5 Best Places to Elope in Utah
Utah is a vastly beautiful state with so many different backdrops and charming places to consider for your elopement. It’s one of my favorite places to travel and vacation to—not to mention capture in a photo. Utah is a great place to elope or to renew vows. Here are my top five places to elope in Utah.
To start, Arches National Park is one of Utah’s most popular national parks and a stunning area to elope. Delicate Arch is the most famous feature, and looks spectacular during sunset. Located in southern Utah, Arches National Park isn’t far from the cute town of Moab, which has the hookups for hair, makeup, and floral arrangements for your elopement. Moab also has a plethora of restaurants for celebrating afterwards. For more information on how to elope in Arches, check out the blog post here.
If you are looking for a more quiet area of Utah, Bryce Canyon National Park is a magnificent place to elope or renew your vows. Sunrise and sunset have the best light in the canyon, and the brightly colored hoodoos provide a pink and white backdrop of stone pillars. There isn't a ton of services nearby, so it’s definitely for couples that want a more secluded experience. It is a bit of a drive to reach Bryce Canyon National Park, but along the scenic Route 12, it is totally worth it! The night sky is also one of the best in the country, and Bryce’s starry sky creates a very romantic veil perfect for camping.
Areas I would recommend as top elopement destinations around Salt Lake City are The Bonneville Salt Flats or in the Wasatch Mountains. The Salt Flats are an otherworldly experience. The brilliant white sands seem to stretch on and on, and are a perfect for wind-swept photos. Darker colors pop here, and is a little bit of a drive from Salt Lake City, but is beautiful and worth it. The Wasatch Mountains are definitely a more traditional mountain backdrop for those who want a mountain setting. Located close enough to Salt Lake City, services like hair and makeup, floral, and dress are available. There is even an airport close by. With many hidden gems, the Wasatch Mountains offer a breathtaking elopement opportunity near Salt Lake City.
For really outdoorsy and adventurous people, this next National Monument might be the exact elopement location for you. The Grand Staircase Escalante takes up 1.9 million acres of public land in southern Utah. There are so many amazing views down dirt roads, two-lane highways, and scenic byway 12. Within the National Monument, lots of rounded sandstone and smooth rock make up the canyons and valleys that provide weeks of adventure. In the nearby, quaint town of Boulder, I highly recommend Hell’s Backbone Grill and Farm to celebrate over a delicious meal. There’s also the Boulder Mountain Lodge that makes for a great romantic getaway.
The fifth best place to elope in Utah is Zion National Park. Just about a two-hour drive from Las Vegas, this gem in the southwestern corner of Utah is a jaw dropping, beautiful place. You start at the bottom of a canyon in the charming town of Springdale, and then the park just opens up before you with a river that runs through the park and sheer canyon walls that border you. At Zion, there are ways to travel to the top to look out over the canyon; there are sunset and sunrise spots available for your elopement, and amenities in the nearby town of St. George for hair and makeup. I always recommend King’s Landing Bistro as the go-to restaurant for afterwards.
Utah is one of the greatest states in the Union—in my opinion—and I love to travel there often. KLEM Studios loves to work with couples who dream of a red-rock, sandy, desert, or mountain elopement. The team would happily talk with you about ideas or questions on elopement planning in Utah. You can reach out to me by just sending me a message through Facebook or emailing me here.
Stay Adventurous,
Kate
