaks making it one of the perfect places to elope in the Pacific Northwest. It’s actually one of the least visited national parks in the U.S.?! That means you’ll have the whole mountain or lake all to yourselves to adventure around and say your vows. Talk about the ultimate place for privacy!

Epic Spots to consider:

Distance from Seattle: 2 to 2.5 hours

6. Crater Lake

Crater Lake is a volcano that got filled with water and is now a beautiful national park to visit! There are many hikes and viewpoints all around the lake that will make for the perfect backdrop during your ceremony! You can go hiking or you can just hop in the car and enjoy your time driving around the crater and hitting up your favorite spots around sunset. It’s a PNW gem!

Distance from Portland: 4.5 hours

pacific northwest elopemnt

 

7. Mount Hood

Mount Hood is another great place to go hiking and enjoy the mountains for your elopement in the PNW! The views are stunning and you’ll be able to choose a hike that you love and one where you’ll get the privacy you want. It’s a great place to elope in the Pacific Northwest as you’ll get the classic PNW moody skies and moss-covered trees.

Epic hikes to consider:

  • Old Salmon River Trail
  • ZigZag Canyon
  • Tamanawas Fall Trail
  • Trillium Lake Loop

Distance from Portland: 1 hour and 15 minutes

8. Colombia River Gorge

This is probably one of my personal top favorite spots to elope in the PNW! If you’re looking for a waterfall feature this is the place to be! All of the gorgeous hikes along the river are surrounded by gorgeous moss-covered trees that make you feel like you’re in a fairy tale. The river runs right through Portland so you don’t have to drive far to get to amazing hiking trails and waterfalls!

Epic spots to consider:

  • Wahclella Falls
  • Latourell Falls
  • Dry Creek Falls
  • Horsetail Falls

Distance from Portland: 20 minutes-45 minutes depending on the hike

pnw elopement locations

 

9. Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest

This national forest is home to beautiful and pristine alpine lakes and gorgeous forest views. It’s right near Leavenworth which is a cute town and a great place to stay for your elopement! The hiking trails here are simply beautiful and you truly can’t go wrong with any of them!

Epic hikes to consider:

  • Skyline Lake Trail
  • Rainy Lake Trail
  • Minotaur Lake Trail
  • Gold Creek Pond

Distance from Seattle: 2.5 hours

10. Snoqualmie National Forest

Snoqualmie is one of the greatest places to elope in the PNW! It’s filled with gorgeous waterfalls, beautiful lakes, and loads of stunning trails! This entire area is fairly low elevations meaning even if you want to elope in winter you don’t have to be worried about road closures of snowed out trails! It’s also close to Seattle making your journey to your elopement location a breeze.

Epic spots to consider:

  • Snoqualmie Falls
  • Keechelus Lake
  • Snoqualmie Pass
  • Rattlesnake Ledge
  • Gold Creek Pond

Distance from Seattle: 1 hour

PNW Elopement Photographer

You truly can’t go wrong with choosing any of these places to elope in the Pacific Northwest! They are all absolutely incredible. It just comes down to the scenery you’re looking for an the type of activities you want to include in your day! If you’re looking for a PNW Elopement Photographer who will be able to help you pick out the best location for you to say your vows, guide you through planning out your entire day and document your entire elopement experience in the PNW I’d be SO stoked to chat with you!!

You can contact me >HERE< and I cannot wait to hear all about your vision!!

Looking for more elopement tips?!

Complete Guide to Eloping in Washington State

Best Places to Elope in Utah

How to Elope in Glacier National Park

How to Avoid Crowds During Your Outdoor Elopement

Why I Wish I Eloped

10 Best Places to Elope in the Pacific Northwest

 

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  1. Best Elopement Checklist For Planning Your Epic Wedding Day says:
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  2. Ultimate Mount Rainier Elopement Guide - Courtney Lynn says:
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  3. Ultimate Olympic National Park Elopement Guide - Courtney Lynn says:
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    […] of the most incredible and versatile locations to elope! The Olympic Penninsula is truly one of the best places to elope in the PNW. It holds a wide variety of scenery, is open year-round, and is easily accessible! No matter if […]

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  4. 5 Helpful Elopement Tips for You to Consider- Courtney Lynn says:
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  5. How to Plan the Epic Elopement Timeline of Your Dreams | Courtney Lynn says:
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  6. How to Make Your Elopement Special - Courtney Lynn says:
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Courtney made the process SO easy! She does more than just photograph your day. She cares about you having the BEST elopement experience possible! I'll never be able to thank Courtney enough for making our dream day happen!

