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Adventure Elopement

Eklutna Lake Wedding Guide: How to Elope at Eklutna Lake 

Eklutna Lake Wedding Guide:

How to Elope at Eklutna Lake 

In Chugach State Park, Eklutna Lake is a brilliant turquoise-colored glacial lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. This peaceful oasis is perfect for hiking, kayaking… and tying the knot! Just under an hour's drive from Anchorage, an Eklutna Lake wedding is ideal for an outdoor getaway to celebrate your love! With over 15 miles of shoreline and plenty of trails through the mountains, you're guaranteed to find your perfect ceremony location. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about an Eklutna Lake elopement!

Getting to Eklutna Lake

Eklutna Lake is in Chugach State Park. It costs $5 for a parking pass for the park - you'll pay the fee when you arrive - but if you have an Alaska State Park annual pass, it's included! If you want to buy a pass, you can do so online, and get one for $60. This is a great deal for those who visit Alaska’s state parks often.

Eklutna Lake has a beautiful campground, too! It's $20 for a campsite, and the 50 sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. They even have 2 cabins available for rent to make your elopement an epic adventure.

The Best Time for an Eklutna Lake Elopement

Though visiting Eklutna Lake is fun year-round, you'll want to consider the changes in weather, crowds, and activities when you plan your elopement in Alaska. Keep in mind that no matter what season, you'll want to plan what you wear carefully, since Alaska’s weather can be pretty wild. 

Summer peaks in July, but it's definitely not beach-wear weather. Highs average in the mid-60s, so while it's a great time to head out on the lake with a kayak, you won't want to swim in the cold lake! The days can be 19 hours long in the summertime, so you'll have plenty of time to hike the trails of Eklutna Lake. Since it's a popular recreation area, it's pretty busy on the weekends! If you want to avoid the crowds, plan for a sunrise or sunset wedding or have your elopement on a weekday.

The winters at Eklutna Lake are cold and typically below-freezing. Snow falls 7 months of the year (October through April), which is perfect for cross country skiing, ice skating, and hikes to the glaciers. The days are short, sometimes only 5 and a half hours in December, so you'll want to plan accordingly if you want to catch the daylight hours!

For nice weather, fewer crowds, and average daylight hours, fall and spring are amazing for an Eklutna Lake elopement! The leaves change colors in the fall, making a beautiful backdrop of oranges and yellows behind the blues of the lake. The wildflowers start to bloom after the snow melts in late spring, bringing beautiful shades of pink, yellow, and purple to the landscape!

Getting Legally Married When You Elope at Eklutna Lake

Now that you've thought about when you want to elope, you'll want to start thinking about getting your marriage license so you can make this thing official! We'll go over everything you'll need to do when you elope in Alaska!

To get your marriage license, you'll need to send an application with the $60 license fee to the clerk's office in Palmer or Anchorage. You can drop off your application in person, mail it, or fax it in - just know there's a 3 business day waiting period for your license after the office has your application and payment in hand. After the 3-day waiting period, you can pick up your license for your ceremony!

You'll need an officiant and two witnesses to sign your license. You can have a friend or family member get officiated through the Universal Life Church to be your officiant, or we can be your officiant and provide witnesses for you! After your ceremony, you'll need to return your license to one of Alaska's vital records offices. The closest one to Eklutna Lake is in Anchorage, but it can also be mailed to the office!

Things to Do When You Elope at Eklutna Lake

The best thing about eloping is being able to turn your wedding day into an adventure! You can make it anything you want, whether that's cozying up by the fire or hiking to a glacier. There are so many things to do when you elope at Eklutna Lake, but here are a few of our favorite activities! 

