Everglades National Park

Permit Information

NPS Special Use Permit required. $100 non refundable application fee plus cost recovery charges for employee overtime and monitoring. Allow at least 15 business days for processing. Avoid summer (hurricane season, extreme heat, mosquitoes). Contact ever_sup_office@nps.gov or 305 242 7042.

Planning Your Day at Everglades National Park

One-Spot Day

Everglades has 3 practical ceremony zones along a single 38 mile road: Anhinga Trail at Royal Palm (4 miles in, boardwalk over sawgrass with alligators feet away), Nine Mile Pond (27 miles in, quiet sawgrass prairie with canoe launch), and Flamingo at the end of the road (38 miles in, Florida Bay waterfront at the southernmost point of mainland Florida). One spot day works easily because the single road connects all three: pick one ceremony site, drive to the next for portraits, have dinner at Flamingo Lodge. Plan 2 hours of driving between Royal Palm and Flamingo. Dry season only (November through April); summer is hurricane season, 95°F with 90% humidity, and biting insect hell. Everglades City in the northwest corner is a separate park entrance with its own boat tours but is not connected by road to the main sites.

Ceremony + Portraits Split

All ceremony sites take an NPS Special Use Permit, $100 non refundable application fee plus cost recovery for employee overtime and monitoring. Allow at least 15 business days for processing. Contact ever_sup_office@nps.gov or 305 242 7042. Park wide cap of 25. Practical caps: Anhinga Trail 15 (boardwalk space limits group size), Nine Mile Pond 12 (grassy shore is small), Flamingo 20 (waterfront has more room). No amplified sound, no decorations tied to vegetation, no food near wildlife. Wildlife is incredibly close (alligators bask beside boardwalks); brief every guest on staying at least 15 feet from any gator. Hurricane season closures can happen in late summer but the park is in dry season when you should be booking anyway.

A Note on Light

Everglades is a morning park because wildlife activity peaks at first light and mid afternoon thunderstorms develop quickly in the tropical climate. Plan ceremony for first light through 9am to catch anhingas drying wings in the sun, herons feeding, and alligators basking on the boardwalks. The sawgrass prairie glows golden in low angle light; late afternoon light also works but storms are a real risk November through March (less so December February). Sunset at Flamingo over Florida Bay is a destination ceremony window on clear evenings. Winter (December through February) brings the driest, clearest weather and the lowest humidity. Dry season dropping water levels concentrate wildlife at Anhinga Trail between December and April, making it the peak wildlife photography window. Avoid midday in summer entirely; thunderstorms, heat index over 110°F, and biting insects make it unshootable.

Ceremony Spots at Everglades National Park

• Anhinga Trail — Boardwalk ceremony over sawgrass marsh with alligators, herons, and anhingas just feet away
• Nine Mile Pond — Quiet waterside ceremony on the edge of a sawgrass prairie with expansive sky views
• Flamingo — Ceremony at the southernmost point of mainland Florida overlooking Florida Bay and mangrove coastline