Top Questions to Consider Before Eloping

So, why elope?

Eloping was a pretty straightforward decision for us.

We’d had our first child and were hoping for a second, so we didn’t want to delay.

Our budget could stretch to an amazing elopement, but not such an amazing big, or even small, wedding.

Many family members had just had babies or lived in different countries – we knew it would be a big or expensive ask for them to join us. This meant we weren’t overly worried about upsetting any family members as they were supportive.

And finally, eloping in Lake Como was always a pipe dream for us. So when it started to look realistic, we grabbed it with both hands.

We didn’t feel like there would be too many hurdles or worries; it fit our timings, and we just loved the idea of getting married in one of our favourite locations.

But, that doesn’t mean that we didn’t have to really ask ourselves some tough questions about the decision, we live a no-regrets lifestyle so really thought it through.

If you’re considering eloping, it might be a good idea to ask yourself:

• Do I want to get married, or have a wedding? Or something in between?
• What is my budget? And how do I want to distribute it?
  Do the maths: think about your cost per head. What could you achieve when spreading it across just yourselves and two witnesses? What does it look like with 10, 50, 100 guests?
• Will I feel a-type-of-way about:
  • The fact that I’m spending all this money and no one else will see it?
  • That this group of friends or family won’t be there?
  • That I’ll miss out on wedding gifts or contributions to the honeymoon?
  • That there might not be opportunity for traditional wedding elements: being walked down the aisle, speeches, hen do’s, stag do’s?
• Will X family member kick up a fuss about this? If they do, will I be able to cope with that?
• Can I do this day without X family members/friends?

If some of your answers to the above are “yes, that’d be an issue for me”, then that doesn’t mean eloping isn’t for you. For our elopement, I found alternatives to all of the above that matched our style. I’ll be sharing that in a blog post later!