How to Get Married in Shenandoah National Park
Thinking about having your wedding in Shenandoah National Park? You’ve come to the right place! Whether you’re planning an elopement, an intimate wedding with a few family members, or a large celebration, there are plenty of options for you in Shenandoah and the surrounding areas.
As a Virginia wedding photographer who loves spending time in the mountains, I’ve got tons of experience in Shenandoah and wanted to put all my tips and insight in one place! Hopefully this guide to weddings in Shenandoah National Park will be a helpful resource for you as you plan your big day.
Do you need a wedding permit?
If you’re planning to elope or have an intimate standing ceremony (with 15 people or fewer), the great news is that there is NO PERMIT NEEDED and no fees.
If you’re planning to have a wedding ceremony that involves more than 15 people OR if you’re planning to have any kind of setup - chairs, decorations, music - then a special use permit is required.
The exception is for weddings taking place on Skyland or Big Meadows land areas. The special use permit is not required, but it’s a different process with a reservation being made through Shenandoah’s vendor, Delaware North, at goshenandoah.com. (These ceremony spaces typically are used for larger weddings for couples booking the reception halls too, but they can also be reserved for ceremony only.)
How Much Do Shenandoah Weddings Cost?
Elopements and small standing ceremonies with 15 people or less are free!
Weddings that require Shenandoah’s special use permit are $150. (These are for ceremonies with more than 15 people or with any kind of setup.) You can find the permit application on Shenandoah National Park’s wedding permit page. Make sure to submit your application at least 6 weeks in advance of your wedding date.
Wedding ceremonies at designated Skyland or Big Meadows locations have a $250 ceremony fee + a $3/chair rental fee booked through Delaware North. Reservations of the Skyland and Big Meadows reception halls have varying prices depending on the day of the week and time of the year, and there is also a requirement for a minimum number of lodging rooms to be booked by your guests (or you will be responsible for the difference).
2024 Shenandoah Reception Hall Prices
Where to Have Your Elopement Ceremony
For an elopement or intimate standing ceremony with 15 or fewer people, you can have your ceremony almost anywhere in the park! Just keep in mind that you always need to stay on marked trails or designated overlooks, and not be disruptive to other park visitors. There are two main types of locations to choose from:
1) An overlook: Many of the 76 overlooks along Skyline Drive are great choices to give you beautiful scenic vistas without requiring any hiking (or sweating 😂). The downside is they can be busy with other park visitors at times, and cars can sometimes be parked in the way of where you/your guests/your photographer would like to be standing during the ceremony. All of the overlooks are labeled on Google Maps if you want to see more photos of them or zoom in to street view to get an idea of what they look like.
2) Hiking to a destination: The other popular type of place to have your ceremony is out on the trails! Shenandoah has over 500 miles of hiking trails to choose from. Many couples decide to hike to a mountain top or to one of the park’s beautiful waterfalls and exchange their vows at the end of the hike. If you go this route just remember to dress comfortably for the hiking part, and you can always change into fancier clothes/shoes at the end before starting your ceremony! I’ve got a list of some great hikes a little further down the page.
There are just a few places in the park that are off limits:
Although the wide open fields of Big Meadows are gorgeous, they don’t allow ceremonies there in order to protect the rare native plant species.
No ceremonies are allowed near the Dickey Ridge and Byrd visitor centers as they could be disruptive to essential park services.
Where to Have Your Larger Ceremony
For larger ceremonies with 30 or more people, or if you are planning to have any kind of decorations, chairs, or music, your ceremony must take place at one of the amphitheaters in the park OR you can reserve your ceremony through the park’s approved vendor, Delaware North, which operates weddings at Skyland and Big Meadows. (You can also book any of these for smaller weddings too if you want!)
There are 4 amphitheaters at the park, which can be reserved with the $150 special use permit. These amphitheaters all have bench seating available, and they do not have roofs or any cover so there’s no rain backup plan built in.
Loft Mountain Amphitheater (mile 79.5) - This is the most commonly used amphitheater for weddings because it has a great view! It can comfortably fit up to 100 guests.
Lewis Mountain Amphitheater (mile 57.5)
Big Meadows Amphitheater (mile 51.2)
Skyland Amphitheater (mile 41.7)
Delaware North is the vendor you’ll book through if you want to host a wedding reception at Shenandoah National Park, and they also operate several ceremony site locations at Skyland and Big Meadows. To reserve the outdoor ceremony space alone, there is a $250 booking fee and a $3/chair rental fee. If you book a reception as well, there is a rain backup location available for your ceremony.
