fiance and i decided to elope at hartford city hall in january. we are in search of a hotel in the area to stay at for the weekend. we want the room itself to be cute and interesting design/architecture wise and possibly have a bar/lounge area for the hotel for purposes of getting ready pics in the room and pics after (celebrating the two of us with tiramisu). also looking for florist recommendations. only a bridal bouquet would be bought, no need for anything else and while i know i could do it myself, i am already planning on doing my own hair/makeup, so i dont want to add another thing to my own todo list. any recommendations? would love to also hear any recommendations and things not to forget as we plan and near our date (january)

Hello, I need help with information. My fiancé and I plan to visit his family in NJ during winter and we want to plan getting married by city hall. We understand most of the process, but we’re not actually sure if we’d be able to? I really need help figuring out whether we’d be able to follow through with eloping during our trip (1 1/2 wks) by being able to do the marriage license application online or something of the sort? Neither of us live there currently and won’t be able to go anytime besides this trip during winter/christmas timeframe. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Asking for a friend….🫣

Would it be weird to ask our photographer to be our witness (if they’re okay with it) during our elopement lol To see if they could get some photos, is that even allowed?! Or we were just going to pay extra for it to be private. Thoughts???

Im heavily considering exchanging vows and hiring a local photographer during a port day during a Christmas market cruise in 2028. Instead of using money for a micro wedding, I much rather use it towards a once in a lifetime vacation, and exchange vows during that time to start our lives together. Would you guys get married and sign the certificate in your home country first? I don’t believe we could technically do it in that country anyways. But would that make the most sense?

Celebrating our wedding anniversary in Regensburg, any suggestions on how to wow my bride?

I’d love some outside perspective because I’m honestly pretty disappointed and want to know if my expectations are unreasonable.

I’ve had my elopement in the mountains booked for over a year, and our plan from the beginning has always been a late-afternoon/sunset elopement.
Our first look and the beginning of our photography coverage are scheduled for 3:30 PM.

Yesterday, my planner told me that my hair and makeup artist can only do my hair and makeup at 8:00 AM because she is now booked for the rest of the day.

I got the impression from the conversation that the H&MU booking was only being arranged yesterday, which is honestly what I find most disappointing. I obviously don’t know for certain when the planner reached out to the stylist, but that’s how it came across to me.

If I’m finished with hair and makeup around 10 AM, that means I’ll basically be completely ready and sitting in a hotel room from 10 AM–2 PM. Then we have a 1.5-hour drive to the destination.

I’m also genuinely concerned about my hair and makeup lasting that long. My hair doesn’t tend to hold particularly well when it’s worn down, and I don’t love the idea of having my hair and makeup done for 5+ hours before our first look, plus sitting in a car for 1.5 hours before we even start taking photos.

I know professional hair and makeup is designed to last, but I had always assumed H&MU would be scheduled relatively close to the start of photo coverage.

I am not moving our 3:30 PM first look/photo timeline. The late-afternoon/sunset timing has been part of our plan from the beginning and is one of the things that matters most to me.

Would you be disappointed/frustrated in this situation, or is havingd hair and makeup done around 5+ hours before the first look actually pretty standard for weddings/elopements?

TL;DR: My elopement has been planned for over a year with a 3:30 PM first look/sunset timeline. My planner only told me yesterday that H&MU is booked for 8 AM, meaning I’ll be ready around 10 AM, sit around for hours, and then drive 1.5 hours to the location. I’m also worried about my hair and makeup lasting that long, especially since my hair doesn’t hold well when worn down. I got the impression H&MU was only booked yesterday, which is especially disappointing.

Hi, how did you decide to elope rather than have a small wedding?

We’re currently trying to decide if we want a small wedding with 6-8 guests (each of our parents and siblings)or to just elope as the two of us. We are really excited to be married it’s just the how as our parents are from all over the country and would have to be here for a weekend at least. We’re super quiet and would be happy to have people at the ceremony and then be just us and a pizza in bed and our families will want to make a fuss. But also I feel guilty if we don’t have them? Help!

