Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of America, was well-known for his pros and cons lists when making major decisions. There are lots of factors to consider when weighing the pros and cons of eloping. The engaged couple must consider the financial benefits of an elopement as well as the reaction from close friends and family, especially parents. The couple should also consider the long-term implications of a elopement.
Pros of an Elopement
Cost must be at the top of any list for the pros of an elopement! The cost of a traditional wedding can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars. The funds required for a traditional wedding could easily pay off student debt, or provide the downpayment on a home purchase. The other way of looking at this for some couples is that an elopement prevents going into debt for a large traditional wedding. Elopement packages come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s not difficult to find lots of options. Making the decision to elope does not always mean getting married at the courthouse. Usually, it is not that at all! Elopements are so much smaller and simpler than traditional weddings, which mean couples may find a much greater variety in elopement options. You might elope in a lovely park setting, or in front of mountains. You might elope in a grand mansion or in a quaint chapel. You might elope on a beach or in the woods, or by a creek or in front of a waterfall. You might elope in the desert or under a grand live oak tree. You might elope in a big city or out in the county. By removing dozens of guests and thousands of dollars, a whole world of options opens up to the couple eloping.
Simplicity and ease of planning is next in line of the pros of an elopement. When you consider the alternative of having a traditional wedding, you quickly realize the countless hours of planning and work over several months that go into planning a large, traditional wedding. If a couple is going to spend months of hard work planning something, plan the marriage not the wedding. When you decide to elope, you must simply decide how much you want to spend, and how much you are willing to spend, and then search for the elopement that works in your budget. In some cases, that may mean eloping near home. With a slightly bigger budget and/or a little more time off work, you will a wider variety of elopement options available that will still be so much easier to plan than a traditional wedding. One you decide on a budget and start looking for elopement options, the best way to keep the planning and budget to a minimum is to find a company that offers an elopement package. If you try to piece together a venue, an officiant, a photographer and whatever else you may think you need, you’ll start doing the type of planning work that you were trying to avoid with a large wedding. Find an option where you book an elopement package that brings together as many things as possible.
Booking an elopement will help a couple by-pass a lot of hard choices. If a couple comes from a large family with lots of siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins, an elopement is a great way to avoid trying to decide who to invite and who has to be a bridesmaid or groomsman.
Cons of an Elopement
While an elopement makes sense for so many couples, it’s not for everyone. At the top of this particular list is family. If you book a very small elopement, one that is just for the couple eloping and the vendors who serve them, the couple must consider how this choice will affect their closest family. A couple-only elopement may be the dream come true for the bride and groom, but they must also consider how the parents, grandparents and siblings will react. In some families, the parents may be thrilled at this choice as it will save them thousands of dollars! Other parents, usually the parents of the bride, may lament missing out on their dream of their daughter’s wedding. If you want to elope, you need to decide is that choice is going to be difficult for your family, and if it is, you then must decide if you plan to tell them about the elopement in advance, or make it a surprise to them after you get back.
If you want to have a destination elopement, you’ll have to deal with your marriage license. If your elopement ceremony is going to be away from home, you need do your homework to know what this means for the long term and all things legal. If you elope in another city in the same country where you live, the issues are more a matter of slight inconvenience down the road. Every time you need an extra certified copy of your marriage certificate, you’ll have to get if from another state, or at least from a different county. If you elope overseas and do the marriage license in a different county, you will need to give that serious thought. Couples come from all over the world and elope in the United States and get their marriage license in a U.S. city, which gives them a legal marriage, but from that day forward, any time they have a legal issue regarding marital status, they will have to deal with a marriage license issued in a different county. For the U.S. couple wanting to elope in another county, the same concerns apply. In this case, couples may find it wise to get a marriage license close to home and have a private legal ceremony before going off on their destination elopement. Everything in life involve making choices. Every choice will come with things you like and other you like less, or not at all. The same is true of an elopement. Spending less money on a small, brief elopement does mean giving up a few things. You may not be able to get the Saturday night in May or October that you want, since bigger weddings take up so many venues and vendors. When you book an elopement package, you do save money and you enjoy ease of planning, but you may not get to pick out every little detail of the experience like you would if you were spending thousands of dollars and months of your life planning a traditional wedding. Like that old expression, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” At the end of the day, every couple must look at this list of pros and cons and make an informed decision about their wedding. It’s not their parents’ wedding or their siblings’ wedding, or in some cases their children’s wedding. It’s the couple’s wedding and at the end of the day, each couple must do what is best for them. For many couples, that means eloping but for others, it doesn’t. Visit us at ElopementsInc.com and let us help you decide is an elopement is right for you.
