The Best Elopement Locations in B.C.

Best B.C. Elopement Locations

These are some of our favourite and in our personal opinions, the best elopement locations that are outdoors in the Vancouver, B.C. (British Columbia) area that you don’t need to book a venue for. Have your ceremony and portraits at one of the best elopement locations all within driving distance from Vancouver. Low key, intimate, and embrace that beautiful British Columbia beauty! In no particular order, we welcome you to take a look through our recommendations of these elopement locations. 

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QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE BEST ELOPEMENT LOCATIONS IN B.C. WITHIN DRIVING DISTANCE FROM VANCOUVER

1. Pitt Lake, Pitt Meadows, B.C.

2. Tofino, B.C

3. Golden Ears Provincial Park, Maple Ridge, B.C.

4. Galiano Island, B.C.

5. Pacific Spirit Park, Vancouver, B.C.

6. Mountain Top Helicopter Elopement

7. Mud Bay Park, Surrey, B.C.

8. Cultus Lake, Fraser Valley, B.C.

9. Okanagan – Kelowna

10. Redwood Park, Surrey, B.C.

1. Pitt Lake, Pitt Meadows, B.C.

Pros: Pitt Lake in Pitt Meadows, B.C. is an absolutely gorgeous location to host your elopement ceremony. Pitt Lake has such great backdrop of our gorgeous mountains, tons of greenery, the water, and it’s basically only a 20-30 minute drive away from Lougheed Hwy.

Cons: Pitt Lake can be pretty busy with dog walkers, causal walkers, and other photographers. Pitt Lake can be exceptionally busy on weekends, especially on a nice day. The pathways are mostly grass, and in the colder/wet months can be super muddy.

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2. Tofino, B.C.

Pros: Tofino B.C., is hands down one of our most favourite and in our humble opinion one of the BEST locations to get married and elope within all of B.C.! Tofino really has it all when it comes to an outdoor no venue needed elopement location within driving distance from Vancouver. From Tofino’s massive stretches of sandy beaches (that make for the perfect running along the sand barefoot post ceremony celebrations), to deep and lush old growth forests, to hiking up to some amazing viewpoints of the ocean, to a little wedding morning surfing session. Tofino also gets incredibly sunsets, which for us wedding photographers, is like liquid gold for shooting wedding photos.

Cons: It’s a bit of journey to get to Tofino from Vancouver, including a 1.5ish hour ferry ride, and a solid 3 hour drive to finally settle into Tofino. However don’t let the road trip detour you, just pop on an auidobook or a true crime podcast and settle in for a beautiful and scenic drive out to Tofino B.C. The last time we visited Tofino to shoot a wedding, along the road to Tofino there was some major roadwork and construction happening, which meant the ONLY road in and out of Tofino was closed for the good part of the day during the week. Make sure you check out https://tourismtofino.com/ for the most up to date information about the roads and potential road closures.

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3. Golden Ears Provincial Park, Maple Ridge, B.C.

Pros: Golden Ears Provincial Park is MASSIVE, we’re talking one of our BIGGEST parks in our entire province. There’s such a beautiful array of places you can have your elopement here, from the deep green forest, to lake side, surround yourselves by gorgeous fern trails, or go barefoot into one of the many beaches available. There are a ton of picnic benches and tables, which make for a very sweet lowkey BBQ style elopement reception.

Cons: Golden Ears Park, especially Alouette Lake, Gold Creek, and North Beach are super popular and busy during the summer months. Last summer visitors were required to obtain a day pass to access the park, and would often sell out. Cell phone reception is also extremely spotty, and we often never have it until we are closer to The Black Sheep pub. You should also be very mindful of when the park gates are open and close. In the summer, there are a lot of geese that like to chase you and eat your food. You have been warned.

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4. Galiano Island, gulf islands, B.C.

Pros: Galiano Island makes for an amazing destination elopement and/or wedding location given it’s short ferry ride distance from Vancouver (we’re talking under an hour from Tsawwassen ferry terminal), and instantly puts you onto island time the moment you step off the ferry. This cozy little island is particularly special to us as Kelsey actually grew up visiting Galiano Island every summer, and now her parents live over on the island. Galiano Island is truly a little slice of paradise, and as far as elopement locations go, the options of west coast beauty here are endless. From sandy beaches, rocky beaches, white shell beaches (all of the beaches), to beautiful and deep forests, hikes with the most amazing views of the fellow surrounding islands, Galiano really has it all in one little island.

Cons: Ferries arriving to and leaving Galiano are limited, most often there are only two boats a day (a morning boat and an evening boat), so it’s best to plan accordingly, make reservations, and plan to arrive a few days prior to your elopement just incase anything goes wrong with transportation over to the island (bad weather, ferry operation failure etc.). You’ll want to bring your own car or means of transportation, as there isn’t any real public transportation to get to all the amazing locations you’ll want to check out for your elopement location (with the exception of the hummingbird bus, which runs during the warmer summer season, with pick up/drop off from the local pub to the marina).

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5. Pacific Spirit Park, Vancouver, B.C.

