Moab, Utah Elopement Guide
How to Have an Adventure Wedding in Moab, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park | By local Moab Wedding Photographers
Hi! We’re The Hearnes, adventure wedding photographers who live on the road and specialize in intimate weddings and elopements - you can see our travel schedule here! Not sure what that means? No worries, we’re here to explain it to ya! You can read more about elopements here. We aren’t just photographers — we’re here to walk you through the whole process! After over 5 years of traveling around the world (and mainly the Western US), we have extensive knowledge and experience in a lot of amazing destinations.
We’ve created these introductory guides for everyone, but they’re only a taste of what we really have to offer! After booking with us, our couples have access to Elopement and Intimate Wedding Specific Guides, an Adventure Session Guide, and in-depth location guides similar to this one but with much more information (think location names + google maps pins, specific vendors, links to adventures and lodging, our personal travel guide for the region, and so much more.) Here are some other guides we’ve created:
How to Elope in Grand Teton National Park near Jackson, Wyoming
How to Elope in Yosemite National Park [coming soon!]
How to Elope in Alaska [coming soon!]
What to know about Moab, Utah
Moab is a small desert town in eastern Utah with a population of about 5,000 but it often feels larger because tourism is our main industry, so there are typically a lot of visitors. It’s about 4 hours south of Salt Lake City, and a little over an hour west of Grand Junction, Colorado. Moab has everything you’d need from a “home base” for your elopement: grocery stores, hotels/vacation rentals/unique lodging, gas stations, etc.
While it’s a mecca for a huge array of outdoor sports like rock climbing, mountain biking, BASE jumping, hiking, Jeeping, and even backcountry skiing, Moab is probably most popular due to its proximity to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park as well as Dead Horse Point State Park.
best seasons to elope in Moab, Utah
We truly love Moab year-round (which is why we decided to make it our home base), but even with access to a climate controlled house, we still flee to Alaska every summer to cool off, and now Hawaii in the winter to warm up 😉 In our experience, the best months to elope in Moab are March-April and October-early December!
March and April are nice for cooler nights and typically sunny days, and nothing beats the beautiful colors once the desert starts to bloom! Typically by mid-April, every cactus patch will have beautiful red, orange, and yellow flowers. It’s incredible! The fall is equally amazing though because typically by mid-October the cottonwoods (and aspen in the higher elevation!) turn beautifully golden and every creekbed and waterway looks like a yellow brick road. The weather in the fall is usually warm during the day and cool at night.
One thing to note with Moab is that it’s a high desert, meaning the weather can change at the drop of a hat and seasons are only guidelines! We’ve seen a snowstorm in May, and experienced hot weather in November. If you’re eloping in Moab, we reccomend being prepared for any weather possibility. Thankfully, we’ve found that “bad weather” tends to blow through quickly and doesn’t usually last all day, although we’re equipped and prepared to shoot in any type of weather and encourage our couples to embrace it too!
An Overview of Public Lands in Moab, Utah
National Parks vs BLM Land, Explained
This can be a bit confusing, but firstly, “public lands” refers to government-owned land that is protected and designated for recreation and public access (ex. National Parks, National Forests, BLM).
National Parks are the most well-known and most visited public lands, they are typically the more iconic and “epic” areas, we always say — it’s a national park for a reason! This means they have more visitation, but also more funding to manage the visitation. They typically have paved roads, sometimes paved trails when necessary, accessible overlooks, and extensive maps/visitor guides. They also have stricter rules; like no dogs allowed on trails, no driving off road, no hiking off trail, etc (these vary by park). National Parks are amazing, and we always reccomend visiting them when you’re near one! We love National Parks and a majority of our Moab elopements include a visit to one or both nearby parks for sunrise or sunset photos, a hike, their ceremony, etc.
The other types of public lands like National Forests and National Recreation Areas usually have less visitation, less maintenance, and less regulations. Around Moab, most of the non-national park land is owned and operated my the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which is just a different branch of the Department of the Interior (which oversees all public lands). Basically, Utah is so full of epic places, and they can’t afford to make it all a National Park (there are already 5 in Utah! Thats a lot for how big the state is!) so a lot of the areas near National Parks got designated BLM land so it was still protected, but less regulated and overall costs less to maintain. One confusing note, if you’re already familiar with BLM in other states like California, is that the Moab area BLM is more regulated than typical BLM because it has much more visitation! For instance, you still need to camp in designated campgrounds, pack out your waste (yes even bathroom waste), many group activities require permits, and you still need to stay on trails/roads when possible to protect the fragile desert soil.