Go Hiking

There are 4 popular trails at Eklutna Lake that range from easy to difficult. Eklutna Lakeside Trail is the easiest trail. It's flat but is 13 miles long - you can do the whole trail, or just do part of it. For a little more difficult trail, take Eklutna River East Fork Trail - this moderate 6-mile trail is narrow and goes over a couple of small streams. Twin Peaks Trail and Bold Ridge Trail are both more difficult, but both offer gorgeous, panoramic views of the lake and park from the top. You can go berry picking on the Twin Peaks Trail in the fall!

Kayak or Canoe

Summer is a great time for water activities at Eklutna Lake! If you have a kayak or canoe, it's a short walk from the parking lot to the lake, so you can launch right there. If you don't have one and want to try it out, there are huts near the shore that rent out kayaks and offer guided trips on the lake! Since the water is glacial runoff, it's really cold, so you probably won’t be swimming.

Ice Skating

Winter turns Eklutna Lake into the perfect ice skating rink! It's best to skate before the snow gets too deep, or after a good wind blows a lot of the snow away, so check out the snow reports before planning to skate to make sure you can go in the current conditions.

Eklutna Lake Elopement Packages

We know how exciting - and maybe a little stressful - planning your elopement can be. That's why, as elopement planners, it's our goal to make sure your elopement is the best day ever. Our Eklutna Lake elopement packages are specially curated just for you - from vendor recommendations to timeline planning, we'll be there every step of the way to plan an elopement that's as unique as your love!

If you're ready to plan your wedding day or want to chat more about our Eklutna Lake elopement packages, contact us, and we can talk about planning a wedding day that's full of adventure, and all about your wild hearts.


Photographer: Kristian Irey

Videographer: Megan Freeman

Planner: Alaska Wild Hearts Events

Florist: Lily of the Valley

Girdwood, Alaska Adventure Elopement

Girdwood, Alaska Adventure Elopement

Nathan & Hannah met when they were thrown together in a college team-building exercise. Seems innocent enough, but look at how Cupid was hard at work behind the scenes, setting in play the groundwork for healthy couple hood. Problem solving, compromise, how to agree to disagree, goal setting, how to be supportive of one another. College team building? More like laying the groundwork for a future life together; setting the cornerstone for the life-team they would become months later as husband and wife.

With a love of nature, and a brimming enthusiasm to embark on an adventure together, Alaska called to Nathan and Hannah as the place to say their “I do’s. They settled on the little ski-valley town of Girdwood, and the Alyeska Resort as their wedding destination. What better stage to say their vows, tucked amidst the magnificent, iconic mountain peaks of the Chugach Mountain Range, and so easy too, since Girdwood is just 30 miles south of the major airport of Anchorage.  

Alyeska Resort offers 4-star lodging in a woodsy setting surrounded by towering mountains; and is the perfect locale for a wedding and outdoor activities at any time of the year. It was certainly the perfect setting for Nathan and Hannah who chose to get married on Alyeska’s mountain hillside peppered lush with summer-time lichen and wild blooming Alaskan flowers of fireweed and lupine. 

Hannah’s father served as the marriage officiant, uniting the two families together. Courtesy of todays’ amazing technology, the rest of the family were able to observe the happy hilltop happening from the Resort, from which they live-streamed and dropped in to share in the wedding setting from afar.

Alaska Wedding
Summer wedding in Alaska
Girdwood Elopement
Alaska Wedding Flowers
Girdwood Elopement

And welcome to the new Mister & Missus … who then floated away from the wonderful wedding site by tram, going higher and higher still to the tallest peak, The destination? The Seven Glaciers Restaurant a fine dining experience sitting high above the Resort with jaw-dropping views of the glaciers and mountaintops that surround it. The first intimate lofty dinner together as husband and wife and the completion of the team-building circle that started the ball rolling. As the saying goes, “and the two shall become one..”

Alaska Mountain Wedding
Alaska Elopement

Accommodations:

Winter Activities:

  • Downhill Skiing

  • Cross-Country Skiing

  • Snow-showing

Summer Activities:

  • Hiking

  • Trail Biking

  • Mountain Biking

  • Berry Picking

  • Dog Mushing Tour

  • Disc Golf

All year long Activities:

  • The Nordic Spa at Alyeska Resort

  • Girdwood Brewery

  • Watch the Bore Tide. Click here for the bore tide schedule.

