Ecola State Park Elopements | Oregon Coast

Everything you need to know about Ecola State Park Elopements

  1. Ecola State Park is an amazing venue for your intimate wedding or elopement. An all day pass is $5(or you can buy a year State Parks pass).
  2. You have the option of both fern filled forest or rugged coastline full of large rocks and driftwood which makes and epic background.
  3. It’s generally not very busy even in peak season. But the parking lot can fill on popular days so plan accordingly.
  4. It’s 10 minutes from downtown Cannon Beach which makes it a favorite for my elopement couples .
  5. You can have a fire on the beach which makes for a perfect ending to your elopement!

Sunny Ecola State Park Elopement

Ryan is in the coast guard so having an elopement on the coast near where he’s stationed was important to him. Once I mentioned Indian Beach as a location they were stoked(as was I). The family dropped them off at a forest location I had picked ahead of time to do a first look and portraits in the ferns before heading down to the beach for the actual ceremony. Since the forest location is on the way this works out really good as a first look location.

The ceremony itself was down at the end of the beach in my favorite area there that’s a bunch of rocks and sea stacks that look absolutely epic at sunset. The ceremony itself was very quick but worked in tying an actual knot as well as some other celtic traditions that the officiant(and friend) worked in. As soon as the ceremony was over we did family photos and then they started a fire to hang around while Ryan, Kayla and I did portraits for the next hour or so on the beach catching all the best like.

My favorite part of the night though was when Ryan subbed out a champagne spray for pumpkin beer because that’s all they had. Needless to say from the photos it did not go as planned but I’m so glad it worked out the way it did. Ryan and namely Kayla took it like a champ and were an absolute joy to work with.

Check out this other beautiful Ecola State Park Elopement if you’d like to see more

Ecola State Park Oregon Coast Sunset Elopement

Olive and Will planned to fly to China after this session to get married with her family. They wanted to do an elopement session at Indian Beach inside Ecola State Park to have the photos to take to China with them. I was more than happy to oblige. They read vows to each other while their dog looked on under one of the most beautiful sunsets I’d seen that year. It was really special and I was so happy to be able to document it for her family.

Sunsets and Seabreeze

For couples wanting to do a smaller wedding or more intimate, I always recommend eloping. Oregon is so beautiful with so many options(coast, mountains, waterfalls, desert). You really have everything here that you could want as a beautiful backdrop. The coast is still my favorite because no matter what the weather or time of year it’s always beautiful. We lucked out with some amazing sunlight for their elopement shoot. I could have shot those portraits for hours in that light.

If you’re wanting to elope or thinking about it, let’s talk. I love planning these shoots with my couples. They’re a lot less stress than a normal wedding day and you have a ton of flexibility on locations and style. I’d love to be a part of your elopement as I was with Olive and Will’s.

Cannon Beach + Ecola State Park Elopement

This Cannon Beach Oregon Elopement was a gem. I love the simplicity of these weddings. I tried to embrace the bright and airy vibes the weather was giving us and roll with the highlights and sun.

These two drove up from California in their Tesla to spend the weekend enjoying Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park with their sweet puppy they adopted from Taiwan. We met in Ecola State Park at one of my favorite little spots that’s the epitome of Fern Gully(throwback movie reference). They let me decide the ceremony location and I couldn’t resist not using all these ferns and the lush greenery that is so common here in the Northwest. We met and a dirt road and parked the cars near the ceremony site. It’s a super short walk to this beautiful location. Their friends from Seattle drove down to officiate and witness the wedding and met us in the parking area. I must add I absolutely love when people include their dog in the wedding day. Basically just the perfect set up for a small wedding.

Ocean Waves and Doggy Kisses

After the short and laughter filled ceremony we drove down to Indian beach for some champagne popping and to document some more good times at one of my favorite beaches(Point Break fanboy). We let the dog run off some energy from being in the backseat of the car most of the day leading up do the ceremony. After the super casual portrait session at Indian Beach the whole crew drove down to Cannon Beach which is less than 10 minutes away to finish off the session with some late afternoon portraits in front of the iconic Haystack Rock. Haystack as I’m sure most of you know is one of the most iconic places in all of the Northwest. They conveniently book a cute little hotel right at the beach by Haystack Rock so it was a nice easy walk back to the hotel for dinner after we finished up our session. I had a blast with these two and absolutely loved the laid back approach they took to the wedding day. These elopements are always such a joy to shoot.

If you’re wanting to elope or have an engagement on the coast please get in touch. I know all of the great spots and I’m happy to share the beauty of Oregon with you.