You’re engaged—congratulations! Now that the question has been popped, the fun part begins; planning your upcoming nuptials! Planning a wedding often comes with some stress. But one part of the process that shouldn’t be stressful is picturing the setting against which you’ll exchange your vows.
Few wedding venues can rival the natural beauty found in national parks like Zion. But with most national parks lacking a traditional wedding venue, you might be wondering whether or not it’s possible to hold a wedding ceremony in a park.
If you’re newly engaged, ready to plan your big day, or simply dreaming of the future, keep reading. We’re answering your biggest questions about how to get married in Zion, wedding ceremony and reception options at Zion Wildflower Resort, and more.
Can You Get Married in Zion National Park?
The short answer to this question is yes, you can get married in Zion National Park. However, there is a long list of rules and guidelines that you’ll need to follow in order to do so.
Getting a Special Use Permit
Perhaps the most important thing that you’ll need to know about getting married in Zion National Park is that you’ll need to obtain a permit to do so. Zion requires a Special Use Permit for all weddings, regardless of size.
You can find the application for a Special Use Permit online. This application needs to be submitted three weeks in advance of your chosen date and costs $100 to apply for. You’ll need to include details about your planned ceremony in your application. So before you begin filling it out, you’ll also need to know the rules about where you can hold your ceremony, how many people will attend, what kinds of decorations you can have, how you can get to your ceremony location, and more.
Choosing a Location in Zion for Your Wedding Ceremony
The National Park Service also has some strict requirements and rules for all ceremonies. These are in place to protect the plants and animals that call the park home and to avoid disrupting other guests enjoying the park.
This means that you can’t hold your wedding ceremony or even a small elopement ceremony just anywhere in the park. Instead, you’ll need to choose from a short list of locations. Each location has a limit on how many people can attend the ceremony. This number includes not just guests, but also the bride and groom, the wedding party, the photographer, and any other vendors that you hire.
In Zion, you can choose from the following locations for your wedding or elopement ceremony:
- Temple of Sinawava: Up to 35 people
- Menu Falls: Up to 10 people
- Zion Lodge Lawn: Up to 75 people
- Nature Center North Lawn: Up to 50 people (Available November to early April only)
- South Campground Amphitheater: Up to 100 people
- Timber Creek Overlook in the Kolob Canyon Area: Up to 20 people and four cars
While you may be permitted to use one of these locations for your ceremony, keep in mind that it will remain open to the public during your event. This means that other visitors may be in the area during your ceremony.
Depending on the location of your ceremony and the size, the National Park Service may also require you to pay an additional $50 per hour, including travel time to your permit location, for a member of their staff to be on hand during your ceremony. Park staff will discuss this with you after they have reviewed your permit.
Other Rules for Getting Married in Zion National Park
Choosing an approved location isn’t the only rule that you need to follow if you want to get married in Zion National Park.
For instance, if the Zion Canyon Shuttles are in operation, the bride and groom, bridal party, guests, and vendors will need to use the shuttles to get to their location if it is located in the Lower Canyon. No electrical power is provided, and generators cannot be used. While you can include some decorations, you cannot make any physical changes to any part of the park. This means that you can’t hang anything from trees. Any decorations you want to include will need to be pre-approved.
While you can hold a ceremony in the park, holding a reception is much harder. You can’t have catered food or set up tables in any of the locations. Only two locations allow chairs to be set up, and those have to be folded and carried on the shuttle bus in order to be used.
To read the other rules you’ll need to know to get married in Zion, click here.
Getting Married at Zion Wildflower Resort
Getting married in Zion means following a long list of strict rules and requirements. But there’s an easier way to exchange your vows in a beautiful setting.
Zion Wildflower Resort has a lush, grassy area that is available as a venue for weddings, elopements, and other events. You’ll be surrounded by stunning views of Zion National Park, and enjoy quick and easy access to your lodging at Zion Wildflower, and the many amenities our resort has to offer.
If you’re looking for the perfect venue for your big day, contact us today to learn more about our event venue.
