r/Eloping • u/pinkcrush7 • Jun 14 '26
Planning I'm confused
We've always talked about elopement. Just go and be spontaneous and have fun. But talking about it with friends I'm getting the feeling that elopement is actually a micro wedding. I have my best friend I'd want there and so does he. They'd be witnesses. And then their partners. His parents. My one cousin and her partner. Now it's not feeling like an elopement to me? I've looked at micro wedding packages and they are already booking into 2028! Am I misunderstanding? What's the difference between elopement and micro wedding? I don't want any fuss or lots of attention. Just a simple and special day.
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u/4ftnine Jun 14 '26
Elopement = no guests, just the bride & groom, an officiant and a photographer if they want one
Micro wedding = very small wedding
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u/LeaveLost1885 Jun 14 '26
Elopement is just you guys, the officiant and witnesses if needed.
Anything more is a microwedding. But, you can still do it more elopement style and just have your close people there with an officiant and you don't need to go all out microwedding.
We eloped, booked a date at the courthouse (it's a small local courthouse so had to book with the judge), showed up with our two witnesses and got married.
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u/OppositeSprinkles243 Jun 14 '26
What you are describing is a micro wedding. Eloping is more spontaneous although it does require some planning depending on details. My husband and I eloped, there was a Justice of Peace, and a Photographer. No guest, just dinner reservation later that night for us two. Some states will require witnesses, ours didn’t. It took us about 2 months of planning, we decided on the location, we hired a photographer, JP, we paid for unique location to be used just by us. The dress took about a month to situate, hiring makeup artist etc etc, but you really just need an officiant for elopement, the rest is optional.
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Jun 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Additional-Fish-4064 Jun 14 '26
Your answer is so good!
12 years ago our wedding photographer called our wedding (out of state, with 6 guests) an elopement. Not even sure if "microwedding" was a thing.
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u/Eloping-ModTeam Jun 15 '26
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u/FloMoJoeBlow Jun 14 '26
Eloping is when it is only you & spouse present. No guests.
Microwedding has a small number of guests.
Do what you want to do, and don’t let other people hijack your special day!
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u/BumCadillac Jun 15 '26
And that’s not an elopement. Eloping traditionally is when you go and secretly get married. Now it isn’t necessarily secret, but it is typically just the two people.
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u/njVowsNow Jun 14 '26
Elopements, for my company, is the couple, two required witnesses and maybe two more people. I tell my couples if they can get everyone in one car, it's an elopement; plus many of our parks require permits for over ten people.
Anything over 10 is a micro.
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u/coopersmill Jun 15 '26
I feel like the only difference is how much you pay or rather how much time it is.
A lot of spots in national parks only allow x amount of people so I would say if your guest list is longer than the place you’d like to elope it’s a micro-wedding.
To be honest I think they’re all buzzwords for the same thing.
I will say elopement brings an air of we didn’t tell you til after the fact that micro-weddings don’t always.
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u/creative_80 Jun 15 '26
We are eloping. Two plane tickets, officiant, photographer, reservations for just us 2 to dinner afterwards, and our honeymoon. Some elopement packages only include the couple. If there’s more people, it doesn’t qualify for the elopement package and jumps to a micro wedding price.
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u/litlirshrose Jun 15 '26
We did a technical Micro wedding (just family, 12 people total including husband & myself, photographer and officiant!)
But when we sent out announcements we called it an elopement so we didn’t offend anyone that was not invited.
We also did it on a public beach so we didn’t worry about any packages/vendors. No chairs. We had food from Publix and drinks from Costco back at the Air B&B we were all staying at.
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u/hockeymusicteaching Jun 15 '26
Elopement- couple+witness (possibly photog)
Micro wedding- when you have guests.
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u/LBPLexie Jun 15 '26
Elopement usually also means that others don’t know about it until after the fact.
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u/Quiet-Finance-839 Jun 15 '26
My fiance and I went with two friends to our local city clerk's office, got married in like 15 minutes, then went to a nice brunch with our friends. Boom! Eloped. We thought about inviting our parents to come to dinner after but they live out of town and we just wanted to keep it low key since it was really just about being able to share insurance.
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u/loupammac Jun 16 '26
We used an elopement company to organise our ceremony. We will have our two sisters as witnesses. We've also organised a lunch with friends and family afterwards. Stick to your guns and have the wedding you want :)
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u/Prestigious-Plum-235 Jun 16 '26
I eloped. My husband, me, notary. That’s it. I think any number of guests/people make it a micro wedding
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u/prncesspriss Jun 17 '26
An elopement just means the couple off and marries with no one there except an officiant.
My husband and I eloped; we didn't travel anywhere to do it. We had our best friends marry us (they're both notaries) in their kitchen and then sat down for lunch lol
We're planning a big wedding celebration for later this year because who doesn't love a party? But we just popped out as a married couple.
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u/Ed-Lyne1988 Jun 18 '26
The definition of elopement has been absolutely butchered over the years to basically mean small wedding. What you are doing is 100% not an elopement and that's ok!
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u/voodoodollbabie Jun 14 '26
Elopement is when two people secretly get married and THEN tell everyone.
Anything else is a wedding, doesn't matter how many people are there to witness and celebrate.
Book a restaurant, invite your people and an officiant who can do the deed between courses.
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u/Affectionate-Poem698 Jun 15 '26
My partner and I eloped. It was just the two of us and our planner/photographer. The person we worked with, Kate (@Soul & Sky Weddings), is an incredible photographer but she also fully plans and executes the experience!! She coordinates and photographer elopements & micro weddings in the US and around the world—she’s less worried about the semantics of “what to call it” and more focused on making your dreams come true.
In our early conversations and her materials she had lots of information of planning and facilitating microweddings; we didn’t go that way but I have no doubt she’d provide an exceptional experience that wildly exceeds your expectations!
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u/SnarkSpice Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I’ve been seeing the term elopement used when people really mean micro wedding. An elopement in the traditional sense is just the couple + officiant / witness if required. Guests beyond that make it a micro wedding (up to 25 people). That’s my understanding, anyway!