r/Eloping

Hi everyone!

I wanted to ask for your opinion! My fiancé and I got engaged 2 weeks ago and we are trying to see when we are going to have our wedding. We don’t have money right now, so it’s time to save up! We probably won’t get to have the wedding until 2028. I was just curious.. is it normal to get married at the courthouse and then have the ceremony later on? If so, how did you do it? Did you get your wedding bands? Did you get a dress to wear that day? Did you tell your family?

Help!

My fiancé (24M) and I (25F) decided to elope to the courthouse and have a very small cookout with a small number of family and friends as our reception instead of an actual wedding because my side of the family is nothing but drama (especially my mom's husband who is rude and disrespectful to both my fiancé and I) and, frankly, neither of us enjoy weddings and we'd rather spend that money on a honeymoon we will LOVE. I have received nothing but support from my friends and my fiancé's family, but my mother and her husband (this is her second marriage) have been very resentful. For clarification, my mother and stepfather are invited to the reception. I am not in contact with my birth father, and my stepdad is more like my father. I did not invite her husband. My mom broke down when I told her, and broke down again today telling me that she is grieving being able to go to my wedding ceremony and "celebrate with me" and she feels that I am "hurting her" by not inviting her husband. Her husband has been guilt tripping me all weekend and making snippy comments, and this whole experience has been a nightmare for me. I was just wondering if any of you went through something similar and how you got through it without it ruining your special day. I feel depressed and sick right now, and I don't want my family to taint my wedding.

Initially wanted to go to pretty place chapel but it seemed like they were booking out a bit. We would love something similar with Mountain View’s. Honestly, totally okay with it just being a pretty mountain where we can get some good pictures with pretty scenery. Also looking for photographer recs in said areas if you have them. Thank you!!

My fiancé and I are looking to elope the third week of October in a national park. We like more of the forest/mountain/lake view and were considering Redwoods, Glacier, Acadia and open to others. Our parents will be there so we can’t do too strenuous of a hike. Ideally will we spend the week in that area as well and do other hikes (can be crazy long hikes since no parents for that) or other places to explore nearby. I was wondering if yall had any thoughts on those places taking the time of year into account and how easily it is to get to those parks since we are located in NC and would have to fly out there. Thanks in advance!

Hi as the title reads I wanted to hear from people who did this. I have some questions because family has been quite annoying and I just wanted to know how it played out for you & what exactly you did.

How much later was the “reception”?

What did you call the celebration?

Did you do all the traditional reception things? I.e. first dance, cake cutting, speeches, bouquet toss and such.

Where did you host this party?

Did you wear a wedding dress?

How was it received after the fact??

Was family annoying BEFORE the party?

Thank you!!!

ETA: I’d also like to hear from guests of this type of arrangement, what did you really think?

My finance and I are planning to elope somewhere just the two of us and come back and have a reception with friends and family. We are for sure going somewhere in the Caribbean and staying at an all inclusive. We haven’t fully determined where we are going yet and I know all countries are different. We don’t really want to get legally married in the states before we go. We live in MN. Has anyone else done this and what was required to become legally married in the states?

For context: I’m very much anxiety-coded person and will get worked about everything and anything.

Big weddings seemed like a nightmare and we’re both pretty introverted people who wouldn’t enjoy large parties anyways. Eloping seemed like a really good idea at first.

But I also wanted to have an experience that felt like a scene from romance movie. I was specifically dreaming of beautiful elopement in Europe, hopefully ocean-front.

But the more I research, the more impossible it seems. From the logistics of hauling dress/suit over there (we’re US couple), both of us being pretty inexperienced travelers (I’ve never travelled internationally..), the cost of everything… I’m already looking at over $20k USD for elopement + 7 day honeymoon. I’m not even sure if thats
‘S considered normal or insane budget at this point. I just saw someone quote $25k as a starting point for their elopement coordination package and cried a little out of frustration. The thing is, I know I can do this with a lot less and I’m being greedy with wanting that luxury romantic experience.

I’m even thinking about is this even worth it because I’m not going to look like picture perfect bride anyways. Is it worth spending so much money on pictures and videos and the venue when I won’t even look good in them?

