Green wedding locations: National Parks

Here is a link to the original post about GREEN WEDDING LOCATIONS, including a discussion of whether to use parks and wildlife areas.

The big national parks now charge a fee for weddings, and for wedding photography. There is no national list of which parks charge. You have to check with the individual parks, and see what their fee rate is and their regulations, but in general the fees are modest, and the regulations seem reasonable, mostly about $50.

[NOTE: Make sure you're on the real park website, which should be a nps.gov address. Some commercial websites copy the NPS sites, which is how I came upon "Honeymoon Cabins in the Park", and found these little mountain abodes in the Great Smokies: "Love Shack", "Me Tarzan You Jane" they also offered "Burnin'Love", featuring a fireman theme and a red and black outdoor jacuzzi... what's not to like? (grin) ]

Here are some of the parks which offer/charge wedding permits:

Acadia
Brice Canyon
Carlsbad Caverns(not over 20 people)
Channel Islands(too delicate?)
Delaware Water Gap(may book historic chapels)
Devil's Tower(Close Encounters!)
Grand Teton (may book chapels)
Great Falls (Potomac)
Great Sand Dunes
Hawaii Volcanos (unbelievable!)
Mount Rainier
Natural Bridges
Great Smoky Mountains
Pictured Rocks
Yellowstone
Yosemite

Some National Historic Sites also allow weddings - from Harpers Ferry, to Hyde Park, to Carl Sandburg's home. These permits are more expensive, but still much lower than commercial sites. They usually only include access to the garden or outdoor sites, but the fees are in the $300 range, which is less than the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

Canadian Provincial Parks:
British Columbia: "You do not require a Park Use Permit to hold a wedding ceremony within a provincial park HOWEVER you do need permission from our Regional Office. Please contact our Victoria office at 1-866-433-7272 ext. 3 so that we can direct you to the appropriate Regional Office for the specific park you are interested in"

Park locations in Ontario Ontario parks need to be contacted individually. Some have event spaces or lodges for rental use, some will let you use the park space.
Also consider private gardens and conservatories, like the Arboretum at the University Of Guelph.

Toronto: The Parks Department will issue the COUPLE (not the minister) a permit for a ceremony OR photography. Usually about $90 per hour for ceremony, $45 for photography. My favourite place? Edwards Gardens Greenhouse.