It’s a shame that the word “eloping” takes on such a negative connotation for a lot of people. Many people associate eloping with a couple whose families disapproved of their union, so they had no choice but to tie the knot on their own, in secret. Some people believe the only couples who elope are those that meet on an all-night bender at a bar and wake up at some motel in Las Vegas, completely confused as to why they have rings on their wedding fingers. But elopement is for more than just the rejected and inebriated couples of the world. Sure, in some of its Anglo-Norman French origins the word means ” to run away” but if you look at its English origins, it can just mean “to leap” which, is really what we do when we marry someone, right? We take a leap. Sometimes making that leap is better without the whole to-do of a giant wedding. So here are surprisingly sound reasons to elope.
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Nobody is offended
You don’t need to worry about someone being offended that they weren’t on the guest list. Nobody was on the guest list.
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There aren’t religious complications
Like one side of the family insisting on holding the marriage in a temple, and the other side having no idea what the wardrobe is for a temple…and showing up sleeveless.
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It’s far cheaper
Getting married at a courthouse can cost less than $100. Some hotels even offer elopement packages, which are basically a very nice vacation with a few upgrades. Why not combine your wedding and your vaca?
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You can eat whatever you feel like
You don’t need to choose a menu based on the dietary needs of 300 people. In fact, you don’t need to choose your own meal for your big day four months in advance because the caterer required it. You can go to McDonalds if you want to.
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You have the energy to have sex
It’s alarmingly common for couples not to have sex on their wedding night because they’re so damned tired and even irritated from their big wedding.
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No need for a useless dress
Wedding gowns can cost tens of thousands of dollars. And you never wear them again. Gulp. Now you can buy an adorable egg-colored cocktail dress that you’ll actually re-wear.
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No bridesmaid drama
You won’t have one friend offended that you named another friend the bridesmaid. There was no bridesmaid.
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Distant family
Maybe you don’t have someone to walk you down the isle because you have a bad relationship with your father, or he’s no longer around. You don’t need to feel like that element of being walked down the isle is “missing” from an elopement.
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Vow memory loss
Don’t worry about perfectly reciting your vows in front of hundreds of people. This is just a conversation between you and your beloved.
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Your parents can save the money
If your parents had offered to pay for your wedding, now they can put that aside to help you…pay for a house? Or your child’s college tuition?
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And they can’t complain about it
And you don’t need to hear your parents complain, every step of the wedding planning process, about how expensive everything is.
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No in-law drama
Do you have any idea how much in-law drama occurs during the planning of a big wedding? You’re dealing with four parents now (maybe up to eight if each original parent has divorced and remarried) and everybody has opinions.
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No wedding diet
You don’t need to stress about being in “perfect” shape for the thousands of photos you’ll take, and to fit into the dress that cost ten thousand dollars. You can just live your life and eat your meals the way you normally would leading up to your nuptials.
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No airfare guilt
Your friends and family live all over the world, so if you had a real wedding, a lot of people would inevitably shell out big bucks for airfare to get there. And you better believe you’d hear about it. Now you don’t have to.
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You might get better gifts
A lot of people hold back on the gift budget because they already spent so much getting to your wedding. You may be surprised by some pretty stellar gifts since you let people save money by eloping.
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No let downs
There is so much pressure for a wedding day to be perfect, and it never is. If you elope, you don’t need to feel that the argument between your cousins, or the DJ with the attitude, “ruined everything.”
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You don’t need to derail your life
Planning a wedding is incredibly time-consuming. It takes time out of your every day, and it can take over a year to plan. That’s a year of time when you’re answering wedding related emails instead of work related emails. If you elope, you don’t need to derail your life for your wedding.
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It’s environmentally responsible
Weddings aren’t exactly the greenest of occasions–not even the “green” ones. You’re still powering enough lights, speakers, and food heaters to keep people entertained for hours. Not to mention your wedding necessitated plane rides and road trips.
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You can focus on each other
So many couples say that they barely even saw their spouse on their wedding day! They were too busy worrying about details and greeting guests. But shouldn’t this day be about the two of you?
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You can get married wherever you want
Real destinations–like ones that take place in exotic locations thousands of miles from where anybody lives–usually have a small attendance. So why not save everybody the guilt over the fact that they can’t fly to Bali for your wedding, and just go the two of you.
