How to Elope in Alaska: The Ultimate Dream Guide

Planning an Alaska Elopement (2026+2027)

Alaska is a top elopement destination for exhilarating wildlife encounters, breathtaking landscapes, a vast variety of scenic settings, and unique excursions. It’s hard to resist the idea of an Alaska Elopement when you have such an incredible place to exchange your vows! The Last Frontier is incredibly large, has quite extreme weather, and strictly enforces permits in most every location. Preparing, and planning, your Alaska elopement comes with steps. This is the ultimate “How to Elope in Alaska Guide” with the most comprehensive advice and research to help you start planning your dream day!

TABLE OF CONTENTS; PLANNING YOUR ALASKA ELOPEMENT

1. What Defines an Elopement in Alaska
2. When to Elope in Alaska
3. When to Reach Out & Book Vendors
4. Where to Elope in Alaska
5. Permits & Leave No Trace
6. What an Elopement Timeline Looks Like
7. Activities to Do on Elopement Day
8. How to Get Your Alaska Marriage License
9. Planning Your Elopement: Checklist
10. Your Alaska Elopement Guide

What Defines an Elopement in Alaska?

The answer may vary depending who you ask, but for me an elopement follows three simple criteria:

• 15 or less guests are in attendance.
• It’s crafted to tell your love story in a unique, personalized way.
• It prioritizes your wants and experience, and not anybody else’s.

With elopements, you’re ditching the norm of wedding days, which strongly prioritizes guest experience. Instead, you’re prioritizing what the day is all about: you and your partner, and the love story that you’ve been writing together.

With weddings, being a host and throwing a party for friends and family in honor of your love is exactly what some couples want, but that’s okay if it’s not what YOU want! You may be dreaming of walking across icy blue glaciers to discover glacial waterfalls and rivers. Or perhaps exploring the Alaska ocean searching for whales through an elopement-exclusive boat tour and exchanging vows on a private beach. Or maybe you want to hike the backcountry high in the scenic snow-capped mountains and take a dip in a glacier-carved lake. THAT, is the ultimate elopement experience in Alaska.

When to Elope in Alaska

When you plan your Alaska elopement depends what kind of experience you want, and it can drastically change month to month what kind of experience you’ll get. Timing can be everything, or you may miss out on good weather, winter/summer activities, or the heli/boat tour season. You may also get stuck with extreme crowds during the summer/cruise ship season or be in a rural ghost town in off-season, so it’s important to carefully review the details of the month you want to elope in.

• Weather can change throughout the day, with short periods of rain, sunshine, clouds, etc.. Always bring layers and a raincoat, even in the summer! Rain in Alaska is often just light to moderate drizzles, so that does make it more tolerable.

• Higher elevations will always have cooler weather than sea level. It can also get pretty chilly on the boat and glacier tours even in the summer.

• Daylight increases to ~19 hours a day in the peak of summer, and decreases to ~5.5 hours a day in the peak of winter. Timing can slightly vary pending how far North you are – this is based on the Anchorage area. This can drastically effect when in the day you may want to schedule your elopement.

• The Aurora Borealis is generally active late August to mid April. Your best viewing times will be during months with clearer and darker skies, usually the December through March timeframe. Anytime after dark is a good time to search.

Summer Timeframe

Summer time is June-August. This is a busy time of year in Alaska and for the elopement industry. Higher elevations may still have snow until July. Wildflowers usually bloom in July. August rains 50%+ of the month and can be really cloudy, but as a plus it’s slightly lower crowds than the peak of summer. Temps average in the 60s and 70s, and can sometimes hit the 80s.

Tourist + Cruise Ship Season

Tourists will start streaming in by mid/late May. By June Alaska locations can get very crowded. I always recommend scheduling your elopement during very early mornings or late evenings to avoid the peak of mid-day crowds. By September, crowds are slowing down as things transition back into off-season. Cruises: Busy season can be especially important to consider in cruise ship port towns, as the population can triple in size at these locations. It gets PACKED and can make it hard to find open availability for local excursions on days multiple cruise ships are in port. Cruise ships usually run late May to late September, but can vary by location. You can check the CLIA website for cruise ships schedule in order to plan your elopement on a day ships, or at least less of them, will be in port at your destination.