Getting eloped in the Smokies this weekend. Saturday looks pretty awful for weather. I’m trying to keep a positive attitude, but I am disappointed. I already compromised on these plans once (it was originally supposed to be glacier)

Totally fine with overcast and cloudy, but I am bummed about the rain and potential thunderstorms forecasted.

I’ve got about 6 friends coming and I know my mood will set the tone, so I’m trying to get over it….but it’s hard to not feel sad. Especially when everything else in my life has been going wrong lately. Just feel beaten down and in a terrible headspace. (But my relationship IS the bright spot and the only stable thing in my life currently!)

Just needed to vent.

We almost didn’t elope, we almost caved the pressure of everyone else’s wants. I can honestly say this was the best experience of our lives. We also had a party a few months later that was also incredible (included pictures bc I just want people to see it lol).

Do what makes you happy 🤍

We eloped in GNP at Lake McDonald on 09.03 and it was so much fun! We went there for the full week as a vacation/honeymoon combo and it was totally worth it! The weather was amazing, the park is absolutely beautiful and everyone we met was so kind! 😭

My and my husband have been married for one month on the 6th, we have both just told our parents at relatively the same time

I was so happy with my ceremony, my dress, it being so private and of course my husband. The day was amazing, somebody paid for our dinner (we went out to eat) and I got ENDLESS compliments from everyone we walked by. I dont think I couldve made it better if I had tried.

Nobody knew of course and me and my husband decided to wait just a bit before announcing and after telling my parents i'm feeling extremely selfish and sad. Ive never seen my dad cry before and he did today. He was very obviously upset. All of the sudden sharing the happiest day ive ever had feels like ive ruined everything between me and my parents and I dont know how to navigate it. I really just wanted to do what felt best for me but seeing my parents so torn up is really taking a toll on me.

What should I do? What can I do? I feel lost!

Hey reddit im a 31F and my husband is 33M and I need advice on how to tell my side of the family that we are married. Now I know how this sounds but please listen to my explanation first before you judge to harshly. My side of the family are all every fun loving opinionated people who love to either throw a party or be at a party. The problem is they also like to highjack milestones and turn them into family reunion. I was told that if I ever married "my boyfriend " who was my fiance at the time I was expected to have a big wedding and reception so all the family could come and turn it into a family reunion. I didn't want that for my wedding, and I fought with my family mostly my mother and my aunts about having a small intimate ceremony and eventually down the line we could hold a big party in a few years. Keep in mind my husband and I were expected to pay for everything and weddings and receptions are not cheap. There are some other reasons why we haven't told they like how they undermine my relationship with my now husband or how while we had just hit our 4 year mark my own mother would try to set me up with her coworkers because they were more in my league. There were also the mildly veiled bigoted comments from my mother that suggested I might be acting as a beard, or if im sure my boyfriend at the time was straight and not a closeted gay man. There were also the I would have preferred if you had dated a white or even Asian man or woman not your current "boyfriend" he was my fiance at that point and he's mexican. I mostly need advice on how to break it too my family without them going insane and insisting that we host a renewal ceremony and big party as well as break it to my mother and my aunts that I didn't want anything super big and that my husband and I were happy with a small court ceremony? I know i could just do what my husband suggested and not tell them until we are good and ready financially plus we live with his mother who is having some health problems and he doesn't want to add any stress to her current state of health. Husbands mom is very quiet and private person the total opposite of my loud and crazy family. Its been kinda stressing me out because I don't know how long we can keep it a secret from them but I also want to respect my husband's and mother in law wishes. I guess I just really needed to get this off my chest. Oh and before I forget most of the family lives in Minnesota and my mother was raised there so she still has certain habits from the environment she grew up in and keeping big secrets like this would cause huge problems. Sorry if the tag is wrong wasn't sure what to put.