Skyland - Peak View Stage (has built-in benches)
Skyland - Pinnacles Lawn
Big Meadows - Lodge Terrace
Popular Hikes for Weddings and Photos
In addition to all the overlooks, hikes that are a couple hours or less are often great choices for wedding days. Keep in mind that these time estimates from the National Park Service are the estimates for hiking only, they don’t take into account stopping for photos or for your ceremony! So budget extra time accordingly.
Waterfall Hikes
Dark Hollow Falls: 1.4 miles, 1.5 hours
Doyles River Falls: 3.3 miles, 2.5 hours
Jones Run Falls: 3.2 miles, 2.5 hours
Rose River Falls: 4 miles, 4 hours
South River Falls: 3.3 miles, 2.5 hours
Whiteoak Falls (Lower): 2 miles, 1.5 hours
Hikes with a View
Bearfence Rock Scramble: 1.4 miles,1 hour
Bearfence Viewpoint: 1 mile, 1 hour
Blackrock Summit: 1 mile, 1 hour
Compton Peak: 2.4 miles, 1 hour 45 minutes
Frazier Discovery Trail: 1.2 miles, 1 hour
Hawksbill Summit: 2.1 miles, 1.5 hours
Little Stony Man: 1.2 miles, 45 minutes
Mary’s Rock: 2.9 miles, 3 hours
Millers Head: 1.6 miles, 2 hours
Stony Man: 1.6 miles, 1 hour
Turk Mountain: 2.2 miles, 2 hours 15 minutes
Choosing a Date and Time
Shenandoah is beautiful all year round, but there are certain things to consider with each season when it comes to planning a wedding.
Spring - Shenandoah is beautiful in the spring, and you can find all kinds of wildflowers at the overlooks and at Big Meadows! Check out the park’s wildflower calendar to see when they typically bloom. Don’t forget that spring hits the mountains a few weeks after the lower elevations. Depending on when exactly your wedding is in the spring, it may look more like winter (with no leaves yet on the trees.) While you may think of April as being full of flowers and blossoming trees, in Shenandoah things might still be pretty brown.
Summer - I love how pretty the park looks when the trees are full and green! But it can definitely get HOT in the summer, so be prepared for the heat (and all the sweat) especially if you’re hiking. Also remember that summer weekends can get pretty busy in the park so book your accommodations well in advance.
Fall - Fall in Shenandoah is absolutely gorgeous and getting married with that backdrop of golden leaves is hard to beat! But it is also CRAZY busy. If you are getting married in the fall, please prepare yourself (and your wedding guests) for the lengthy wait times to enter the park. You can easily be in line outside of the gate for over an hour, and it can be really difficult to find parking at overlooks and trailheads when you enter the park.
If you’re trying to choose your wedding date and want to know when those peak fall leaves typically happen (and when there are those crazy crowds haha), you can check out Shenandoah’s fall color reports from previous years.
Winter - As a snow lover myself, I adore Shenandoah in the winter! The park is also very quiet, so you will often have the trails and overlooks to yourself. It’s colder and windier up there than at lower elevations, so dress accordingly. I highly recommend hand warmers this time of year! Skyline Drive will sometimes be closed during the winter when snow and ice make it unsafe to drive. You can call the park at 540-999-3500 (option 1) for the road’s current status before you go.
Day of the week - If you can make a weekday work for you, there will be fewer other visitors at the park which is always nice! This is especially helpful during the fall.
Time of day - Most photographers will agree that sunrise and sunset are the best times for photos. Gotta love that beautiful golden hour light! It also helps you avoid the harsh sunlight and dark shadows under your eyes during mid-day. And while waking up for sunrise is always tough 😂, another bonus to the great lighting is that you can avoid the crowds!
Try to plan your day to allow for some of your photos to take place around sunrise or sunset if possible. (And if not, that’s ok too. Us photographers are used to taking pictures in all kinds of lighting conditions.)
During October and November, any ceremonies taking place at an overlook on a Saturday or Sunday must be done before 10am due to the large volume of fall visitors at the park. (And this is actually a rule enforced by the park, not just me reiterating how busy it can get on fall weekends haha.)
Choosing a photographer
Picking the photographer for your wedding is a big decision! I actually have a whole bunch of tips in another blog post about how to choose your photographer. Of course you’ll want to dig through their website and social media to make sure you love their photos, but also make sure you love their vibe/personality! Your photographer is basically tagging along with you two as your third wheel all day 😂, so it should be someone you want to hang out with.
I typically tell couples not to worry about whether their wedding photographer has shot at their venue before - experienced photographers are great at thinking on their feet and adapting to new locations all the time. But when it comes to Shenandoah weddings specifically, I think it’s great to find a photographer that is familiar with the park. Someone who knows the best overlooks for great views, who has hiked the trails before and knows how long they take, and who has insight into which locations are crowded and which aren’t. When you’ve got the extra help of a photographer who is knowledgeable about Shenandoah, it takes some of the wedding day stress off of you!