UGH I’m way too old to be spiraling like this but here I am lol

I don’t really know what I need to hear, but I would appreciate your experience with destination elopement.

Hey I’m wondering if anyone else has gotten eloped and then still did a backyard wedding kinda thing, I didn’t get to wear my dress for the elopement and I want that bride moment? Is it odd if we do the ceramony twice? Or maybe we just do a renewing? Should I say so on the invitation?

Wondering how people handled photography if you didn't hire professional? We may get married at a backcountry destination with a couple of friends. Of course they could take pictures but they wouldn't be professional ones. If you didn't go with a professional, did you regret it? Cost is also an issue for us.

Hi all!

My partner & I are eloping in 3 months on a remote glacier in Alaska. We are super excited. However, family has of course asked if we will be doing a reception or some type of party after.

My partner is antisocial for the most part and we both don’t like making something about ourselves but I know this is the next chapter for us and people who we love want to celebrate.

We have been offered to use her parents backyard, but when you consider renting a tent, renting a bathroom trailer, renting tables + chairs, providing food and alcohol, etc it gets pricey. Also, it would be a lot of clean up and prep that went into it. Plus I feel like it would be a little awkward to have dinner and then do what? We don’t like to dance and would prefer not to have anyone watching us have our first dance lol. Plus you have to entertain your guest, sure we could get giant connect four or board games.

Once I considered all of the work that would go into planning that I started looking at venues. I looked into top golf, some breweries, etc.

I figured top golf would be a good option because we don’t have to entertain anyone(with our guest count it would be right around 3k (which is about the same price as having the party in her parent’s backyard), food and drinks (non-alcoholic) are provided, we don’t have to clean up, etc. We just show up and have a good time with the people we love.

I’m eloping on June 6th, and want to have a dinner with a small group of our family and friends afterward (about 11 people total). We live in NY and are looking for a good restaurant in either Brooklyn or Queens and are having trouble finding something good. Our budget is about $100/pp, but this is flexible. We do have one or two picky eaters so I was thinking Italian, since that’s usually a safe bet.

Anyone have any good recommendations for restaurants in either Brooklyn or Queens?

Thank you in advance!

Hi Reddit!

My Fiancé and I have begun planning our wedding. We want to do a small ceremony in the lavender fields in france with us and 8 guests. We’re struggling to find good, private, lodging for all 10 of us. As well as trying to understand how we could potential get time for this ceremony. The ceremony, we hope, would be a private, sectioned-off area in the lavender fields where we could host this ceremony and afterwards have a dinner party and dancing. Ideally the ceremony portion would be under 10k USD (maybe even 5k). And the lodging i think we’re also definitely expecting under 10k USD. We’d be open to spending more to have a wedding planner help. But unsure where to even start. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi! Getting married next month (June 20th) and we're eloping in Colorado then traveling back the week after to our home state for a post-elopement celebration with friends and family. I've been focusing waaay too much on the post-elopement celebration and now I'm feeling anxious about the elopement day. I'm not sure how to start planning the timeline for that day so I need help/suggestions. Here's what we have:

• We already hired a photographer for 3 hours. Location has to be between 1-2 hours from Denver. I was thinking Brainard Lake Recreation Area but my photographer has not been there so they're not sure on how to guide me with choosing a specific location there.
• It's gonna be just the 2 of us and our dog (plus the photographer). So, how do you plan the timeline for that day? Once I'm dressed, do I just start reading my vows? Lol idk
• Time: we're going to do a morning elopement. So probably like 7am-10am or 8am-11am (open to something earlier). We plan to meet with the photographer at the location we choose, start hiking and my photographer will bring a "changing station" so I can change and do a first look. Aside from that, idk what to do from there? I thought about maybe hiring an officiant, but idk.

If you eloped in Colorado not far from the Denver area, which location did you choose? Are 3 hours of photography enough for an intimate elopement? (I'm being charged quite a bit for these 3 hours so I wanted to avoid going over that time and having to pay more) How was the timeline for your elopement? TIA!