When picking a beach to elope on in the Olympic Peninsula, Ruby Beach is an OBVIOUS choice. Its literally like you’re walking into a freaking postcard with its endless sandy beaches and its majestic sea stacks. You walk along a short path, lined with moss-covered trees to reach the beach and then you have miles of coastline to explore! Also its dog friendly which immediately makes it a WIN in my book!

Sam and Kori chose to elope here at Ruby beach. Though they are generally found in the mountains every weekend, hiking and climbing and exploring, they wanted an elopement location with easy access for their doggo Bear. They got ready in a cabin in the Kalaloch Lodge and got to gaze out on the stormy sea as they got dressed. In all honesty, I only got Kori’s dress to hang for 0.3 seconds before the wind flung it onto the ground but thank the lord for fast shutters!

When staying around Ruby Beach for your elopememt, you have a few options!

Kalaloch Lodge

First of all you can stay in the Kalaloch Lodge like Kori and Sam! Kalaloch Lodg is the only coastal lodging available in Olympic National Park so if you don’t want to camp, this is the place for you! They have tons of cabins and suites available on the property for you! And some are dog friendly!

Airbnbs

Next you could totally find a few cute airbnbs in the area! Here are a few of my favorites!

Cute Lodge in the Woods

Convenient House near Ruby

Cutesy Cabin in Forest

Cute Beach-front House

Camping!

Or you could totally choose to camp! This is such a fun option and there is SO much camping available on the Olympic Peninsula! There’s 175 campsites available at the Kalaloch campground alone and there are many nearby campsites as well! There are even 10 group sites available at Kalaloch so if you want a small. group of people to camp with you! Book far in advance if you want a summer or weekend date though as campsites get swooped up quickly!

The First Look

For the first look we headed to another iconic section of the Olympic Peninsula Coastline: The Tree of Life. This tree is basically stuck doing the splits over a river for all of eternity, but its cool to look at! The sand has eroded around the poor tree’s roots over the years and I don’t understand how he is still living, but he is tenacious and continues to shock me year after year.

The Ceremony

After the first look we headed down to Ruby Beach and began our hike to find the perfect seactack to do their ceremony at. Not only for cover from the wind, but also the sound of the raging sea as the wind was BLUSTERING and they wanted to at least be able to hear each other’s vows!

Even though it was a blustery day, Ruby beach was probabl;y the best place in the state that we could have done Kori and Sam’s elopement at! Up in the mountains just a few miles away it was snowing, the Hoh Rainforest was (predictably) pouring rain, and pretty much everywhere else in Washington was either snowing or raining. Ruby beach tends to stay pretty mild, even in the winter so its a great elopement location for the whole year!

You will actually find more sun on the Washington coast than anywhere else in the state so I always recommend this location for couples that are hoping for milder weather during the colder months!

You can always call the weather hotline for the Olympic national park to determine what the exact weather is before your trip!

After their ceremony, Kori and Sam shared a private first dance. Not sure what to pack to make your Ruby Beach elopement the most enjoyable?

Here’s a basic list that I always tell people!

• A small speaker for your first dance
• Snacks! Maybe a fun picnic!
• Champagne or your drink of choice. Cheers!
• LAYERS LAYERS LAYERS. Put insulated leggings under your dress, bring a sweater, a coat, gloves, hat, hand warmers and hot drinks to keep you warm!
• Towels for if its warm enough to wade in the water
• Extra socks and shoes because yours will always get damp out here!
• Your National Park pass obviously

Okay! You are READY to plan your dream Ruby Beach elopement! First step? Hit me up! I’m gonna give you all the deets and help you with EVERYTHING! Let’s make your elopement dreams come true y’all!

Check out another great elopement on Ruby Beach!