This is part one of a short 3 part series to help you get a good feel for what your wedding day schedule will involve.

1st issue that you will face: Getting into Yosemite National Park

No matter what time of year your wedding is, traveling to Yosemite is always an adventure.  It also takes more time than you think it will.

Example: This year for one of our Yosemite weddings we sat in traffic at the south gate entrance for an hour.   Once through the gate we still had another hour to travel to get to Yosemite Valley.  For those of you not familiar with Yosemite, the Valley is where Yosemite Falls, Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite Lodge and other beautiful spots are located.  Of course there was a ton of traffic so it took us another 1.5 hours to get there. Luckily we are used to how crazy it is to travel in the mountains.

If you or your guests are traveling on the day of the wedding, please allow yourselves at least 2 to 3 hours extra traveling time. Weather, fires, and accidents are just some of the things that make it difficult to get into the park.  It is $20 for a 7 day pass and $40.00 for a year pass.

There is a small chance you may arrive early when you allow more time for travel, but hey it’s Yosemite, enjoy the Splendor!

Photography by Patrick Pike