The best places to get married on the Oregon Coast from a local: Ecola State Park, Hug Point, Cape Kiwanda, Samuel H. Boardman, and more.
The Oregon Coast is 363 miles of public land. When you’re looking at a location for your elopement or wedding in most parks, you’re looking at a much smaller area. All this land makes the Oregon Coast the perfect place for your wedding or elopement. There’s a little bit of everything whether you want epic cliffs, sandy beaches, big hikes, or easy walks. All this mileage also means more space to get away from crowds and less strict permit rules for weddings.
Pro tip: keep an open mind when looking for your location. There’s a lot of really beautiful spots but some of them can be very busy, only accessible at certain tides, or even unsafe. You can’t tell all this by one photo, potentially with a bunch of people photoshopped out. If you found the spot on Pinterest, so did many other people. I recommend hiring someone with experience where you’re getting married and leaning into their expertise before finalizing a location.
As an Oregon Coast local with over 75 elopements photographed on the Oregon Coast, these are the places I’d recommend checking out!
Cannon Beach, OR
Cannon Beach is arguably the most iconic place on the Oregon Coast. There’s several nearby beaches in addition to the main Haystack Rock beach Cannon Beach is known for.
Pros of this popular spot: lots of cute vacation rentals, plenty of vendors to pick from for your elopement or wedding, easy access to all the iconic Oregon Coast tourist things
Cons: very, very busy. Because it’s iconic, this is where you’re most likely to experience crowds. Cannon Beach experiences crowds even during the off season. That being said, going at sunrise, during the off season, and on weekdays can help significantly with crowds if this is your absolute dream spot for your day.
Admittedly, when couples come to me wanting Cannon Beach and the iconic Haystack Rock, I recommend looking elsewhere. There’s a lot of gorgeous places on the coast with far less issues with crowds. If the main Cannon Beach is the place you want above all others, I’d recommend using it for portraits only. For a ceremony or private vows or any other experience based activity, the crowding could mess with your experience. If it’s just portraits, you’re more flexible to work around crowds and aren’t worrying about a sentimental moment being disrupted.
Ecola State Park
Ecola State Park is gem of a park located just north of the town of Cannon Beach. It contains several forest hikes, a gorgeous overlook, and multiple beaches. It’s also home to Indian Beach where they filmed “La Push” in the Twilight movie.
While this park isn’t as busy as the Haystack Rock, it does receive some traffic from Cannon Beach. It’s not uncommon for the Indian Beach parking lot to close because it’s full. For this park, it’s best to visit on weekdays, early in the morning or before sunset, or in the off season.
Hug Point
If you want a waterfall onto the beach, Hug Point, just south of Cannon Beach, is the place to go. For its full glory, visit during spring or early summer (winter is great too but that’s because it’s pouring rain). The waterfall runs very low in late summer and early fall before the rain starts again.
The waterfall is only accessible at certain mid to low tides so make sure to check tide charts.
This place is also a top spot for visitors so you’ll want visit during down times. This beach is also huge so it’s not as difficult to get away from crowds. The waterfall will have the highest concentration of people. It’s difficult to get photos with the falls without someone else in the back and you’ll want to make sure your photographer is able to edit people out of the background.
Oswald West State Park
You’ll find Oswald West between Cannon Beach and Manzanita. This park has some of the best challenging hikes in the area. If you’re eloping and looking for an adventure, this is a great park for you.
It also has more low key locations with short hikes. A short walk through an old growth forest brings you to Short Sand Beach. This sheltered beach is popular with surfers. It also means less wind and more mellow waves for your beach portraits. While this beach is accessible at all tides, it becomes much smaller during high tides. It’s a lot easier to avoid crowds and other visitors on this beach during lower tides.
Oceanside, OR
This small town is tucked away from the main Highway 101 (just west of Tillamook and the iconic Tillamook Cheese Factory) but is packed with amazing beaches and views. This is my current home base and an amazing stretch of coast. You’ll find lots of beaches, some cliff views, iconic coastal forest, and even the smallest lighthouse in Oregon (Cape Meares Lighthouse). This town has a hillside full of cute vacation rentals and restaurants overlooking Oceanside Beach.
This spot experiences far less traffic than Cannon Beach. Oceanside Beach is the most likely to have crowds and limited parking. Beyond that, you’ll find plenty of space to get away from crowds and parking.
Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area
A fascinating geological history gives Cape Kiwanda a unique look that you won’t find elsewhere on the Oregon Coast. There’s a haystack rock in the ocean off the main beach in Pacific City. This rock has been protecting the Cape Kiwanda dune and sandstone rock for countless years. Elsewhere on the coast, its historic sand dunes and sandstone have been eroded away by the ocean. This one rock in the water has preserved all the sandstone and sand dunes you see. You still need to be extra careful exploring Cape Kiwanda though. It’s constantly eroding and has even seen a few sinkholes in recent years. Make sure to follow signs and keep behind fences for your safety.
