Glacier Bay National Park

Permit Information

NPS Special Use Permit required for weddings. $50 non refundable application fee. Contact Glacier Bay commercial services at 907 697 2567 to request the application. Park is accessible only by boat or small plane from Gustavus, so add lead time for logistics.

Seasonal Planning

May: lodge opens mid month, park boat tours begin, whales arriving, snow still on the peaks, fewest crowds. June: humpbacks active, calving at peak, 19 plus hours of daylight, wildflowers along the Bartlett Cove trails. July: warmest and busiest month, most reliable weather window. August: whale watching still strong, bear activity along beaches, crowds thinning. September: fog increases, fewer boats, dramatic light; lodge closes late September. October through April: park largely inaccessible for ceremonies; services are closed.

Photography Notes

Southeast Alaska runs overcast more than 200 days a year, and that works for you. Flat light pulls the blue out of ice, eliminates harsh shadows on the water, and makes skin tones easy. On clear mornings the Fairweather peaks across the bay catch direct light while the water is still calm. In June the sun doesn't set until 10:30pm, so golden hour stretches for nearly two hours of low angle light. On the water by charter boat, a 70 200 minimum compresses glaciers against the sky and fills the frame with calving ice. At Bartlett Cove, a 24 70 handles beach and forest ceremonies. Pack lens cloths and a weather sealed body.

Planning Your Day at Glacier Bay National Park

One-Spot Day

Glacier Bay is a one spot day park by design. Getting anywhere means a boat or a plane, so the question is not which two sites you can pair, it is which one site is worth your travel day. Bartlett Cove for an accessible lodge based ceremony, Gustavus Meadow for the open field look outside the park boundary, or a chartered run up the bay to Reid or one of the upper bay glaciers. You pick one landscape and the whole day orbits around it.

Ceremony + Portraits Split

Splits here mean a ceremony at one location and portraits at a second location inside the same trip. Bartlett Cove pairs naturally with the Tlingit Trail forest or the south beach without anyone moving a vehicle. A morning ceremony at Bartlett Cove and an afternoon park boat tour for portraits up the bay can work if you book ahead, though the boat runs 7 to 9 hours and limits your daylight window. Combining a Gustavus Meadow ceremony with anything glacier facing would require a second day.

A Note on Light

Southeast Alaska is overcast more than 200 days a year, and that works for ice. Flat light pulls the blue out of glacier faces, eliminates harsh shadows on the water, and keeps skin tones easy. In June the sun does not set until 10:30pm, so golden hour stretches nearly two hours of low angle light for evening ceremonies. On the rare clear morning, the Fairweather peaks across the bay catch direct light while the water is still calm, and that hour is the shot of the trip.

Ceremony Spots at Glacier Bay National Park

• Bartlett Cove — Accessible rainforest meets ocean ceremony at the park's only developed area with glacier views across the bay
• Gustavus Meadow — Wildflower meadow ceremony with mountain and glacier backdrop in a quiet Alaska coastal town
• Reid Glacier Inlet — Remote tidewater glacier ceremony accessible by charter boat with icebergs, seals, and mountain goats