Welcome
Camp Pathfinder has played host to a number of terrific wedding weekends, offering a stunning Algonquin north woods setting, comfortable accommodation, outdoor and indoor ceremony settings, superb dining, and signature activities for you and your guests.
Located on Source Lake in the heart of Algonquin Park, this historic Canadian wilderness camp is the perfect location for your rustic wedding. The Pathfinder guide staff and chefs are here to make it comfortable, fun, delicious and memorable.
Pink sunsets, canoe paddles along the shore, canvas platform tents and wood cabins for lodging - come celebrate with us. We are here to help you host an event that exceeds expectations.
Ceremony Options
One Day
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We offer the option to have your cocktail hour, ceremony and dinner at Camp Pathfinder, while lodging and other meals are elsewhere. We partner with Arowhon Pines, an elegant resort located minutes away on Little Joe Lake. A number of other lodging options are close by for you and your guests. Shuttles are provided to Camp for the ceremony and festivities before heading back to lodgings for the night.
Two Days, One Night
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Guests arrive on the Island between 10 am and 1 pm for a served brunch or luncheon. Move into your cabins and tents, then enjoy a few hours of relaxing downtime, paddling and swimming before ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and reception. Enjoy your dancing late into the night with food and celebration. The following morning, linger over a classic woods camp breakfast and enjoy more of the camp's activities before heading home.
Three Days, Two Nights
The best option if you're planning the perfect rustic destination wedding. Guests arrive at the island between 10 am and 1 pm for brunch or luncheon, move into their tents and cabin lodges, and spend the day with friends and family in true camp style. You can work with us to plan fun activities for your guests to enjoy on this happy arrival day. The sky's the limit.
Wedding day finds guests enjoying plenty of time to revel in camp all morning and early afternoon, before attending a picture-perfect ceremony, followed by a served cocktail reception, elegant four-course dinner and lively reception. Guests and wedding party stay over a second night in their tent or lodge, and enjoy the dancing, partying and late-night food into the wee hours. The following morning, linger over a classic woods camp breakfast and enjoy more of the camp's activities before heading home.
Accommodations
Venue & Setting​
Lovingly maintained in rustic simplicity since 1914, Pathfinder Island's 17-acres shelter us in a beautiful arrangement of traditional ranger cabins and canvas wall tents beneath mature pines and hardwoods. Source Lake waters surround us. A forest canopy grows overhead, and pine needled paths lie underfoot.
Pathfinder is a five-hour drive door to dock from Buffalo, three and one-half hours from metro Toronto or Ottawa, and two hours from Peterborough, ON. The camp accommodates up to 180 guests in rustic comfort, with special wedding weekend access to power and hot water so you can have everyone looking their best for your big moment.
Pathfinder's historic Algonquin site includes a beautiful pine dining hall (1932) with resident head chef, pastry chef, and complete food service; a picturesque swim waterfront with 10- and 20-foot dive towers, the centre for swims, soap baths and hang-outs; a treasured wood-canvas canoe fleet is the pride of our Camp, along with voyageur canoes, kayaks, sail craft and SUPs; the a massive timber Rec Lodge (1946) is for late night parties; while two large fire pit clearings are for nightly bonfires (1910s). We operate an excellent low/high ropes-challenge course, rock wall and zip-line. There are plentiful sunrises, sunsets, and blankets of evening stars unique to this light pollution-free woodland place of peace and escape.
Dining
Our wonderfully rustic island home includes a beautiful pine dining hall (1932) with resident head chef, pastry chef, and complete food service. The dining hall seats up to 190 people at family-style tables. Head Chef Gonzalo Pantoja and his cooks serve a homemade menu, including baking and pastries, prepared fresh daily on the island. Pathfinder accommodates all dietary preferences and needs.
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This working camp dining lodge is completely transformed during a wedding. Pine, spruce and cedar bows intertwine with dazzling string light to decorate the wooden beams above. White table linen frames fine china and silver dinnerware cover the tables alongside eclectic stemware, candles and natural bouquet center-pieces. Our camp guide staff and chefs are flawless teammates, serving beautiful meals to your wedding guests. Cocktails and passed hors d'oeuvres are served after the ceremony in a forest grove overlooking Source Lake.
Ceremony​
Marriage ceremonies take place along the northwestern shoreline of the Island, where you find our Chapel. The Jean Norton Memorial Chapel is a tranquil and beautifully secluded island destination, a short walk or boat shuttle away from all the action in central camp. Two sections of hand-built wooden seating sit amongst the swaying trees., facing the sun-lit shoreline waters and main Chapel podium. Typically, the Wedding Party, Groom, and lastly Bride, are paddled to Chapel, where they will enter the ceremony in front of their guests. When the vows are sealed with a kiss, the newlyweds paddle away together. A beautiful and unique way to celebrate.
Reception DANCE​
Wedding reception dances take place at the Pathfinder Recreation Lodge. Rec Lodge is a 1940s pine landmark, with restored truss beams, mullion windows, Algonquin maple flooring, and modern lighting/sound. Two scenic paths, one along the eastern shore of Island and one cascading down from the center of camp through cedars and pines above, lead you and your guests to the lodge. Dessert and treat buffets, party decorations and lighting, a convenient shoreline boat dock -- this is the perfect spot for dancing, cocktailing, and celebrating this exciting night. The building can be tailored to use or hide its technology resources.
'SLEEPAGE'
Pathfinder accommodates up to 180 guests in cabins and platformed canvas tent lodges. Electricity is available to serve any needs to help you and your guests look their best. All tents and lodges are furnished with beds, mattresses, shelving and hangers for suits and dresses. Tents and Lodges are located along the shorelines, a minute's walk from dining hall, washrooms, and waterfront docks.
Facilities
Here at Pathfinder, we have two main washrooms, one for men and one for women, each equipped with multiple toilets and sinks. As for bathing, we are lake-bathers. This is often the most enjoyed and talked-about wedding memory - the bathing hang-outs on Swim Dock! It is important for us to have the least impact by using soaps that do not leave phosphates or residues in the water. Good soap choices are Camp Suds, Burt’s Bees or Dr. Bronner’s. Good shampoo choices are Live Clean or Burt’s Bees. Please be sure to bring your towel and toiletries, along with bedding, rain jacket, a warm pullover, flashlight, and those sensible shoes!