Pros: This particular elopement ceremony location at Pacific Spirit Park in Vancouver (just down the road from UBC) is just a short 10 minute walk into the forest, which makes for an excellent elopement location if you’re having any guests that are a little less mobile or any little kiddo humans attend the ceremony. There are so many trails and beautiful portrait, and potential elopement ceremony locations within this massive 750+ hectares of forest, which really give off some beautiful B.C. vibes! The shade from the big trees here is welcome during those hot summer days.

Cons: Pacific Spirit Park is a massive forest, so make sure you go location scouting either with your partner, wedding planner, and/or wedding photographers + videographers, so that you have a clear idea of WHERE exactly you’d like to have your wedding ceremony. Give detailed instructions for anyone attending as there aren’t street signs or anything like that in the forest (obviously). Ensure you check with the city to see if a permit is needed to host your wedding ceremony her

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6. Mountain Top Ceremony

Pros: There are a few different helicopter companies that provide elopement packages and will bring you to some of the most breath taking mountain tops and locations you’ll ever see (and all happen to be in our ‘backyard’. Some of these helicopter companies are:

• Sky Helicopters in Pitt Meadows https://www.skyhelicopters.ca/

• Valley Helicopters in Hope https://valleyhelicopters.ca/

It’s a super surreal experience not only being in the helicopter but the breathtaking views once you arrive at your elopement mountain top location.

Cons: Time is limited once you arrive at the mountain top. If weather is poor (which let’s be real, they call it Raincouver for a reason), the helicopter will be cancelled and need to be rescheduled for an alternative day when weather looks better. Total weight limit is limited on the helicopter, so this option is great for an extremely intimate ceremony.

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7. Mud Bay Park, Surrey, B.C.

Pros: Mud Bay Park in Surrey is seriously one of our top hidden gem elopement locations. It’s quiet, right on the beach, and is such a great spot to say private vows. This location gets great golden hour and blue hour, and would be amazing for vows around this time (think, sunset ceremony vows at the beach, maybe followed by a dip in the ocean, sign us up).

Cons: This spot is a little harder to find then say, Blackie Spit, which is also in Surrey, and parking is limited. Mud Bay Park also has gates that will close and keep you locked in the park if you stay beyond their operating hours, so it’s good to triple check their operating hours before planning an elopement here. Here’s more information about Mud Bay Park.

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8. Cultus Lake Provincial Park

Pros: Cultus Lake has it all, docks, forest, beaches, mountains, it is absolutely GEORGOUS here, and a great place to host your elopement day ceremony and laid back reception. There are many areas you can have your ceremony, but our favourite is on the dock, lake side, for a super intimate, B.C. elopement. There is plenty of parking, and the lake is super easy to get to from the parking lot, which is awesome if you are in a big wedding dress, or have older guests attending. There’s lots of shaded picnic benches and tables which make for a beautiful little reception and lowkey wedding lunch or dinner

Cons: It’s a bit of a drive depending on where you or guests are coming from. In the warm summer months there’s often people splashing about in the water, so plan your ceremony earlier in the day (ideally, sunrise) to beat the crowds. It can also get pretty toasty in the warm afternoon heat, so plan to have something to cool down guests and yourselves (maybe a cooler full of delicious cold beverages).

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9. The Okanagan – Kelowna, Pentiction, Osoyoos

Pros: Okay, this one is a little more wide stretched then the rest of the list in terms of a specific location within the Okanagan, but the whole area and each city offers so much in terms of some of the most jaw dropping best B.C. elopement locations! The Okanagan is an amazing elopement option in the summer time for it’s fresh and plentiful harvests of fruit, so if frolicking in an apple orchard or snuggling in a wine vineyard is your kinda thing, you gotta head here. There are lakes all over (which is great because it gets toasty here in the summer months), and would be the perfect way to finish off your elopement day or the morning after as your first swim as married humans.

Cons: It’s a bit of a drive to get to these locations (such as Kelowna, Pentiction or Osoyoos just to name a few of our favourite wedding/elopement locations in the Okanagan). The drive typically takes just over 4 hours to get from for example, Vancouver to Kelowna, so bring some snacks, water, and fill up that gas tank before hitting the Coquihalla, and buckle in with some true crime podcasts for a scenic drive.

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10. Redwoods Park, Surrey B.C.

Pros: Redwoods Park in south Surrey, has such a beautiful variety of tree covered pathways, a big open field, long picnic tables and benches, and has a good mix of manicured grounds along with more rugged grounds, making it an excellent outdoor location for an elopement, especially for day time ceremonies.

Cons: There isn’t a ton of parking here, and it’s easy to get lost on the trails in the forest. Luckily this isn’t a huge park, so you’ll find your way out/around eventually, but if you are planning on having a forest elopement ceremony (like Lindsay and Kyle shown in the photos below), have a designated person waiting at the parking lot to escort guests to the correct ceremony location.

Here’s all the juicy details of what working with The MacLeans for your elopement would look like:

Kels & Morg shooting your elopement
An online gallery with your high resolution photos ready within 3 months after your elopement day
Full personal printing rights
Double date over beers or coffee meeting to discuss your location and timeline
and a pair of humans who will do everything in their power to ensure your elope day is your BEST DAY EVER!

Email us at hello@themacleans.ca for a customized package that is perfectly tailored to tell your elopement story