Why Elope?
What it means
e·lope
/əˈlōp/
Elope's meaning is shifting towards "a small destination wedding" whereas it used to mean "to runaway and secretly get married," and before that "for a married woman to runaway with a new lover," and even before that it just meant "to escape or runaway" without the romantic context.
Why Should I elope?
My Elopement story
Let’s be honest, a traditional wedding isn’t for everyone.
COVID 19 changed how weddings are approached for many reasons, but one thing that really came from them is a larger appreciation for small ceremonies, traditional elopements, and destination elopements. Sometimes this is with family and close friends, sometimes its just the two of you.
Personally, my wife and I decided to elope. We did a small ceremony near our home in Southern California with just a few of our closest friends and family and were officially married. We then left to Iceland to do our own private elopement ceremony and to have our honeymoon trip. We spent the day hiking around Iceland with our photographer, seeing incredible things, chasing waterfalls, reciting our vows to each other, and having an incredible and private experience. It was an amazing experience that I couldn’t recommend more. We came home and had a more traditional “reception” style party with a larger group of friends and family and just got to have a great time, give our family some feeling of tradition, and enjoyed that part of the “wedding experience” with so much less stress, and just being able to enjoy and have a good time. We weren’t on a strict timeline, we didn’t need a planner, we weren’t rushing around and unable to take it all in. It was a great experience.
The best part though, was that it was perfect for us.
This may not sound at all like your dream, but it was ours. It was the best blend of everything for us.
You may just want to do something with just you two at home. You may want to go to the place you dream of the most. You may want other people there, or you might want to just focus on the privacy of it all. You may want to incorporate traditional wedding elements like a reception/celebration, or other traditions, or you might not.
YOU get to choose.
For us, doing this for ourselves was our motivation. We didn’t want our wedding to be about other people or for our list of important items/moments to be lost in the mix of wedding planning and people pleasing.
Not everyone will be happy or understand, but what matters most is how you want to celebrate this moment and this significant step in your relationship.
FAQs
Where Can I Elope?
You can elope anywhere basically. It just depends on how you want to do things. Some regulations regarding your marriage certificate may come into play and need to be sorted, but you can do something at home, or across the country, or on the opposite end of the globe!
How Many People Can I Have There?
This is your choice. Sometimes, it just is you two. Sometimes, you want your parents or siblings there, or specific friends. Sometimes your dog tags along (Yay for fur babies!). We generally advise you keep it to 15 people or less. Any more, and it begins becoming a challenge on who to have join and who shouldn’t. These should be the “absolutely, can’t live without them being there” choices if you have anyone else there at all.
If you want to have a day with just the two of you, I 100% support that! Spend the day focusing on this incredible experience with the most important person in your life, your partner. Start your marriage on an adventure and journey leaning on each other. There’s so much beautiful symbolism in this experience.
Can I Record My Elopement?
We can do things a few ways. We can setup an iphone and record it, or we can go all out and make a film of the experience. It’s your call. You can have a videographer and photographer, or work with someone who does both (like me! I can also bring in a trusted videographer/photographer to work along with to make it easier for you). We can even get audio recordings of your ceremony if you want with a few simple solutions as well regardless of if you want a full video.
Do I Plan or How Long Does it Take to Plan an Elopement?
Planning can be done in a day or a year. It doesn’t need to be last minute at all, but especially for destination elopements, some planning is needed so that we can coordinate dates, find the right location, and ensure we abide by laws and regulations for things such as permits! Some locations may require/entail long hikes (even multi-day), so planning is certainly important for things like this.
How Much Does an Elopement Cost?
You can spend as much or as little on an elopement as you want. For us, we treated our Iceland trip and following honeymoon as the majority of our budget. Some people spend as much on this as they would a traditional wedding, so you definitely don’t have to sacrifice, in fact, you can even indulge for the same or less! If doing a destination elopement, I suggest rolling it into your honeymoon, and book us to document your story! In doing so, we can even offer consultation services for how to maximize your budget with Travel Hacking through Credit Cards and Rewards programs (no debt needed, pay it off immediately if possible!), and you may be surprised at how much bang for your buck you can get!
What About an Officiant?
Depending on the country/location that you are from and want to elope in, laws may dictate what is needed. My recommendation is to research this with me beforehand and find the solution based on that! You can potentially be married in the place you go, or may need to be married domestically. I am also an ordained minister and can perform some ceremonies as well (depending on certain laws and locations)!
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