For a long time, eloping with a loved one to get married has always been an awkward experience.
Some may call eloping lazy, and others may think it’s being thrifty.
But how many can call elopement a dream wedding?
Well, that’s probably because they haven’t looked at the big happy picture yet.
The big fancy wedding dream
Ever since we’ve been little girls, most of us have fantasized about the magical wedding we’d have someday.
But where the fairytale ends, life begins.
Wedding is a big business these days, and most young couples end up spending a fortune *sometimes, more than a year’s income* on getting married, and spend a big part of their married life paying their wedding debt off.
[Read: What is the right age to get married?]A well planned wedding seems magical, but that’s because you’ve seen only the faà§ade of it.
It’s like watching an Olympic ceremony for an hour or so while flipping channels.
The event may last a few hours, but the preparation for it took several painstaking months or even years.
When you’re actively participating in the preparation of your wedding, you’re bound to be stressed all the time even if you hire a professional wedding planner.
Why elope to get married?
Couples typically elope when they want to get married in a rush, either because they don’t have the financial resources or because they have warring families who aren’t appreciative of the groom-to-be or the bride-to-be. [Read: How to meet the parents for the first time and impress them immediately]
But that’s not always the case. Sometimes, couples elope and get married because they can make the wedding feel more personal, romantic, and most importantly, memorable. And if you’re bothered about missing out on the dream wedding you never had, don’t be. Eloping too can be just as fun and special.
In your lifetime, you’ve probably been to several weddings yourself. Now how many of those weddings do you actually remember vividly?
When you attend a wedding, it’s just a few hours of fun and flirting for you. But to the new bride and groom, it’s many years of their fortune that they’ve spent just on those few hours. If you aren’t financially ready for it, do you really want to start your new married life in debt? [Read: How to make living together work for you and your relationship]
What about the family?
A significant part of the wedding experience is about sharing the special day with your loved ones. Do you have a huge family that is close knit? If you do, perhaps they would be offended to see that you ran away and got married without letting them know anything about it.
But if you just have a few trusted friends and your immediate family to think of, they may be more acceptable of your decision.
The expenses of a regular wedding
Grand weddings are expensive affairs, and let’s face it, there’s not much you can do to avoid the expenses. If you’ve taken the time to plan ahead and save money for your wedding, then go right ahead and have your perfect dream wedding with all your friends and family the grand way.
But if you want something more personal and intimate, eloping may just be the perfect way to enjoy your dream day without being burdened down with avalanching expenses. [Read: How to get your boyfriend to propose by reading his mind]
What do most couples that elope do?
Getting a marriage license is easier in Nevada than in most other places around the United States. And for that reason, Las Vegas is the biggest destination for eloping couples that want to get married. It’s easy, stress free and quick.
But if you take a while to plan your elopement in advance, you can get married anywhere you like as long as you’ve got a few months to finish all the license formalities and book the perfect place ahead of time. [Read: What is a promise ring and is it really worth giving?]
Are you ready to elope with your lover?
If you’re one that believes in fairy tales and beautiful settings, then you know that a perfect wedding is a once in a lifetime experience.
Would you really want to destroy the memory by finishing the whole affair in a few hours? Or would you want to spend the weeks leading up to it playing the part of an infamous bridezilla?
A wedding is special, but the experience feels special only when you feel good about it. What do you want in your perfect wedding?
As long as you have your closest friends and family around you when you exchange your vows, wouldn’t it feel just as special as sharing your wedding day with hundreds of acquaintances? You don’t have to worry about the seating arrangement or who doesn’t get along with whom, nor do you have to worry about any last minute changes.
Your wedding day is a special day for you and your partner. It has to feel stress free and perfect. Ask anyone who’s married at least once in a grand wedding that took months of preparation, and chances are, they may prefer to elope if they could do the whole thing the second time. [Read: Top 20 reasons for divorce that most couples overlook]
How to elope with your partner and still have the perfect wedding
Wondering how to elope and still experience your dream wedding? Well, here’s your guide on doing just that.
If you want to elope for any reason, be it because you don’t have too many close friends or because you want to avoid a huge debt, don’t just run away without telling anyone. Instead, plan your wedding in advance and share your thoughts only with your closest friends and your immediate family.
Take a few days off from work, head to a romantic cabin by the lake or a friend’s place, or rent a farm house that accommodates all of you, or even head out to a resort nearby.
Get away on a vacation with your friends for a few days.
If you can afford it, you could pay for the whole vacation yourselves, or you could ask your friends to pay their own expenses during their stay. Plan a series of fun activities that would help all of you have a great time together. After all, you’re spending the vacation with your closest friends and you and your partner would have no difficulty bonding with all of them.
Plan your wedding a day or two before the vacation ends, so all of you have settled into the vacation already. As long as all of you are having fun, it’ll definitely be a wedding that you’ll never forget because you’ve got all the people that matter to you around you. And the best part, as long as all of you participate in the setting up of the wedding, it’ll feel stress free and fun, instead of hectic and rushed.
Instead of just spending a few rushed hours in a crowded wedding where you’re too busy to interact with all your friends and too exhausted to enjoy the fun moments, you can actually stretch your wedding celebration to a few days, with the people whose company you enjoy the most in the world. Wouldn’t that be so much better?
By eloping with your closest friends, you won’t be spending a fortune on a wedding that lasts a few hours. And you won’t offend anyone that matters because they’d be with you, celebrating your perfect getaway wedding. [Read: The most romantic and special way to propose marriage to the one you love]
Eloping could be a better alternative
A wedding for a few hours is nice, but a whole week, that’s so much more exciting and fun, isn’t it? Everyone assumes that eloping is such a bad thing, but if you look at it, it’s a better alternative. Even celebrities get away on a vacation to get married. And the best part, you’re already on a vacation. And with all the money you’ve saved, you and your partner could head out to another romantic vacation spot to enjoy your new life as a married couple! [Read: 20 reasons to get married and live happily ever after]
If you don’t want to head out to a vacation to get married, you could even plan an at-home wedding. That’s just like eloping anyway, because you aren’t letting the whole world know your plans. Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan had a low key simple wedding with their closest friends, and think about it, he has billions to spend if he really wanted to!
Sometimes, eloping to a vacation spot and sharing that special day with a select few could make the day feel a lot more special, beautiful and memorable, just as long as you remember to invite the people that truly matter to you.
Your wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day in your life. So don’t make it feel like the most stressful day. Unless you’ve fixed your mind on a grand wedding, use these tips on how to elope and plan something a lot more special and memorable.
