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An Adventure Elopement in Acadia

Do you want to plan the best Acadia Elopement? Let us tell you a little bit about M&B’s Acadia Elopement this past Memorial Day Weekend! Come with us and we’ll tell you all about how we crafted their day, what their timeline looked like, the can’t miss spots we HAD to include in their itinerary for amazing portraits, their lovely officiant, the flowers and more!

Having captured multiple elopements in Acadia and being really familiar with the park (we’re New England Wedding and Elopement photographers, afterall), we always do a happy dance when we hear from couples who want to elope there. It was no different with M&B.

First of all, Acadia is perfect to make a weekend out of it. Plan a long weekend or whole week around your elopement and plan to stay in Bar Harbor at one of the lovely Inns out there. Take a whole day to explore the restaurants, the boutiques, eat amazing lobster and have some ice cream afterwards. We promise you’ll love it so much that you’ll be coming back year after year.

M&B decided to stay at the Harborside Hotel where we met for their getting ready photos. 

Tip: If you’re not having guests join you and it’s just the two of you, opt to get ready together.

Then we drove to the park where we began our exploring! Here’s what our timeline looked like:

4:00 PM:  Mariana and Will arrive at the Harborside Hotel for getting ready photos and fun detail photos (think rings, vow books, jewelry, shoes, flowers). And speaking of flowers, M’s bouquet and B’s boutonniere were both from Queen Anne’s Flower Shop. It’s become ours and our couples’ favorite spot for flowers. M opted to have hair and makeup done at Echo Salon. They’re amazing and she looked absolutely stunning!

After getting ready photos we departed to Acadia (allow 30 minutes to drive to Acadia, find parking and hit our first portrait location). 

Tip: Purchase your park ticket online and well in advance. It’s one ticket per car and it’s good for use all week, which means you can come to the park everyday while you’re in Bar Harbor.

Pre-ceremony portraits at Monument Cove, which is accessible via Ocean Path and it offers breathtaking views of the coast of Maine. With Otter Cliff in the backdrop, this is a stunning location to explore. 

After pre-ceremony portraits, we headed to Little Hunters Beach for the ceremony. There we met with their officiant, Corinne Carey from CC Ceremonies.

Little Hunters Beach is easily accessible through a nice stairway (that also makes for a fun portrait spot) and it’s usually pretty empty during this time of day. This beach is totally hidden from the road and it’s become one of our favorite off the beaten path spots at the park. 

After the ceremony we headed to our final spot. Sunset was creeping in upon us and we wanted to explore and take portraits at Jordan Pond. This is another very accessible spot with no hiking required. Within a couple of minutes from the parking lot you’re right in front of the beautiful Bubbles and their reflection on the pond. It’s truly the most beautiful body of water in the park! 

The views were breathtaking and this was an amazing way to end our exploring!

Tip: Come to the park a day or two before your elopement so you can explore some of the spots we plan to hit during the real thing! While you can hit some amazing Acadia views with little to no hiking, there are some amazing, moderate hikes like Bubble Rock Trail that we may want to explore together. Being a bit familiar with the location is a great way to have an amazing experience.

We were so excited to be back in Acadia this Memorial Day weekend to capture M&B’s elopement. Congrats, you two. We were so honored to have been there and been your witnesses (literally)!