Eureka Springs is the most popular location for weddings in Arkansas, and when you stop to look at all Eureka Springs has to offer the couple planning an Eureka Springs wedding it leaves little doubt why getting married in Eureka Springs is such a popular choice for so many couples.
One of the most memorable locations for Eureka Springs Weddings is Thorncrown Chapel. This magnificent structure contains 425 windows and over 6,000 square feet of glass giving the feel of an outdoor wedding, indoors.
Blue Spring Heritage Center is another unique location for Eureka Springs weddings. Able to accommodate up to 500 guests in the natural beauty of the Ozark outdoors, Blue Spring Heritage Center can also furnish flowers for your wedding arrangements from their abundant gardens.
Eureka Springs is home to many great hotels that not only offer comfortable lodging but serve as wonderful settings for getting married in Eureka Springs as well as providing banquet and catering services.
Planning a wedding? Check out Inn of the Ozarks for complete wedding receptions and wedding services. From cake table to elegant plate dinners, we are your perfect location.
The attention to detail, professionalism of their staff, the service and support, along with the cleanliness and comfort of their facilities makes the Eureka Inn and the Holiday Inn Express both excellent choices for hosting your special day.
The historic grandeur of the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa and the 1905 Basin Park Hotel offer a variety of settings for Eureka Springs weddings. The Basin Park Hotel can put your ceremony downtown, in the heart of Eureka Springs or the Crescent Hotel can provide the view overlooking the Ozark hills as backdrop to a memorable garden wedding.
No matter the size of your wedding ceremony, small and private for just the two of you or a large celebration of your love including all your friends and family, indoors, outdoors, uptown, downtown, surrounded by historic architecture or surrounded by the splendor of nature, Eureka Springs, Arkansas is the perfect setting for the perfect wedding.
For an outdoor wedding, it was a typical scene: the groom appeared slightly nervous, the bride glowed, and everyone avoided getting too close to the bridesmaid, who looked like she might bite-literally. Then again, perhaps not so typical. The bridesmaid was actually Loretta, a 500-lb. white tiger, and the wedding was taking place at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, close enough to the big cat's habitat for Loretta to show up in the wedding pictures.
While 80 percent of weddings still take place nationally in a church or synagogue, the number of unique and offbeat weddings is quickly rising, and attractions in Eureka Springs, one of the top vacation and wedding destinations in the mid-South, see more than their fair share of nontraditional weddings.
"We get lots of calls about weddings," said Phyllis Jackson, wedding and event coordinator for Turpentine Creek. "People like having their ceremony out here because it's something different, and also because they're fans of the big cats."
While getting a lion or tiger to be your ring bearer is out of the question for safety reasons, couples still like to exchange their vows on the plateau overlooking the valley, or near one of the big cats' enclosures.
"Loretta and Vada, the Indian black leopard, are the most popular," added Jackson.
For couples who love natural beauty and history, Blue Spring Heritage Center is quickly becoming a hotspot for weddings of all sizes, mainly due to 33 acres of lush native gardens, and Blue Spring, a cold-water spring that pumps 38 million gallons a day from deep within the earth. Just standing by the spring, it's easy to see why Native Americans considered this a sacred site, and even warring tribes would lay down arms while camping by the spring. Pre-historic artifacts have been found at the bluff shelter near the spring, and Native American writing can still be seen on the bluff's rocky surface. The site was also a brief rest stop for the Cherokee people during their forced relocation in 1839 to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears, adding a bittersweet note to the holy healing past of Blue Spring.
The area's mystical and spiritual history inspires couples, according to Johnice Cross, heritage director for the Blue Spring Heritage Center.
"Some weddings will honor a couple's Native American heritage, with tribe elders performing the ceremony," she said. "Others have been truly unique, an expression not only of love but of the bride and groom's personalities and beliefs."
One such wedding held by Blue Spring recently was an homage to a Japanese tea ceremony, presided over by local nondenominational minister Barbara Harmony.
"They prepared the tea and drank it together, pledging their love to each other and also their dedication to making the world a better place in healing and service," said Harmony. "It was a very touching, spiritual ceremony, and they made it completely their own."
Other wedding parties substitute handfuls of trout food for rice, tossing it past the happy couple to the waiting fish in the lagoon, said Cross. Dozens of well-fed trout swim lazily past the gazebo, and they won't see a hungry day for quite some time, since the number of weddings at Blue Spring continues to rise.
"We had 40 weddings last year, and we've already had 26 this year, so 2006 will definitely be up," she said. "The average wedding for us is around 60 people, and we've noticed that they're spending more on the details."
In addition to the natural beauty and serenity of Blue Spring, there's one more perk that brides really enjoy: they can have their bouquet picked fresh from the massive garden, giving them more than just memories to take home.
The appeal of Eureka Springs continues to grow as a wedding destination; each year, more than 4,000 wedding licenses are issued from the local courthouse. Overall, Arkansas can expect a 2 percent rise in weddings this year, while both Oklahoma and Missouri face decreases in the business of matrimony. And while June is thought of as the biggest month for weddings, the numbers tell a different tale regionally. In Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, July is in first place, followed by August, September, and then June, according to data from Shane McMurray and theweddingreport.com <http://theweddingreport.com>.
Some Eureka Springs attractions, like the Great Passion Play, have long been popular sites for unique weddings.
"People love to be married at the foot of the Christ of the Ozarks statue, and they love the outdoor setting because you can see out over the valley," said Kay Peterson, wedding coordinator for the Great Passion Play.
The Christ of the Ozarks statue, a seven-story fixture overlooking Eureka Springs for 40 years, often represents something special to the bride and groom, added Peterson.
"It's a place that has been set apart unto the Lord, a special place to begin their marriage," she said.
Couples can also be married in the Church in the Grove, an historic country chapel moved to the grounds twenty years ago and refurbished with stained glass windows. More than 100 years old, the chapel has a quaint, small-town feel to it that appeals to many people and brings back memories of a simpler time, said Peterson.
The inspirational power of the Great Passion Play often reverberates through visitors' lives, and many young people who attended the Play during a summer youth trip or with their families will come back again and again through the years, often culminating in a wedding at their favorite attraction.
"Even after they're married, people come back year after year and look us up," said Peterson. "They share their lives with us, and tell us how thankful they are. We had one couple that got married here and has been back many times, each time renewing their vows."
Only basic ceremonies are held at the Great Passion Play: a wedding package will offer a nondenominational minister, flowers, music and the site rental, although Peterson often arranges larger packages with tickets to the Play itself. There is a buffet restaurant on the grounds, but she recommends to couples looking for a rehearsal dinner or reception to contact one of the nearby hotels or restaurants, such as the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks, the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa, or the Bavarian Inn Lodge and Restaurant.
"We want people to have a nice celebration, and there's already so much activity here on the grounds, so I encourage them to visit some of Eureka Springs' wonderful businesses," she said. "Our area is such a lovely place to start your new life together."
Year after year, thousands of couples agree: the memories of an unusual wedding, held in an unusually beautiful destination like Eureka Springs, stay strong for a lifetime.
Other locations popular with wedding receptions are the Best Western Eureka Inn and the 1905 Basin Park Hotel, and even entertainment options like Pine Mountain Jamboree and the Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down will provide venues for large gatherings as well. Sites for more traditional ceremonies include Thorncrown Chapel and the newly reopened 1901 Gavioli Chapel on the historic loop. Lodging options also include Holiday Inn Express and the 1886 Crescent Hotel.
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