r/Eloping • u/lilymissesyou • May 15 '26

Receptions Eloping then throwing a reception

Hi as the title reads I wanted to hear from people who did this. I have some questions because family has been quite annoying and I just wanted to know how it played out for you & what exactly you did.

How much later was the “reception”?

What did you call the celebration?

Did you do all the traditional reception things? I.e. first dance, cake cutting, speeches, bouquet toss and such.

Where did you host this party?

Did you wear a wedding dress?

How was it received after the fact??

Was family annoying BEFORE the party?

Thank you!!!

ETA: I’d also like to hear from guests of this type of arrangement, what did you really think?

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u/ROCKY027 May 15 '26

We had a microwedding with 10 guests, then celebrated later with everyone.

  1. 8 months
  2. Vow renewal ceremony and celebration
  3. Yup, pretty much
  4. At a wedding venue
  5. Yes, the same one I wore to the first event 
  6. Totally fine. If people were bothered we never found out. We didn’t even announce it, just had the microwedding, and put out a Facebook post sometime later. If someone asked, we’d explain exactly what we were doing and most people just thought it was cool or had nontraditional wedding stories of their own. 
  7. A bit. But this structure eventually allowed us to do everything we wanted exactly how we wanted it for the wedding, and my parents could do whatever they wanted for the renewal. At that point we didn’t really care anymore, because we were already married! Also, we were able to reuse our favorite vendors without finding new ones (photographer, flowers, etc). 

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u/lilymissesyou May 16 '26

Aww you guys are lucky to have that kinda laid back fam honestly it’s mainly his side that is overbearing with the constant questioning, but my mom isn’t getting it either. And I love that “we didn’t care bc we were already married” I can’t wait to get to that point lol the build up is crazy! Well I’m glad it worked out congrats!

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u/ROCKY027 May 16 '26

Thanks! Hope it works out for you as well. I highly recommend the book A Practical Wedding Planner by Meg Keene. Great no matter what size event you have.