Planning an Acadia National Park Wedding | Acadia Adventure Weddings
Hi! You’re here because you’re looking to plan your Acadia National Park wedding. Whether you’re holding a large event somewhere on the island and then thinking about heading into the park for part of your wedding portraits or you’re planning a smaller Acadia adventure wedding - We are here to help!
Having spent the last 16 years as Maine residents we’ve spent a lot of time in Acadia and Bar Harbor for weddings, engagement sessions, and family portraits and have gotten to know the ins and outs of the park. Even as things have changed over the years.
This fall especially has been a challenge with planning Acadia adventure weddings as the National Park Service is testing out a new reservation system. This new system requires you have a pass for the park, whether it’s a day pass or a season pass, but then also make reservations at some of the parks more popular spots. Those spots also happen to be the spots everyone wants their photographs taken in!
Planning an Acadia National Park Wedding
1) Pick your date. That’s a given right? But easier said than done. Acadia and towns like Bar Harbor are very busy during the summer months and since it’s on an island, the weather can be a bit more touchy than other places. This past spring we had fog almost every day the entire end of June. Fog can be romantic and sweet - but not so fun when you’re expecting grand scenes along Maine’s famous coastline. We find the best months for weddings in Acadia and Bar Harbor are July and August with the least amount of rain. Of course the fall is amazing as well! You can’t beat the leaf peeping during late September, early October.
2) Get your permit. If you’re planning either your full wedding inside the park or just coming into the park for your portraits you’ll need to check with the National Park Service to see what you’ll need to get for paperwork. If it’s just the two of you, you won’t need a permit for portraits or your ceremony. But if you’re bringing your full wedding party and you’re over 10 people, you will need a permit. Permits are required for weddings and ceremonies in the park, with the exception of simple ceremonies of up to 10 people that meet certain restrictions. You can view the full NPS guide for weddings inside the park here: Acadia National Park Wedding Info
3) Get your park pass & site reservations. You’ll need a park pass to enter the park and, Oct. 1-18, 2020, the NPS is debuting a new reservation system for some of the more popular spots in the park. A lot of us are secretly, or not so secretly, hoping that it won’t work out - but this new spot reservation may be the new reality going forward in the park. Places like Cadillac Mountain and then the entire stretch of the Park Loop Road from Sand Beach all the way to Gorham Mountain Trailhead parking is now reservation only. You can view the full reservation info here: Acadia National Park Reservations. This means planning the exact time (there’s a 30 minute window) you’ll arrive and making advanced reservations for every car in your party. What does that mean for us? A little bit more advanced planning! But helping our couples figure out how to get everything in the park they want in, is what we do!
4) Buffer time into your day - or days if you have flexibility. If you’re planning a wedding in Bar Harbor but want to sneak into the park, the best way to get everything in that you want on your wedding day is to plan a 1st look with park portraits before your ceremony. Depending on where you’d like to go within the park and how many spots you want to visit, we can help you plan out a timeline, make reservations in the park if needed, and get you back with time to freshen up before your ceremony. Another option for amazing images inside the park is to bring us on for a 2nd day where we dedicate the session to going around the park and capturing all your portraits and fun without any of the wedding day stress.
If you’re planning a small Acadia Adventure Wedding buffering a few days, like we do with any of our Adventure Weddings, is key. That way we get the pick of the best weather!
Brittany and Dean are creative Bar Harbor and Acadia Wedding Photographers who loving having fun with our couples. We work together and separately to capture every emotion and angle on your wedding day. Two Adventurous Souls storytelling style will capture your Tented Maine Wedding in candid and naturally posed images. Whether you're looking for Acadia Adventure Wedding Photographers, Bar Harbor Wedding Photographers, Costa Rica Wedding or anywhere in New England we will be there for you! For more info please contact us about your wedding photography! Maine Wedding Photographers
