Canyon Overlook Zion National Park Wedding Photos- Ultimate Guide From Local Photographer

Why Canyon Overlook?

Canyon Overlook is one of the most popular views in Zion, and for good reason! For a 1 mile round trip hike, the views are stunning and the perfect backdrop for your wedding photos. I’ve lived in Zion my whole life and spent years hiking this area and photographing weddings and elopements in the park. Almost all of my couples want to end the day with sunset pictures at this location. This guide will go over everything you need to know about this spot and tips on taking your photos here!

As your Zion National Park Wedding Photographer, I’m on your team at day one. Through support, timelines, creativity with posing, and capturing all the grand and intimate details of your day I’ll help you plan the most unforgettable wedding day that feels like you, and document your adventure in a way that feels like art.

Although you are more than welcome to take wedding photos here, you are not allowed to have your ceremony here. Zion National Park has 6 designated ceremony sites where you are allowed to have your ceremony inside the park. Each location has a different set of number of guests allowed. To read more about ceremony sites in there park you can read my Zion National Park Elopement Guide.

Location & Costs

It is free to take your photos at canyon overlook but of course you must pay the entrance fee or use your National Park card to get inside the park. If you are having a ceremony in the park and plan on taking wedding photos here later, you will most likely be applying for a permit that is around $100.

Canyon Overlook is location on the east side of the park, you will not be taking the shuttle to this location. Click here for an exact pin of the trailhead. Parking is extremely difficult here. The trailhead is right after the tunnel entrance has is on a narrow road that does not have any spots to pull over, turn around, or wait for parking to become available. There are 3 very small parking lots along the side of the road and parking is usually completely full. You should add plenty of time to find parking and plan on it looping around a couple times to get parking.

Directions & Hiking Details

Canyon Overlook is always extremely busy. Plan on hiking with a lot of other people and working around people at the overlook. It is very common for people to set up their cameras to capture sunset photos in the exact spot you are wanting to take photos in. Be respectful of others trying to take photos here and ask to use a spot for a few photos, people are usually workable! You will probably run into other wedding couples there so your photographers will have to work around each other.

The hike is 0.5 one way and is considered fairly easy. However, hiking in your wedding attire can make it trickier. It will take about 20 minutes to get to the overlook. In my opinion this hike is easy but for people who are afraid of heights might have some trouble as there are many spots where we are close to the edge.

Due to the popularity of this area, I would plan plenty of time to park, hike, and take your time taking photos in multiple areas around the overlook!

Pro Tips

-During the winter months, the sun is on the south side of the sky, meaning that by 3pm or so the sun will dip behind the mountains on the side. If you are trying to get sunset pictures here during the cold months, the sun will be gone by 3pm.

-The sun sets here earlier than what the sunset time is scheduled for. The sun dips behind the mountains about 40 minutes earlier. Plan on an earlier start time to get golden hour photos before it dips.

-Stay for blue hour! Once the sun goes down a lot of people leave. Have your photographer bring flash and take some photos after the sun has gone down.

-Stay out for star photos! You can hike back to the parking lot after sunset but then head over to another area of the park to take some epic astrophotography photos. You can read more about how to do that in Zion in my Astrophotography Blog here.

-Bring hiking shoes and then change into the shoes you want later. This hike is still a hike so you will want some good grippy shoes. I also suggest that brides don’t wear heels at the overlook. The rocks are very unstable and walking around in heels at this area can get a little stressful. I suggest going barefoot or wearing flats. Your photographer will probably have you do some poses that needs you to be able to move a bit and heels will limit that

-Bring plenty of water and snacks- be prepared! You will probably get a bit sweaty so bring a brush, some makeup, deodorant, whatever you might want to freshen up for photos

-You don’t have to hike in your dress! Most of my brides end up hiking in their dress because it’s a fairly short hike. But I totally understand if you don’t want to. I bring a changing tent for all my brides who want to change once we get up there.

-Sunrise is always less busy! Sunrise is a great option because as the sun rises, the canyon lights up and the colors are WAY more vibrant than they are at sunset. At Sunset, the colors tend to get washed out but sunrise makes the canyon extremely pink. There is always less people there too so it would be more quite and intimate.

Sun Rays & Lighting *Important*

In my opinion, lighting is everything when it comes to canyon overlook. The time of year and the sun plays a massive role on how the canyon looks and how it affects skin tones and overall coloring. The canyon can get very blue when the sun isn’t shining and the canyon changes colors with the weather. If you are wanting those strong sun rays where the whole canyon is lit up you can only get that from April-August. Otherwise the sun is positioned differently in the sky and won’t provide the same light. Canyon overlook can be tricky to photograph so just keep in mind that the weather that day will play a huge role in how the photos turn out.

Alternative Photo Locations

Looking for possible other photo locations or ones to add to your list? You’ve come to the right place! I’ve spent years exploring the east side of Zion and finding hidden gems that are COMPLETELY empty. If you are looking for a more intimate and quite experience, you may want to consider some of these other locations. Couples who book with me get access to my secret location guide to places that are not used by a lot of other photographers! To book this type of experience you can contact me here.