Choosing an Officiant
You’ve got a few different options when it comes to choosing your officiant:
Hire a professional - Can’t go wrong with leaving it to a pro!
Have a friend or family member officiate - Virginia allows Virginia residents to get a one-time license to officiate a wedding (sorry non-Virginians, unfortunately our state does not recognize online ordination and does not allow non-Virginia residents to get the one-time approval.)
Get legally married another time - Get the official part out of the way ahead of time (or afterwards), and then you can then just exchange vows without an officiant, or can have a friend/family member officiate without worrying about the legalities. (There are also professional officiants who offer “license signing” services and you can hire them to come out on your wedding day just to sign the paperwork, then you can still have your friend/family member perform your ceremony.)
Photography Tips
In addition to photos of your ceremony, you’ll want to allow plenty of time for more portraits around the park! My biggest piece of advice - give yourself extra time for pictures and for travel. Whether it’s time driving between multiple overlooks, or time spent hiking different trails, assume things will take a little longer than you expect. Give yourself some buffer time so you aren’t racing the clock and risking losing daylight.
Plan your route ahead of time, but be flexible. You may arrive at a planned overlook and find that it’s under construction, is overcrowded with other park visitors, or someone is already there using it for an elopement or photos! Be ready to change locations on the fly.
Choose east-facing overlooks for sunrise and west-facing overlooks for sunset. You can use Shenandoah’s maps page or Google Maps to find out which overlooks face where!
Bring a bag or backpack that’s big enough to carry everything you need. It’s best to store keys/cell phones/etc in a bag so they aren’t in your pockets for photos.
Dress comfortably, especially your shoes. You’ll have more time for pictures if you’re able to move around easily. And also dress for the weather - you’ll look happier in your photos if you aren’t freezing or drenched in sweat 😂
Receptions
There are two options for reception halls in Shenandoah - at Big Meadows and Skyland. All bookings are done through Delaware North at goshenandoah.com.
Wedding receptions in Shenandoah National Park have a maximum capacity of 100 guests.
Skyland Conference Hall can accommodate 100 people.
The Massanutten Room at Big Meadows Lodge can accommodate up to 64 people.
Weddings with receptions are allowed a 5 hour reservation block to cover from the start of your ceremony to the end of the reception.
Indoor receptions must end by 9:30pm, but if you book at Skyland you can continue to use the outdoor firepit until 10:30pm.
All food and beverage is done in-house so you don’t have to worry about searching for a caterer. (You can use an outside cake vendor though.)
If you have more than 100 friends and family who you’d like to include in your big day, consider some of the other great venues in the Shenandoah Valley. Then you can still enjoy those gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountain views without leaving anyone out!
Make a rain plan
No one wants to think about rain or bad weather on their wedding day, but trust me, it’s better to have a plan and not need it than to be scrambling the morning of your wedding trying to figure out what to do!
If you’re having a larger wedding and have reserved Skyland or Big Meadows for your ceremony + reception you are all set - the reception halls can easily be converted into ceremony spaces to keep you and your guests dry.
For an elopement or small wedding with ceremony only, unfortunately there is no built-in, backup indoor space for you to use for your ceremony. So you have a few options:
Get married in the rain! If the rain isn’t too heavy and there’s no thunder or lightning, you can definitely pop open some umbrellas and still have your wedding outdoors. Just check that your photographer is ok with it, but most professionals have relatively water-resistant gear and can handle shooting in the rain. You may just want to consider an alternate location depending on what you had planned (if you were going to do a hike that might be a muddy mess in the rain, maybe you can use an overlook instead.)
Adjust the time. If the forecast is calling for rain only for part of the day, maybe you can shift your ceremony earlier or later to avoid it. You’ll want to discuss this with your photographer, officiant, and guests ahead of time to see if they have the flexibility to change times.
Change dates. I know this is a lot easier to do if you’re local to Virginia, and can be trickier if you’re traveling in from out of state and only staying a couple days! It’s also hard to do if you have guests planning a trip as well. And if you want to have your photographer or officiant hold a backup rain date for you ahead of time, there’s typically going to be an additional fee, especially if it’s a weekend date. (I personally treat short elopements similar to the way I book engagement sessions, where in the event of inclement weather I can reschedule to an open Monday - Thursday date without any fees! Weekends are a little harder for me to do that because I typically have other weddings booked.)
Have the ceremony at your cabin or Airbnb. Definitely something to keep in mind when booking your accommodations - think about how the space could work if you need it for your rain plan! There are lots of great Airbnbs in the area and cabins in the park with covered porches that can be a good way to still get you married outside in the mountains but can give you some rain cover.