Contact me about your Elopement!

You probably have a million thoughts running through your head making you a bit overwhelmed.

How does this work? What can I do during my elopement? How do I choose my location? Is the ceremony legal? Can I elope with family?

One of the reasons you're probably eloping is because you want to have a stress-free day, but with so much uncertainty on how to plan an elopement how is it even possible?!

No need to stress, you're in the right place! This is where I come in and do the heavy lifting for you.

I'm Courtney, and I specialize in documenting adventurous elopements for couples who love the outdoors, but role is so much more than just an elopement photographer.

I'm here to guide you through every single step of planning your elopement and to give you a clear path tossing that stress out the window!

So, if you're ready to have a unique elopement experience that's actually focused on you, then let's friggin' do this!!


You know you want to elope,

and you know you want it to be meaningful and adventurous, but where do you start?!

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Courtney has a very warm and bubbly personality that shows through her work! She made my husband and I feel SO comfortable throughout the whole day.

We were very confused on how to start planning our adventure and she was there to answer a lot of our questions in the beginning and honestly with a very short time frame! We planned and got married in 6 weeks, because we knew we really wanted her there for our day and that is what she had available! It was a challenge well accepted for all three of us.

Our day was perfect. She captured our true essence of love and laughter and each photo shows it. There weren't very many set up photos unless we asked for them. She just gets you in the moment!

You can absolutely tell that Courtney loves what she does and wants your day to be perfect. She listens to you and really tries to understand you as a couple first and then uses that within her photography skills.

If you are looking for an adventure/elopement photographer I would highly suggest Courtney Lynn. We will be looking at and reliving our elopement forever thanks to her amazing photos. You won't be disappointed!

Amber & Ryan

Courtney was so helpful during the whole process! She helped put together a wonderful day!  She really wanted to make sure our wedding was just right for us. She made our elopement perfectly formulated for us, and I can't think of a more beautiful day!

One of our concerns going into an elopement was wanting to have pictures that let us remember the entire day. Courtney was there from start to finish and captured the whole day! Because of her outstanding work, we can share it with our loved ones, and they can experience the event almost as if they were there. We also really appreciated that she captured genuine moments between us instead of making it a photoshoot.

It felt like we were hanging out with a friend, and we think that helped us enjoy our day to the fullest.
If your dream wedding is an adventurous elopement day, I couldn't recommend Courtney more. She went above and beyond and was such a joy to work with throughout this whole experience.

She made us feel at ease and relaxed. Some wedding photographers are all about capturing posed moments that can be really awkward; that's NOT Courtney's style at all. Not only was she down to do whatever we wanted and go on little side adventures, but she made us feel comfortable.

She captured our true personalities and who we are as a couple! When looking at our gallery, our love for each other and our personalities can be seen in each image! She is extremely talented and did a phenomenal job of capturing the beauty of our wedding location. If you hire her, you will not regret it!

Sadye & Matthew

We are SO happy we decided to go with Courtney for our wedding photos! Originally we were supposed to elope in Italy, and she helped a TON with planning things like travel and what our day was going to look like.

Then the pandemic hit and we realized we probably weren't going to be able to go to Italy. So, we decided to change locations to Glacier!

She made it super easy and stress free, and helped plan what our new day in Glacier was going to look like!

Courtney was super easy to spend the entire day with, very friendly and fun to talk to! Even though our day didn't go exactly how we planned due to the weather, we all just went with the flow of it and it still turned out to be an amazing day!

If you're in doubt, just hire her!! You won't regret it one bit and you will get so many incredible photos to look back on your day!!

robbie & Aryton

When my now husband and I started planning our elopement, we were confused to the max. We didn’t know where to start or how to go about planning anything. We knew we wanted to get married in Ireland, but had too many options on exactly where. After doing some research of elopements, I was scrolling on Pinterest and came across some BEAUTIFUL photos taken by Courtney!

