5 Really Freaking Good Reasons to Elope
HEYO it's Riley, your resident photographer obsessed with all things adventure. As such, I have a huge passion for elopements and want to share a few reasons why I think eloping in such an amazing idea. In my next blog post, we'll be talking about specific locations with pros and cons for each, so stay tuned!
#1 It Just Fits YOU
The biggest reason to elope is because it fits you and your partner's relationship, personality, and lifestyle! If you love adventure, exploring new places, and prefer each others company to a room full of people, eloping might be for you! And there are so many ways to elope too; there's no one size fits all! Big, traditional weddings can so quickly become about what someone else wants for you, instead of what you want! So if that doesn't feel like your jam, that's okay. Plan something entirely built around the two of YOU.
#2 Saving That Money Honey
It's also no secret that weddings are incredibly expensive. In fact, there's an entire wedding industry dedicated to every single detail you could possible have at your wedding. I can't even tell you how many posts on Facebook marketplace that I've seen of couples selling their card boxes, centerpieces, arbors, and more the DAY AFTER their wedding! That's a lot of consumerism and those items really didn't matter much after all (that's just my opinion!) Not to mention the endless vendors and rentals and so on. So save your money for an amazing photographer, an officiant, and then go on amazing trip!
#3 Weddings Create a LOT of Waste
I touched on this a little bit in my second point, but weddings can be incredibly wasteful. You're buying so much to service your guests and while rentals can go back to where they come from, plastic cups, silverware, napkins, etc all end up in the trash. In fact, to blow your mind, the average wedding in the U.S. produces 400-600 lbs of trash! That's CRAZY. Eloping might be 100% waste free, but I guarantee you won't be producing hundreds of pounds of trash.
#4 Less Stress, More Love
So I don't think I have to tell you that planning a wedding is stressful. Especially when you're feeding people, providing entertainment, coordinating all your family; the list goes on and on. And there's always that one relative that thinks you should be following their vision for your wedding instead of your own. Eloping strips away all of that stress and lets you just plan an intimate adventure with a handful of people. You get amazing one on one time with your boo and heck, you can always have a party later!
#5 Location, Location, Location
Last but not least, location. Choosing a venue can be extremely hard for a couple. For larger weddings they are usually monumentally expensive, hard to book, and you have a limited selection in your personal style. With an elopement, literally you can choose anywhere in the WORLD if you wanted too and any time of year! You get the opportunity to choose somewhere specific that has meaning to you and your partner, instead of the only place available on a Saturday in June.
To sum up my points, elopements can relieve the stress and anxiety of planning a large event, they can actually be about what you and your partner want, you can go anywhere, the environmental impact is much smaller, and they will save you a TON of money! All of those things literally sound like a dream come true. Make your day about YOU and let's adventure together.
Cheers,
Riley J
*This post was also written pre-COVID, so another reason to elope would be to protect others and yourselves while also still celebrating your love! Elope now, party later!