The main views are Pacific City Beach and Cape Kiwanda at the northernmost point of the beach. Many folks climb the dune for a bird’s eye view of the sandstone rocks (it’s a gnarly climb). Once on top of the dune, there’s lots of places to (safely) explore including panoramic views of nearby coastline.
This spot is popular for visitors but has a large parking lot that generally has space. It’s busy enough that it’s worth practicing some crowd avoidance techniques: visit in the early morning or near sunset, in the off season, and/or on weekdays.
Check out this blog for a micro wedding featuring Cape Kiwanda.
Pelican Brewing – Cannon Beach, Pacific City, Lincoln City
A brewery? Really? I know, a bit off topic on this list. Pelican Brewing is a local chain that happens to have event spaces at each of their locations (minus Tillamook but it has a large outdoor seating area if you want to visit with a small group informally). Many locations have ocean views so it’s great for just the two of you visiting on your elopement day as well. In my opinion, the Pacific City location has the best views and right off the main beach for a perfect mid elopement day meal with a view.
This is a great option if you’re bringing guests for your wedding, micro wedding, or elopement. The Oregon Coast can bring rain or wind which can be uncomfortable for guests while it may not be a big deal for you two. They have designated spaces for ceremonies and/or receptions to give your guests some indoor comfort at various points of the day. The best part: they have locations up and down the Northern Oregon Coast so you can be flexible based on what locations you fall in love with for photos and adventuring.
Check out this micro wedding featuring the venue space at the Pacific City Pelican Brewing.
Bandon, OR
This is a lesser known Oregon Coast town found on the more isolated Southern Oregon Coast. While I love the Southern Oregon Coast, this is the last truly touristy town on the Oregon Coast. From there, you’ll find a lot of towns that feel more small town than classic Oregon Coast. While touristy is often used as a negative, I personally believe it’s part of our draw to the coast. You’ll find fewer high quality and unique restaurants, less gift shops for souvenirs, and usually no cute downtown area along the beach once you go south of here.
Bandon Beach is the main attraction. This giant beach has gorgeous rocks, caves for exploring at low tide, and lots of tide pool critters (learn more about tide pooling on the Oregon Coast in my tide pooling guide). This beach is best at lower tides where you can explore more beach and get much closer to the unique rock formations.
You’ll find more forests, lighthouses, and parks nearby to Bandon Beach. This area is packed with hidden gems. If you want something besides outdoors and adventure, a visit to Face Rock Creamery is a must. It’s like a small version of the Tillamook Creamery up north and far less busy. Coastal Mist is a must visit for fabulous desserts (and a spot I recommend for my eloping couples to pick up their elopement day dessert).
Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor – Brookings
I’m a little biased on this one since I used to live in Brookings…but I’d say this is the most rugged part of the Oregon Coast. If you want the biggest, most gnarly rocks, this is your place. This isn’t without its challenges though. This stretch of coast is very isolated and 3 hours from the nearest airport. The rugged coastline makes this area very tide sensitive. Many popular beach locations disappear under high tide so someone with experience in the area is especially important.
The isolation of Brookings is its greatest strength and weakness. This area is largely less busy than most places on the coast (especially if you wander to nearby Gold Beach and Port Orford). It’s simply difficult to get to between flying into a very small airport to needing to drive 3 hours on a windy road through the forest. This challenge means less crowds but a tricky travel journey if you’re bringing guests along for your day. It also means less vendor options found locally and a higher chance of paying travel fees for out of area vendors to work your wedding or elopement. Thankfully, I’ve found some great folks in the area over the years. Just know there will be less options.
An added bonus: Samuel H. Boardman is just a 30 minute drive to the Jedediah Smith Redwoods in Redwood National Park. This means you can have both crashing waves on the rocky coast and towering redwood trees in one day.
Check out this blog for an elopement featuring Samuel H. Boardman and Redwood National Park.
Before you get attached to any location based on photos only, remind yourself that your experience is more important than having that exact backdrop in your photos. Each of these locations have pros and cons regardless of how beautiful they are. Some won’t fit well for guests, some won’t fit well for your preferences, some won’t allow you to hire the vendors to execute your vision for the day, some won’t offer the privacy you want, and so on.
If you’re eloping or having a micro wedding with less than 20 guests, your best bet is starting out by hiring a local photographer. In this industry, many photographers offer far more than photography. You’ll receive help on building the timeline for the day, picking locations, finding the right vendors, and avoiding issues like crowds, limited parking, permits, etc.
Hi, I’m Miki and I’m an elopement and micro wedding photographer specializing in the Oregon Coast! This sort of thing is something I help my clients with all the time. If you’re dreaming of an Oregon Coast elopement, I’m your gal. Learn more about my services here or contact me here!
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