Courtney  made the process so easy! She is organized, professional, sweet, and so so funny!! Courtney does more than just photograph your day, she cares about you having the BEST day! She helped us plan EVERYTHING! Even down to the little details, like what type of shoes to wear! She helped us narrow down where, giving us her informative opinions on each of our options! She gave us cool ideas that we could incorporate into our special day. No idea was too big! When the day came, we had the absolute best time exploring and getting married! After we exchanged our vows, we went to celebrate at a local pub (Courtney’s idea ;) ). It was a blast!!

Our elopement was an absolute DREAM COME TRUE! I will never be able to thank Courtney enough for making it happen. So for anyone on the fence, swaying back and forth about whether or not work with Courtney on your big day, SWAY NO MORE! You’ve found your person!! My day couldn’t have been any better and my pictures are beautiful and capture the fun we had!!! I can’t wait to work with her again!

Taylor & andrew

"Planning for our day and the day itself would have been completely different without Courtney. We only knew that we wanted to share our vows in the Tuscan countryside and have beautiful photos, and Courtney planned the perfect agenda for that to happen.

She coordinated our timing around sunset, and not only were the photos breathtaking, but the actual evening was too. I remember looking out over the vineyards as the sun set, the view becoming more and more stunning by the minute. There were no moments that felt forced or posed, every shot was comfortable and fun and full of love.

Courtney is such a sweet, kind, fun person and we truly enjoyed spending the day with her. Courtney helped us to turn our dreams into reality, and we hardly had to do a thing. She allowed us to be in control of our day but gently took all of our wants and needs into consideration while making everything happen. Lastly, our pictures are just magical. Courtney is an incredibly talented photographer, and I feel so lucky that we were able to work with her. I would recommend her over and over again to anyone eloping."

Ellie & Zac

"Let. Me. Tell. You. It's not the technical aspects of photography that are the most difficult. It's the human aspect. Remembering that as a Photographer, you may be behind the lens but you are still a human, in front of other humans, in some of the most raw and intimate of moments.

Courtney balances both of these necessities (but rarities) with poise, great direction, and an overall kind calmness that just makes you breathe a sigh of relief. If you've come across Courtney's page and see what you like already, BOOK HER NOW. Don't spend another second looking for another Photographer that doesn't bring anywhere near the amazing light and spirit that this girl brings right here. Thank you again Courtney for allowing my husband and I to marry each other all over again! The images are stunning and I can't wait to blow them up and hang them in our home."

Shannon & Brandon

"Working with Courtney was an extremely easy experience, seamless, positive and obviously fun. My wife and I went on our honeymoon and wanted to surprise her with a surprise honeymoon adventure session.

Courtney worked with me to make that dream gift for my wife a reality. Meeting and posing for a photographer for the first time can be intimidating, but with Courtney it was anything but that.

Courtney is extremely positive and helpful and made us feel very comfortable in front of the camera. She played some of our favorite songs and before we knew we were just having fun and she was catching them every second. Perhaps the best part of our session was that Courtney knew all the characteristic and peaceful places of where we were, which made our photos even more extraordinary.

She kept the focus on my wife and me. When we shared our images with friends and relatives, everyone complimented on Courtney's aesthetics and the emotion she was able to capture. I can't thank Courtney enough for exceeding all our expectations with this photo shoot!!"

NINA & JASON

"Pick her -- she's the best! Courtney is amazing! Seriously! If you're thinking about eloping you should snatch her up to capture your day. She makes the entire experience fun and relaxed plus the pictures just blew us away. I will never forget our magical time in Venice and I'm obsessed with the gorgeous photos Courtney took of us. She's so so good!"

Jami & Tim

Courtney is not only a talented photographer, but she makes you feel so comfortable even though being in front of the camera can be nerve-wracking! She did such an amazing job with our day and if I had to pick my favorite photo it would take FOREVER, because I love so many! Definitely consider her if you want adventurous and beautiful photos coupled with an amazing experience!

walker & mac
PR
EV
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Don't take it from me,
Take it from my past couples!

You’re in the right place!

I’m here to guide you through EVERY. SINGLE. STEP.

Let’s toss that’s confusion out the window and focus on how you want to get married!

Let me relieve those feelings of being lost, save you time, tell the story of your day and let’s get started creating a day that you’ll never forget!

So, if you know you want to elope,
but feel unsure on where to start, 

contact me & let's get starting creating your dream elopement!

...and you want an amazing storyteller to document your day

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