r/Eloping

i just got my dress in the mail (it was a cheap one online) and i’m wondering if it’s worth getting it a garment bag? or if it would be acceptable to pack it into the plastic bag it came in and check it in my suitcase. i have a pretty tight budget but i want the best for my dress!

We’re eloping at City Hall this year with just family and one close friend, mainly because we live in another country and my parents are visiting us right now. We will have our actual wedding next year, so this is meant to be small and simple.
After the ceremony and a family dinner, we thought about meeting friends at a pub to celebrate, but everyone would pay for their own food and drinks since we’ll be having the wedding next year. Does that make sense, or should we skip the friends part and just celebrate with everyone at the wedding next year?

Okay for starters, we’ve been engaged for a few years so realistically I could have planned earlier. We’ve had some pretty major life events occur in this time. It kind of just kept getting pushed to the back burner and we initially agreed to have a long engagement from the start. My brother got married in June and I kind of waited because I was helping with that and I didn’t want to “dim their shine” so to speak.

Now I’m excited to be married but I stopped feeling excited to plan after the 1st year and the whole “wedding” idea being out of reach between cost, overwhelm of planning, and I’ve been a bridesmaid 4x (MOH 2x) and then determining the idea of a traditional wedding made me miserable.

Sooooo, is it crazy to plan an elopement in less than 3 months?! Thinking sometime in October or November? It seems like a lot of people are planning this pretty far in advance. I was going to book a historical courthouse for an elopement ceremony with immediate family only. I’d like to have a photographer & a decent dress.

I have none of these things currently…. So I’m feeling like it’s unrealistic. Any advice? Should I reset my expectations? I really don’t want to push this back another year.

Hi everyone,

My fiancé and I are getting legally married in our home country, and we’ve booked a beautiful villa abroad on Booking for a religious ceremony a few weeks later.

There will be only 9 guests (parents and witnesses) + the two of us. We’ll all be staying at the villa together for 2 nights for the occasion.

I’m wondering how to make the ceremony feel truly special and “wedding-like” when we’re all staying in the same place. For example, it feels a little strange to just decorate everything and get ready in a bedroom while everyone else is already hanging around the villa, and then suddenly come downstairs in my white dress. 😅

How would you create a special “bride/groom” moment or make the day feel different from a normal family stay at a villa?

I’d love ideas for the getting ready, the ceremony, meals, surprises for the parents/witnesses, or any little traditions that could make the day feel memorable and meaningful.

What if I've always wanted a tipsy vegas elopement？

Definitely not wasted, I still want to look good for my photos. Are they that strict about this or is it the same as a music festival saying drugs are prohibited? Haha. I am looking to elope at Sure Thing to be more specific :) thanks in advance!

Hi! My fiancé and I have decided on the elopement route for less frills of a big crowd, more intimacy, and more focus financially to the honeymoon. We'll be getting married April 2027 and are still deciding if we want a city hall wedding or to go with an elopement package (which comes with an officiant, photography, venue etc).

Despite keeping it a simple ceremony between us two (plus the others mentioned above), I'd still like to experience the magic of the whole 'say yes to the dress', but I'm nervous to book an appointment because I feel like most brides who do these have the traditional big wedding/church wedding etc. and have their family/friends/bridal party with them. While I do have people in my life that I love, ultimately my fiancé and I have decided we'd have zero guests, and basically if I booked a dress appointment..I'd be going alone.

Has anyone still gone through with a dress appointment despite eloping and what were your experiences? Was it worth it? Did they still give you the bridal treatment?

My partner and I are thinking about eloping in the fall of 2027 (next year). We started reaching out to elopement photographers, and set up times to speak to a couple of photographers over Zoom. In both calls, I asked if I could see a template or draft version of their contract. They both seemed surprised by that but they didn't seem to indicate it would be a problem. I thought it was a reasonable request, but now I'm starting to doubt myself.