  • Ride Alyeska Ariel Tram

  • Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

  • Helicopter tour

Restaurants:

If you’re planning a wedding that will put you within Alaska’s magnificent mountains and glaciers in no time at all, consider Girdwood and/or the Alyeska Resort as it has a lot to offer all year long.  Want a unique winter wedding that might include sled dogs, skiing down the hill side or a summer wedding, scaling the hills on a mountain bike, taking a helicopter ride to land on a glacier, Alyeska Resort is the perfect location. At Alaska Wild Hearts Events, we are happy to walk along with you every step of the way. 

Alaska Adventure Elopement

Your adventure elopement ceremony is your own! We are open to accommodate any style of tradition, non-tradition, or religious-based experience that gives you the ceremony you’ve dreamt of.

The number one reason for elopements is to create an intimate space for your needs and no one else’s to worry about. The intimacy between you and your partner is something only you two will understand more than anyone and as a professional planner, we offer a safe space to listen and offer creative solutions for your requests!

Make your Adventure Elopement your Own

Working with an elopement planner means the possibilities are endless! Not only can we bring your unique dream to life but we have a hoard of amazing ideas for any dilemmas you might think you’ll face if you’re stuck on a decision.

If you are exploring elopements in Alaska, I’d first like to emphasize that I am thrilled to see that you carry an adventurous edge to your lifestyle. Why is Alaska on every person’s bucket list? It’s a vast and wildland FULL of adventure, many places hardly touched by man, and home of the largest most powerful mountain range in North America. Alaska is also so diverse, it holds at least 4 widely different biomes. It is grand to say the least. Statistically many Americans don’t make their journey here until later in age and although it’s never too late to enjoy her beauty, I believe there’s much to see and experience while you’re willing and able. This absolutely means taking advantage of the heart of adventure Alaska has to offer. Not only is eloping on Alaskan soil so special but sharing intimate adventures together, here, really connects the people involved in ways that will last a lifetime.

I had the privilege of officiating and planning the ceremony of Hannah and Tate in a beautiful wood scape outside Girdwood where they had uniquely requested Sushi as their featured platter for their gourmet picnic. Little did they know that THE best Sushi spot is at the Alyeska Resort down the road from their elopement site so it was perfect. This sparked a number of requests by others to start thinking outside of the box. This was such an easy integration to their day but there are so many other possibilities to make the day your own.

Consider the list of adventures below that can also impact your elopement experience and build on the memories:

  • Kayaking in Resurrection Bay

  • Snow- Shoeing

  • Cross Country or Downhill Skiing

  • Glacier Hiking

  • Snow Machining

  • Deep Sea or Fresh Water fishing for that King Salmon or Halibut

  • Taking a Helicopter to a Glacier or peak

  • Boating to Kodiak Island

  • Visiting one of the many Microbrews

  • Joining in one of the many summer festivals like Summer Solstice

Keep in mind as well that with an elopement planner, you’re able to get involved as little or as much as you and your partner want to. That is your choice and I work with couples that love every step of the process, especially because they don’t have to make decisions based on the needs of guests. There are also plenty of other couples that only have a few special requests and enjoy leaving the rest of the planning in my hands so their wedding feels more hands-free from their daily lives and there’s still an element of suspense on their day. I love to also emphasize this because this is what makes working with a planner so EASY.

Don’t be afraid to show your planner your vision board or share ideas of your dream wedding. We’re here to make it happen and no request is ever too obscure. We are the best people to understand reason and limitation only after we’ve explored possibilities and resources for you in this unfamiliar territory. We’re specifically hired to make your day seamless, unique, and nurture a space that caters to you and your partner.