Arches National Park
Arches is absolutely stunning! Its name is quite telling - there are over 2,000 arches in the area, some as small as your hand and some could fit over a three story building! The arches, towers, and mesas within the park are iconic and enchanting. One thing we love about Arches is how accessible it is - you can see a lot of amazing sights just driving through the park, and a few iconic arches are less than a 10 minute walk from the road! Arches is a great place for an accessible wedding ceremony, especially if you have guests that might struggle to hike or are handicapped. The entrance to Arches is just 20 minutes north of Moab, and the farthest point on the road is about an hour from Moab.
Sunrise Elopement in Arches National Park
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands is definitely a bit of a hidden gem. Most people that come to Moab go to Arches (for good reason) but skip Canyonlands, possibly because the nearest entrance is 40 minutes away, or because they’re too overwhelmed by the multiple regions and driving time to them! It can certainly be confusing - there are hikes in Canyonlands that require as much as a 2.5 hour drive from Moab to get to, and some areas are 4x4 only. That being said, the most popular section of Canyonlands is accessed on a paved road (and is a scenic drive in itself) and has a great selection of hikes ranging from 2-16+ miles and even some viewpoints that are wheelchair accessible! We also happen to think this is the best place to watch the sunset in Moab.
Sunset Elopement in Canyonlands National Park
Dead Horse Point State Park
Dead Horse Point is super popular for photoshoots and elopements, which is no surprise because it’s stunning and super easily accessible! We love Dead Horse for its big canyon views and dog-friendly trails (as long as you keep them on leash). It’s in the same region as Canyonlands, so overall a similar vibe, but sometimes with less people because it’s a state park.
Sunset Session in Dead Horse Point State Park
BLM Areas
The BLM areas are more like the “wild west” of Moab, and the options are truly limitless! We have spent years exploring them on foot, in our many off-roading rigs, and scrolling through Google Maps when we aren’t geographically there. We have a giant list of epic locations within BLM land that are much less crowded, more adventurous to get to, and typically carry the same grandeur as the National Parks. Our photography permit includes pretty much anywhere we’d like to go with our couples for photos or small ceremonies, and if you’d like to include guests we have an exclusive list of BLM-approved ceremony locations that you’ll love! The BLM lands are great for Jeeping (you can rent them in town!), for bringing your dog along, and for escaping the crowds!
Jeep Elopement in Moab BLM
You do need a permit to have your ceremony within the parks, so depending on the ceremony location we choose, you can get your permit by following these links: Canyonlands National Park | Arches National Park | Dead Horse Point State Park. For BLM lands, we carry an annual special recreation permit that covers your event in Moab-area BLM.
In our elopement specific guide we send over sample timelines to help our couples visualize their day and plan everything out with us. Our location-specific guides go even more in depth, giving multiple choices for 6-Hour to Multi-Day timelines with specific sunrise/sunset times and seasonal considerations for their location. Here is one example timeline for a Moab, Utah Elopement:
7:30am Meet up in *location*, change in our camper
7:45-9:00 Sunrise first look + portraits
9:15 Head down, meet guests for breakfast in town
- break
1:30pm Meet up at *location*, getting ready photos
2:30 Everyone head to *location*
3:15 Ceremony in *location* + picnic with guests
4:30 Short hike with guests, photos along the way
5:30-6:30 Sunset portraits around *location*
Additional Information Provided in Our Private Guides:
Local & Traveling Vendors We Reccomend | Recommended Moab-Speicifc Accessories | Lodging + Travel Logistics for Moab, Utah | Our Favorite Moab Eats + Activities
Whether you’re interested in working with us or not, we sure hope this guide has been helpful in planning an adventure wedding in Moab! We absolutely love Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park and are so psyched to adventure with our amazing couples out there this year. If you’re interested in eloping with us in Moab, feel free to reach out via our contact form!