I followed up with one photographer via email last week (several days after our call) and indicated I would be excited to work with them and once again asking to see the contract. It's now been a week and a half or so since our call and almost a week since I sent my follow up email. I still haven't heard back. For the other photographer, it's been more than a week since our zoom call, though I haven't sent a follow up email yet.

I know it's probably a super busy time of the year for these photographers, but I'm starting to wonder if i freaked them out by asking to see the contract in advance. Is that weird to ask for? Am I being too impatient in expecting a response at this point? How long would you expect things to take between initial contact or interviewing with a photographer and when you would expect to see the contract or put down a deposit?

Thanks in advance for any advice or experiences you can share!

Sorry this is going to be the longest story of your life and hopefully it’s not super all over the place.

Okay me and fiancé got engaged a couple weeks ago and I’m a planner so I’ve been planning the last week, however we got to the date and that’s where we are stuck on, I want 4.10 but the issue is that 4.10.28 lands on a Monday and 4.10.27 is on a Saturday but it’s just too soon and we don’t think a few of our friends from out of the state would be able to join us and we really want these people there, so we did agree on 4.8.28 but I’m still bummed about the date so apart of me wanting to do a legal ceremony on 4.10.27 and then on 4.8.28 we do an actual ceremony with all of our friends and family and then do the reception at my in laws house. Apart of me feels guilty for wanting to do 4.10.27 because I know I would never hear the end of it from my family (which I understand but I don’t because the legal ceremony is mostly to keep my date that I want and then do a legit wedding with all of them) but it’s just so significant to the both of us but I think I just care about it more, idk what would you do? Am I just being stupid about this and I should Just let it go? Please tell me if you’ve done anything like this, thanks!!

Hello all. I live in NY, but I am hoping to elope in Vegas next year, particularly at Sure Thing Chapel. It would be myself, my fiance, and probably about 8 close friends and family. If you did a Vegas elopement, I just have a few questions about the logistics and your experience if you wouldn't mind.

Did you get your hair and makeup done, or did you do it yourself? If you got it done, how were you able to coordinate it from home?

How did you transport your dress?

Did you do anything special before or after that you would or wouldn't recommend?

What time of year was it? It seems like late September/early October might be best so I'm not totally melting.

If you eloped at Sure Thing, what officiant did you choose? How was your experience overall?

Thank you in advance! Any tips/tricks or advice in general is also appreciated. The only thing I'm strongly set on is the guests because it is very important to me that my immediate family is there. I know that it gums up the works a bit but thats a price I'm willing to pay lol.

Basically the title. I want to give it a title that best sets expectations for friends and family and gives me less of a headache as a result.

We’re planing to get married in a park and go to dinner after with eight of our closest family and friends. It’s a destination wedding/elopement since everyone lives far apart. We’re skipping a lot of traditional things (rehearsal dinner, wedding cake, dance floor, etc).

I expect whatever we choose to call it will conjure images/expectations based on the most recent weddings in our families. The only recent wedding on my fiancé’s side was an expensive and pretty traditional 200+ person wedding at a vineyard. The only recent wedding on my side was that my mom did the classic courthouse elopement and didn’t tell us for months. Obviously, neither of those are close to our plans and I don’t know how to make that clear when we call it a “wedding” or “elopement”.

I like “elopement” since it immediately tells people not to expect a lot of traditional things (which I feel like is fair to give a heads-up about since they’ll have to travel and take time off work). I think it also makes it self-explanatory to people we are not inviting why they weren’t invited. But calling it a wedding is just easier because it’s more common so by default our families will treat it with the same level of seriousness as any other wedding. I don’t want people flaking/showing up late or bringing uninvited +1s, pets, etc, because they don’t think of it as a “wedding”.

Hello :) i’m getting married August of next year, and I am looking for some indoor photo spots. I am planning to take pictures outside, but wanted to have a backup option just in case it rains or if weather is bad. I have tried googling, but a lot of people either recommend outdoor spots, or UNM… Is there anything else? I don’t want meow wolf or electric playhouse or anything like that either. Please help :( Thank you in advance!!