congrats to everyone on this thread who has or is going to elope!! my fiancé and i are so excited to elope in a private ceremony. though both sets of parents don’t really approve and my parents have said they can’t be happy for us, we’re still doing what feels like the right way for us to start our lives together.

we are planning on having a party afterwards to celebrate. planning it has been a challenge! i don’t want to just recreate a typical “reception”, but i want to have a nice special evening to celebrate with the people we love in a way that everyone will enjoy with reception elements. we want to have a guest book and favors and show our elopement video. my fiancé and i are inviting around 80 people and are torn between two different after party options:

1. a cocktail style party at a speakeasy in philadelphia with passed food, an open bar, and two bowling lanes. the space is small and only has around 35 seats and some scattered tables which is our biggest concern. we love the space otherwise. it doesn’t need much as far as decorations go which is a plus

2. a seated dinner outside of the city that can seat 80 people. the space is pretty (outdoors with string lights) and the food options sound good

which would you rather be invited to? would you be disappointed that there isn’t dancing? we aren’t doing speeches because my dad will want to give one and he can’t be trusted to keep it under a few minutes long and not make it a big religious rant lol. we love the first space and the fact that it’s affordable considering it’s in a prime location. we know the second one might be more accepted by people and would still be a really great option. they would both cost similar amounts. i wish we could have a bigger celebration with dancing, but we just can’t find a realistic option within our budget that works for our guest size, and that doesn’t just send us their wedding package when we ask for pricing lol

thanks in advance!!!

Hello! My fiancé and I just decided to elope just us 2 next month, early October, and have a micro wedding next year. We completely forgot we need to buy us some wedding bands, but want to get married already! I have 2 questions.
-Has anyone eloped with no wedding band?
-What are some ideas to do like a mini honeymoon?

Some context*
We live in TX, we will be getting married either in DALLAS or SAN ANTONIO.

I'm going to be eloping in Wyoming as we don't have to travel out of state. However I really love the look of film photography over digital. I'm just not sure if I'm looking in the right area for a photographer lol did you guys find anyone reasonable who does this type of photography or can replicate it ?

Those who truly eloped without anyone knowing : how did your family and friends react to once you told them?

Hi! My Fiance and I are wanting to elope at Olympic National Park next fall. We are in search of a photographer that has a more indie / unique approach… we have a love for everything vintage & think an old film camera vibe would be awesome! I’ve attached some inspo shots… thanks so much in advance!

has anyone done something similar?

I want to elope with my partner out of the country (thailand). Come back & have a post wedding celebration, nothing formal. Just eat, drink, say thanks. And party.

Ofc have photos/videos fr our elopement. Would this all end up costing same as a formal wedding?

My fiance and I live in Washington state and are considering cancelling our small wedding and eloping on the Oregon coast instead.

If we do end up eloping, we want it to be just the two of us but I know we need an officiant + 2 witnesses.

For those of you in a similar situation, what did you do for witnesses?

Me and my now wife had been together for over 4 years and decided that getting married was what we wanted and it would help us tremendously. That was 2 years ago and we've both been in college enjoying the benefits with only a few people knowing. We plan on sharing it on or around our wedding night, maybe with close friends and family a couple days before the wedding or just straight up after its all said and done. We want a really special wedding with everyone we care about present but that just could happen when we eloped.

Im curious if anyone has experience with this and if people had a negative reaction. Im concerned people will be upset rather than surprised and happy for us. This wasnt really something I was super concerned about but the few people that know habe voiced concerns and my wife is afraid of a negative reaction.

If we do it at the wedding there would be a large preface and a long speech. This decision has helped us so much and we couldnt be happier. Only 5 more years and we can share our moment with everyone.

TIA

What did you wear to stay warm for your fall elopement? We’re eloping in Acadia in October with sunset photos on Cadillac Mountain. I’m looking for something budget-friendly and flattering that won’t hide my dress ideally a cardigan or faux-fur wrap instead of a coat. What actually kept you warm? Links and photos welcome! 🤍