Olympic National Park Wedding | Heather & Shaun

If you’re considering an Olympic National Park wedding (or macro-elopement, like Heather called it) then look no further for inspiration! Heather and Shaun are from Tennessee, so they and 30 of their closest friends and family, flew in a few days beforehand to explore one of the coolest national parks in the country. They had visited Lake Quinault in the past and new immediately that was where they wanted their home base and ceremony to be. When Heather asked if I was familiar with the area, I was giddy with excitement because of how much I love the place! We visited two other epic places during the course of their day, Merriman Falls and the iconic Tree of Life, making this micro-wedding one straight out of a magazine.

Lake Quinault Lodge: A Perfect Venue for an Olympic National Park Wedding

Lake Quinault Lodge gives the cozy, cabin, romantic vibes of your dreams! It’s a historic building so it’s important to know that wifi, cell service, and technology is super limited – but that’s what makes it special! The main lobby area is a space I could spend all day cozied up by the fire, or warming up after a hike in the rain. There’s also an in house restaurant available! They catered the dinner for this wedding with prime rib, chicken marsala, the yummiest potatoes, and a variety of veggies.

For Heather and Shaun’s Olympic National Park wedding, I knew I wanted to incorporate the lodge into their getting ready phots as much as possible. We took Shaun’s getting ready photos by the fireplace and the giant Christmas tree that was set up for the holidays! I played around with composition by shooting through the windows and playing around with the light. Heather was getting ready in the bridal suite which was such a cute space! She wanted a lot of candid, playful moments so that’s what I focused most on during this time.

Merriman Falls First Look

During one of our planning calls, Shaun had the idea of doing their first look at Merriman Falls which ended up being perfect! It’s less than a ten minute drive from the lodge and requires zero hiking. I’m not going to lie though, we woke up to almost 2 inches of rain overnight and I was concerned the waterfall would be flowing too hard or taking up any potential space for Heather and Shaun to stand. So as soon as it got light (not until 8 am!) I drove down to location scout. It’s right off the road with easy parking (might be different during peak summer months), and I saw that it would work great for what they were wanting for the first look part of their Olympic National Park wedding. I love location scouting the day prior or morning of elopements because my creative juices start flowing and I get so excited! After their first look, we spent about thirty minutes around the waterfall taking some couple’s portraits. Heather was not scared of the rain, or getting her dress dirty, which meant we got to play around and just celebrate their love and be creative.

Tree of Life Couples Portraits

We then headed to Kalaloch’s Tree of Life where there was no rain and actually sunshine! Heather really wanted to do their bridal party photos here so we met their bridesmaid’s and groomsmen here! We spent about 20 minutes doing those photos, then had about 20 minutes to play around on the beach. This location was extremely important to Heather and Shaun as it’s a place they visited and fell in love with and is super symbolic in their relationship. Because of the time of year, the sun was actually perfect at 2 PM and almost looked like golden hour! Funny story: I asked if they knew the “If you’re a bird” reference and Heather immediately was on board while Shaun was a little confused. He thought I was referencing Forrest Gump and not the Notebook! This location was the third we went to for Heather and Shaun’s epic Olympic National Park wedding.

Lake Quinault Ceremony & Sunset Photos

We then headed back to the lodge. To make their Olympic National Park wedding even more surreal, their ceremony was on the lakeshore with an insane arch set up by Rachel with Olympia Blooms. She made the arch by hand with twigs! Just wait for the reception photos and you see what she did indoors. The rain stopped for their ceremony and the sky glowed a special array of cotton candy colors which meant I had to steal them one last time for a few minutes of sunset photos on the lake! Heather and Shaun actually split their coverage so after this I had a three hour break before I headed back to the reception for their epic Olympic National Park wedding send off: paper boats.

Paper Boat Send Off

I love seeing how couples add their own personal touches to their weddings and elopement to make them uniquely them. I speak a lot on intention and intimacy, and this day heavily portrayed those themes. Everything was given so much detail and thought: from their ring box which was full of moss, twigs, rocks, and other items collected from the area surrounding the lodge, to the boutonnieres made of the same materials, the handmade place settings for each guest, and finally the hand made paper boats that had candles made from beeswax and acorn caps that Heather put together herself. Everything was biodegradable, so if they happened to float out into the lake they wouldn’t harm the environment – something extremely important! Have no fear, the boats didn’t want to travel far and all were collected at the end of the evening. Heather and Shaun cuddled up in the drizzle with their loved ones then wandered down the trail via lantern to their getaway car. The perfect end to an already perfect day.

Olympic National Park Wedding Vendors

This day could not have been possible without the few but mighty vendors Heather and Shaun used!

Their coordinator was top notch and someone I wish I could work with all the time: Lynley with Scarlet & Pine.

Venue: Lake Quinault Lodge

Catering: Lake Quinault Lodge // Roosevelt Room

Florals: Olympia Blooms

Dress: Annabella Muenster

Tux: Indochino

Want to plan your own Olympic National Park wedding?!

Let’s connect! I have ample experience in all areas of the park and would love to chat to to bring your Olympic National Park wedding dreams to life. You can also check out this post on How to Elope in Olympic National Park as well as this one on How to Elope in a National Park if you’re unsure of which one to choose from!