Autumn Timeframe

The fall colors usually come mid August to early September, always starting in the mountains then stretching their way down to sea level. Timing can slightly vary depending on how far North you are. Because of all the rain Alaska gets, the colors are incredibly vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows. It’s a cloudy/rainy time, so be prepared for moody weather! Temps will be chilly, usually in the 40s to 50s °F.

Heavy Snow + Winter Activities

October through April is when you’ll find thick snow throughout Alaska (it usually is already sticking in the mountains by mid September, though). Winter activities like ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, dog sledding, and more will be happening across the state until the snow has melted too much around early April. Temps can get frigid in the peak of winter, around the 10s and 20s °F.

Snowmelt

Slowly but surely, the snowmelt is starting in March. By May snow is melted from lower elevations, but snow will still be thick in very high mountains. It’s a very soggy and muddy time, and everything is still brown from the winter. However, the snowmelt brings rushing rivers and waterfalls! It’s also the shoulder season of tourists, so crowds aren’t as bad in May as they will be in the summer.

Off-Season

Many of the smaller towns throughout Alaska will enter off-season October-April. Local businesses like lodgings, shops, and restaurants can be seasonal and may be closed at this time. Many of the local elopement boat/heli tours halt too, which limits your options. To enjoy the most out of those rural towns, you may want to elope in the warmer months.

Wildlife Sightings

Marine Wildlife: There’s locals like sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, orcas etc. that are spotted year-round – though they usually will be most active outside of the harsh winters. Migratory animals, like humpback whales, are around May through October, with best viewing times being in May as they arrive, and the peak of summer.

Land Wildlife: Many of the land animals will hibernate through the winter, though moose can be spotted year-round. Bears usually are active April through October, with peak viewing chances being during the salmon runs in the summer.

When to Reach Out & Book Your Alaska Elopement Vendors

When to Reach Out: You don’t have to have anything set in stone to reach out to vendors and ask for guidance on eloping in Alaska. In fact, the sooner you reach out, the better! Elopement specialized vendors can offer valuable advice to help you build the foundation of your dream day plan – such as the best time to elope to get the outcome you’re hoping for, where to elope, etc..

When to Book: If you’re wanting a summer date (June-August) then truthfully, the sooner you book the better. This is busy season in the elopement/wedding world in Alaska. Ideal weather is so short-lived in the state, so there is an INSANE amount of couples booking elopements and weddings within just these three months. Vendors can book out a year+ in advance due to high demand, so the sooner you secure your dream team, the better! If you’re eloping in the cold snowy months you’ll likely have an easier time finding vendors with availability with less notice. None of this is to say you can’t find anyone available in the summer within just a few short weeks notice of your elopement, but the risk of low availability does increase.

Where to Elope in Alaska

Alaska is a huge state with diverse settings such as the mountains, glaciers, beaches, lakes, rainforests, fjords, and waterfalls. It can be hard to decide where to go in a state that has gorgeous views even from grocery store parking lots! You can check out my Best Places to Elope in Alaska guide for some help to get you started. Some of my favorites I mention in this guide are:

• Kenai Fjords National Park / Seward
• Hatcher Pass
• Eklunta Lake
• Byron Glacier
• and several more!

Alaska Elopement Permits & Leave No Trace

Eloping in Alaska comes with the responsibility of obtaining special use permits and abiding by Leave No Trace principles. Permits are required for most locations across the Last Frontier, though you may only need one if you’re eloping with 15+ guests in tow. Leave No Trace (LNT) is a guideline of rules to follow when exploring the outdoors. The purpose of LNT is to educate outdoor explorers on how to protect our natural spaces to keep them beautiful and open to the public.

Permits

As mentioned above, most locations across Alaska require a special use permit that you get through the respective park services that run the area you’re eloping in (whether this is a state or national park). Some parks, usually those that are on a state level, may only require you to get a permit if you’ll have 15+ people in your party. There are some local spaces in Alaska you can elope entirely for free and without a permit, but you’ll need to check this with the area before planning your elopement.