Prepare to be flexible. Forecasts are not exact, and storms pop up quickly in the mountains so be ready to make last minute changes if needed to stay safe!
Travel Logistics
Shenandoah National Park is big - it covers 197,000 acres. All that space means the options for beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain wedding views are endless! Driving from one end to the other along Skyline Drive is 105 miles and it typically takes about 3 hours. When you’re estimating drive times remember to put in exact trailheads or overlook locations, and not just one of the entrances to the park.
There is a $30/car entrance fee to enter the park, and your pass is valid for 7 days. Other options include the $55 annual pass for Shenandoah, or the $80 annual pass for ALL national parks. You can purchase any of these passes at the gate or you can purchase them online beforehand.
Cell service is spotty in the park. Be sure that you, your guests, and your photographer are all aware of exactly where you will be meeting since you may not be able to call each other once you’re there (my service often disappears 20 minutes before I even enter the park). And I recommend downloading maps ahead of time so your GPS can still get you there if you lose service.
If you’re in the park and need cell service, try driving to the next overlook. It is hit or miss so sometimes driving a few minutes away can help!
Fill up on gas before you get into Shenandoah. There is only one gas station in the park at Big Meadows (mile 51), and it can be unreliable due to power outages. So definitely better to be on the safe side and start your day with a full tank!
Where to Stay
You’ve got several different options for lodging right in the park itself. You can stay in one of the lodge rooms at Big Meadows or Skyland, and there are individual cabins there as well as Lewis Mountain Cabins. All lodging reservations can be made at goshenandoah.com. Campgrounds are also available at Big Meadows, Matthews Arm, Lewis Mountain, and Loft Mountain and reservations can be made at Recreation.gov
Staying at a nearby Airbnb/VRBO is also a popular choice. I recommend finding one on the Shenandoah River to get some pretty waterfront views!
Bringing your dog along
I’m a wedding photographer, but my other specialty is dog photography, so of course I love it when couples bring their four-legged best friends along for their wedding day! Shenandoah is a very dog-friendly park, and there is plenty of pet-friendly lodging available.
Do your research ahead of time to make sure any of the trails you’ve selected allow dogs. Some of the more popular hikes in the park (like Old Rag and Dark Hollow Falls) do NOT allow dogs.
Dogs are allowed at all of the outdoor ceremony sites, but they are not allowed for indoor ceremonies or receptions.
Make sure your dog has the fitness level for any hike that you decide to do!
Bring a bowl and extra water to keep your dog hydrated.
Pack some favorite treats and/or squeaky toys so your photographer has some assistance in getting them to look at the camera!
You can find more info on Shenandoah’s pet information page.
What to Bring
Marriage license
Printed special use permit (if required)
Proper footwear
Flowers - must be handheld and be sure to leave no trace and pick up any petals or leaves that fall
Coat/layers - It’s colder and windier up there than you think!
Bag to carry all your things - Put your wallet/cell phones/keys in here so they aren’t on you during your ceremony or for pictures
Water
Snacks
Bug spray
Sunscreen
Small mirror - great for checking your hair/makeup after hiking
Headlamp/flashlight - if you’re planning to hike before sunrise or around sunset
For dogs - bowl, water, treats, squeaky toys
Follow the Rules
Stay on established trails.
Leave no trace - No throwing rice, petals, or other materials, and make sure to pack everything up with you when you leave.
No setups/decor unless approved with your special use permit.
Handheld bouquets and boutonnieres are allowed for all ceremonies. If you want any flowers or other plants for decor they can only be used for ceremonies at amphitheaters or the Big Meadows/Skyland ceremony sites. Always make sure to clean up all loose petals, leaves, etc so you don’t accidentally introduce non-native plants to the park.
Getting Married Somewhere Else Nearby
If having your wedding in the park itself doesn’t work for you, you can also consider getting married at a nearby Airbnb or other wedding venue! I've got a blog post all about my favorite venues in the Shenandoah Valley, and I've photographed lots of cute Airbnb weddings over the years. (If going the Airbnb route, just make sure to ask if weddings are allowed before booking! An elopement shouldn't be a problem, but most have rules regarding hosting events).
And you can still get wedding photos in Shenandoah National Park itself - just plan your wedding timeline with your photographer so you have time to drive there and get those shots! (I’ve also got another article with all my general wedding timeline planning tips.)
Hopefully that covered most of the information you’ll need for planning your wedding in Shenandoah National Park!
If you’d like to chat more about your wedding plans and photography, fill out the form below. I’d love to learn more about how I can help you celebrate the best day ever.
