Banff and Canmore Elopement Guide

I use Canmore and Banff together as a single elopement planning unit. Canmore base, Banff for the permit locations. The practical reason is that Banff park commercial photography permits require advance planning and the town of Banff itself is significantly more expensive for accommodation than Canmore. Staying in Canmore and driving into the park for permitted sessions gives the full range of both environments without the logistical cost of basing entirely inside the park.

Why Canmore as Base

Canmore has grown significantly in the last decade and has good accommodation options at prices well below what the Banff townsite charges. More importantly for elopement photography, Canmore is outside the park and the excellent locations on the Three Sisters, in the Bow Valley Wildland Park, at Spray Lakes, and on the Ha Ling trail all require no permit. I have done full Canmore elopement sessions that never entered the park and produced work as strong as anything from the Banff permit locations. The park locations add the iconic turquoise lake images, which are worth the permit for couples who specifically want them.

Inside Banff: What Justifies the Permit

Three locations inside Banff justify the commercial permit effort for almost every couple: Lake Louise in the early morning before the access system opens to general traffic, Moraine Lake in the pre-dawn coordination window with Parks Canada, and the Bow Lake north shore on the Icefields Parkway. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake deliver the turquoise-water-and-mountain-wall combination that is the defining Rockies image. Bow Lake delivers the same thing with significantly less logistical complexity. I recommend Bow Lake to couples who are doing the Rockies trip primarily for the photography, because the result is comparable to Lake Louise without the crowd management.