Eloping in Arkansas

Elopement Packages You'll Love in Hot Springs and Eureka Springs!

Where are some of the hottest places in Arkansas to Elope? Think springs, as in Eureka Springs, located in the Ozark Mountains, and Hot Springs, located in the Ouachita Mountains. In fact, Eureka Springs, Arkansas is known as the Wedding Capitol of the South.

Elopement Packages in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs, Arkansas has been attracting visitors to its natural hot springs for centuries, with its Bathhouse Row and Hot Springs National Park. The park is the oldest of the parks in the National Park System, created to protect the 47 naturally flowing thermal springs on Hot Springs Mountain. But, the water's not the only reason to visit. The area around Hot Springs is also where you'll find Garvan Woodland Gardens, a world-class botanical garden on Lake Hamilton. Lake Hamilton, by the way, is also a great venue for a wedding! A few standout elopement packages in the Hot springs area include:

Belle of Hot Springs Riverboat
(501) 525-4438
Website: www.belleriverboat.com

The Belle of Hot Springs Riverboat is a 250-passenger riverboat, which tours Lake Hamilton, giving you fabulous vies of million-dollar mansions, natural islands, and the Ouachita Mountains. Unlike many boating companies which provide more formal on-board weddings, the Belle of Hot Springs Riverboat will host your elopement with "The Bride and Groom" package, which includes:

• Use of their decorated arch
• Captain’s ceremony fee
• Dinner dance cruise for two
• Small wedding cake

This package is priced very reasonably at under $300. If you want to invite up to 8 guests, you can purchase their "Cherished Love" for just a couple hundred more.  

The Gables Inn Bed & Breakfast
318 Quapaw Avenue
Hot Springs, Arkansas
800-625-7576
Website: www.gablesn.com

The Gables Inn Bed and Breakfast is a restored 1905 Victorian home, within easy walking distance to downtown Hot springs. It's filled with antiques, stained glass, and two rooms featuring a heart-shaped, whirlpool tub for two. The B&B has an Officiant/Minister (Christian) on staff and offers weddings 7 days a week, including holidays. For those wanting a cheap elopement package, you will find it here; several inexpensive packages in fact.

Each elopement package provides a site on their property for your ceremony, including:

• parlor
• staircase
• foyer
• garden gazebo

Elopement package prices begin at an unbelievably low price of $55 for a 15-minute wedding with the officiant for bride and groom only. They have numerous other elopement packages with different add-ons, such as cake and photos, in addition to a very reasonably-priced elopement and honeymoon package which includes the wedding and two-night's honeymoon stay starting at just $683 (July, 2009 prices).

Hilltop Manor Bed & Breakfast
2009 Park Avenue
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Phone: 501-625-7829
Website: hilltopmanorhotsprings.com

If you want to get married in a venue with a unique roster of former guests, then Hilltop Manor is your place, as both Jessie James and Al Capone have stayed here! Hilltop Manor is located along scenic 7 byway, just 2.5 miles from Bathhouse Row, and 3 miles from Magic Springs/Crystal Falls. With magnolia trees and a waterfall just outside the front porch, you're sure to find the right spot to say "I do."

Their lowest-priced elopement package is the "Just Between the Two of Us" package starting at $500. It is intended for the bride and groom only and includes:

• 1 (or 2, depending on price) nights in your favorite suite, with fireplace and private Jacuzzi tub
• Ceremony and reception lasting 30 minutes
• $50 gift certificate for your wedding dinner

Sites on the property you may wish for your ceremony include:

• Historic dining room
• Waterfall
• Among the trees bordering the National Park Forest

Eureka Springs Elopement Packages

As stated earlier, Eureka Springs is often referred to as the Wedding Capitol of the South. But, it's also known as "Little Switzerland," home to mineral baths, rivers to paddle, and caves, such as Cosmic Caverns, which boasts two bottomless cave lakes. Standout elopement packages in Eureka Springs and surrounding area include:

Hidden Springs Bed & Breakfast and Cottages
23 Hillside
Eureka Springs, AR
479-253-8688; toll-free reservations 800-433-6735
Website: www.hiddenspringsbb.com

Located within walking distance of downtown Eureka Springs, Hidden Springs is an early 1900s Victorian with a wrap-around deck where you can sit and gaze upon the beauty of the Ozarks (when, of course, you're not gazing at each other!)

Hidden Springs offers an elopement package which includes a ceremony in either the rock garden with waterfall, or a Victorian candlelight ceremony in their parlor, as well as a 2-night stay and celebration dinner for 2 at one of Eureka Springs' fine restaurants.

Dinner Bell Ranch and Resort
Rockhouse Road
4462 CR 302
Eureka Springs, AR
479-253-2900 or 1-800-684-3324
Website: www.eureka-net.com/dinnerbell/wedding.html

Want the two of you to ride a horse to your wedding ceremony? An inexpensive elopement package for 2 from Dinner Bell Ranch and Resort offers couples a chance to ride a horse from their ranch to a quaint country wedding chapel or to scenic Deer Ridge, where you can exchange vows in the romantic Ozark Mountains.

Located only minutes from downtown Eureka Springs, the Dinner Bell Ranch and Resort is also the perfect place for your honeymoon, with each one of the 4 cabins boasting a Jacuzzi for two. The "Frontier Gal" package is just $125 and includes the mounts for bride and groom, as well as the minister's fee. For just $50 more you can add cake, champagne for two and a hand-carved wedding candle.

Cliff Cottage
800-799-7409
Website: www.cliffcottage.com

Named one of the top six "Most Romantic Inns of the South" by Romantic Destinations Magazine, Cliff Cottage was built in the 1880s, and strives to provide those "extras" that makes a stay there very memorable:

• Carriage Rides around the Historic Loop
• Canoe trips down the White River
• Guided fishing excursions on Beaver Lake
• Horseback Excursions
• Discounted Golf Outings at Kings River Golf Course

They also offer an elopement package which includes:

• Use of their facilities
• Minister
• Photographer who shoots 24 photos throughout the ceremony
• Bride's bouquet and matching boutonniere
• Champagne for the couple to toast
• Miniature wedding cake

Cliff Cottage is conveniently located 17 steps away from the Court House. You will need a marriage license, remember? That, by the way, is just $58. (As of July, 2009)