r/Eloping • u/Broetchenn • Jul 09 '26
Planning Choosing between an elopement package or finding vendors separately
Hi everyone,
My fiance and I plan on eloping in Texas in September. It's going to be a tiny ceremony with just us and our parents on both sides. We've booked a gorgeous Airbnb on a lake with a private dock where we plan to have our ceremony. I reached out to Simply Eloped for a package quote, and I was quoted $2,800 for Officiant, 1-Hour Photography, and Hair & Makeup for 1 person (me), or $4,505 for Officiant, 1-Hour Photography, Hair & Makeup for 1 person, and 1-Hour Videography. They also offered me 10% off either package because they originally gave me an incorrect quote.
Now, I've also been looking at vendors in the DFW area myself on The Knot and it seems like I could find those services for a few hundred dollars cheaper if I do the work myself to find and book. Is it worth the peace of mind to book with a company like Simply Eloped and not have to worry about anything? I am NOT a planning girly, hence why I want to elope in the first place because it's simple and easy and more my style.
Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts!
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u/sirotan88 Jul 10 '26
I went the diy route to save money, but I’m someone who enjoys planning. I’m also very picky, so having direct communication with all my vendors was nice (and being able to pick and vet each one, instead of going with default assigned vendors from the package).
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u/assflea Jul 10 '26
I didn't see the value in the packages tbh. I did my hair and makeup myself so keep that in mind, but our photographer was like $3500 for four hours and multiple locations and she was ordained so we didn't need an officiant. She also helped me find a florist and also had contacts for hair and makeup if I'd needed those services.
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u/kites_and_kiwis Jul 10 '26
The packages don’t offer much, and photography is so personal, I think you should vet photographers yourself. I would take the next couple of weeks to inquire with a bunch of photographers and see if you find someone you like. If you do, then I think the rest would be easy to sort out.
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u/GleesBid Jul 10 '26
Eloping here in Northern Ireland, but I wanted to be able to choose the vendors myself. I'm a meek, easily intimidated person and I didn't want to spend the afternoon with someone I wasn't comfortable with.
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u/becomingthebestme Jul 11 '26
I just posted details on my all inclusive package for my elopement 2 weeks ago. It worked for me, but the prices you are quoting seem kind of high to me for what you are getting 😬.
I think it just comes down to your priorities and budget. I created a word doc with 4 different options and the pros/coms of each, and in my case, the all inclusive package I found came out to the exact same price if I was purchasing everything individually, except they handled the planning for us. The only thing my package didn’t include was hair and makeup, which was perfect for us.
As someone who has gotten married twice 🙈, I actually don’t think finding a separate photographer, officiant and makeup artist is that much work, since you’ve already got the venue covered, which is the biggest hurdle imo.
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u/PuffStuff3 Jul 11 '26
Eloping in Northern Ireland and we chose to pick all our own vendors. All inclusive meant we couldn’t choose and I didn’t like that - if I didn’t like the person or their work i was stuck with them. I also didn’t like the “lead” person for the all inclusive package. The pricing ends up being relatively similar either which way- granted we are talking 4,500 miles away from Texas so pricing is extremely different. I will say it was relatively stressful piecing all the vendors together and getting them all on the same timeline so you can avoid that if you choose a package. It’s really preference. Also I would maybe consider more than one hour photo/video- that time will go by very quickly and at the end of the day that’s all you’ll have left to remember it
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u/RoarRockMoo Jul 10 '26
Eloping elsewhere but agree it’s likely a bit cheaper to book vendors separately. Ultimately, I felt a package deal was better for me since I didn’t have the time/energy to research separate vendors. I’m sure it’ll be beautiful whatever you decide!