Leave No Trace

A part of your duty as an explorer is to uphold Leave No Trace principles (LNT). You can familiarize yourself with LNT on the official website here. In short, please remember to leave as little impact on the land as possible so we can keep our parks open for future visitors and couples wanting to elope in the outdoors. Respect the wildlife and properly prepare for encounters, especially with bears and moose. Failure to follow LNT can sometimes lead to fines, harm to you or someone in your party, or harm to the land and wildlife. Always be kind to our Earth so these incredible spaces stay accessible to future eloping couples!

What an Alaska Elopement Timeline Can Look Like

An elopement timeline in Alaska can honestly vary greatly, depending on your experience of choice. If you’re doing something simple and laid back, it may look like a 2-hour experience. If you’re going epic with the boat/heli tours, it may look more like a 6-hour experience. It also depends on if you’re starting from the beginning of your day with coverage of you guys getting ready at your lodging for that full storytelling process.

Here’s an example of a full storytelling day in the Kenai Fjords NP for an elopement-exclusive boat ride to a private beach in Resurrection Bay (4-hour boat tour option). Keep in mind the start time of 2:00pm may not reflect exactly what you can expect, however the overall coverage time of 7 hours is. And this is all buildable to your wants. You don’t have to do pre-excursion coverage, or you can add more coverage, like going to a bar afterwards for a celebratory drink! Some excursions can also take more or less than 4 hours.

• Getting Ready & Details | 2:00
• First Look | 4:00
• Head to Boat Launch Site | 4:15
• Board Boat & Start Your Adventure | 5:00
• (Explore the Bay. Arrive at a Private Beach for Ceremony + Portraits)
• Arrive Back in Seward | 9:00

Alaska Elopement Ideas

I always suggest trying to plan some kind of activity or excursion to do during your elopement to make it feel more like an experience than a photoshoot. Fortunately, Alaska has plenty of these opportunities:

• Boat tour through fjords/ocean/glacier lakes
• Heli tour to mountaintops/glaciers/icefields/secluded beaches
• Hike a short trail to a waterfall or scenic spot
• Hike the backcountry
• Explore a rainforest
• Search for marine life from land or a boat tour

Winter Activities

• Skiing
• Snowboarding
• Ice skating
• Dog sledding

How to Get Your Alaska Marriage License

It takes three days to process your marriage license once you’ve turned in the application. If you’re traveling from out of state, be sure to handle this in advance of your visit so you don’t run into any issues. You’re able to print the application form online at Alaska Dept. of Health and mail it in for convenience. Here’s additional info:

• $60 for license, $70 if Priority Mail is required because you cannot pick up locally.
• Submit the completed application WITH payment to the records office closest to your ceremony location (Alaska Vital Records in Anchorage or Juneau, or an Alaska Court location: Court Locations)
• Must be 18 years or older to marry without parental consent.
• Form of identification, like drivers license or passport, required.
• Both parties must be sworn in by a Licensing Officer or Notary and sign the application IN PERSON, in their presence. This can be done at the Anchorage Vital Records Office, at any Alaska Courthouse, by an Alaska postmaster, or by a notary in your home jurisdiction.
• Once issued, the license is valid for only 90 days. You must get married before expiration, or re-apply and pay again.
• 2 witnesses + officiant required (your witnesses can be your vendors, random hikers, guests, etc.!)
• After the marriage has taken place and all parties have signed, return it (by mail or in person) to the same location you got it from.

Your Alaska Elopement Planning Checklist

Here’s a step-by-step guide for planning your dream Alaska elopement from day 1 to the big day:

1. Reach out to your favorite photographer (aka me) and let me help you curate your magical day!
2. Let’s determine where in Alaska you want to elope (if you don’t know yet).
3. Book all of the other vendors you want, like hair and make-up, florals, video, etc.
4. Book lodging for your destination.
5. Get the special use permit for your desired location (if applicable).
6. Book an officiant (Or use my complimentary services!)
7. Get your marriage license.
8. Get married and have a blast!
9. Return your completed marriage license to the location you got it from.

You can also check out the What to Pack for an Elopement guide to help you get started on your packing checklist!

Your Alaska Elopement Guide (Photographer + Planner + Officiant)

I’m here to help you plan your dream elopement in Alaska from beginning to end. I’ve been an elopement photographer since 2015, and in my opinion, Alaska is the best elopement destination. I’m ready to make it your favorite elopement experience. Reach out and let’s start making magic!