The Best Wedding Locations for Your Moab, Utah Adventure Wedding Day
Not everyone’s love story begins with Moab, but that should never stop you from starting your married life together there! These two selected Moab for its insanely pretty backdrops that provide the setting, the look, and the experience for their day. The couple also opted for not having to choose between either an adventurous experience or a traditional wedding day. See how they chose both by using some of the best wedding locations in Moab, Utah!
How a Couple Discovers the Best Wedding Locations
Sometimes, a couple is as adventurous as their wedding destination. That is Tracy and Carl. Travel and adventure were an integral part of their lives individually before their paths even crossed and it became crucial to their life together.
This bond was formed first when they were newly dating and traveled in a van together for almost a year during the pandemic. The couple practically lived outside in beautiful areas mostly in the southwest. That’s when Utah formed a special place in their hearts.
While the bride is originally from Colorado and the two of them moved there from Las Vegas–they were also regular Moab visitors. As the couple described, “We’ve been there many times just the two of us and also with friends. The Moab desert holds some very special memories so having our most special memory there seemed like a no-brainer.
After going on Moab desert adventures together for four years, they got engaged at a different location while on a tour of Guadeloupe. Adorning each reception table was a framed photo of these two from other similar adventures. Another similar adventure memory was brought in via a Burning Man art car that these two posed for some wedding portrait ideas.
Out of their travels, Moab was the wonderful backdrop that offered the best wedding locations for their day.
A Wedding Day That Starts With What Actually Matters
I love witnessing when the goals of a couple intersect for their wedding venue. Tracy and Carl shared that they were looking for “a laid back yet fancy vibe, where it felt very classy but also not pretentious. We also really wanted it to be super thoughtful, inclusive, and a great time not only for us but for all of our favorite people that come to celebrate with us!”
Their goal for the day was to be stress-free and have everything run smoothly. Following that was the guest experience. The couple expressed their priority of wanting “everyone to have fun and dance, making memories while having a blast and partying!”
The couple wanted every person in attendance to feel included and special while enjoying themselves during a fun party time. That also involved gifting everyone differently colored starry night sky reusable water bottles as the wedding favors.
Their big day got even bigger when they went for a day-before session at Dead Horse Point State Park. This allowed for an elopement feel without having to travel far! The park is conveniently located within a 20-minute drive to their Moab wedding venue: The Red Earth Venue.
A Wedding Day & Moab Elopement Split into Two Parts
The Wedding Day Part
Another desire these two shared was ensuring that the ceremony was meaningful–starting with utilizing The Remote Desert Site. This is an open-air outdoor space on the desert wedding venue’s property equipped with a wooden platform. Tracy and Carl’s dog, Chilly, also joined the festivities during the ceremony wearing a dog wedding suit. Chilly was super fun to work with!
The bride is a geologist (he is a software engineer) so rock and mineral themes had a lot to do with the venue selection. Tracy explained that her inspiration came from the venue’s “beautiful simplicity, location, and obviously the incredible views all around. We also loved having the ceremony a very short ways away from the reception, so people got a little mini desert jaunt in before the party!”
The day didn’t require much desert wedding decor since they wanted nature to speak for itself! The ceremony site was decorated with pampas beside each bench plus dried flowers covering a wooden a-frame wedding arch.
Drawing from the colors of the desert for inspiration, the bride describes how notes were taken from “all different desert elements: sand, sunset, cliffs and rocks formations, and flowers and plants. We were able to incorporate those into almost everything from table decor and dinnerware to bridesmaids dresses.”
The couple described their day best as keeping it “as DIY and homemade as possible with lots of personalized touches, while still making it the most special day of our lives.”
The Moab Adventure Part
For the couples adventure, they selected Dead Horse Point from my top list of recommendations for the best wedding locations in Moab. They wanted photos focusing on the vast Utah landscape photography mainly using a wide-angle lens. Close ups were not as important to them and that was a fun challenge!
We just had fun with it as the couple noted: “We love huge epic sweeping views! I don’t know any better place we could have chosen. You almost can’t possibly take an ugly picture there. All the layers to the landscape make it incredible and hard to look away.”
Tracy and Carl noted that they will never forget how much fun they had and how special the entire day made them feel. They wanted to remember walking down the aisle, their vows and committing to being together forever. All of that combined with feeling the support of all their closest loved ones in attendance.
It came together beautifully, and I love their final comment on the day: “we would do it a million times again–same place same time. Can we do it again!?”
Count this Moab elopement photographer in!
Wedding Vendors
Wedding Venue | The Red Earth Venue
Portraits | Dead Horse Point State Park
Photographer | Matt Davidson Photography
Planner | Hannah, Red Earth Events
Bar | Moab Bar Trailers
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