WHY I DECIDED TO ELOPE
My husband I eloped a little over two years ago on New Years Eve. I never considered us “rebels” but now looking back on it, eloping on NYE is not the most traditional route!
Why did my husband and I decide to elope? Well honestly, we went back and forth on it a lot. We finally decided to do it, with the hopes of keeping it on the low down, and having a wedding later in the following year. I’ll explain a little later why I decided it wasn’t worth it.
Besides the obvious benefit of saving a whole lot of money, there are some other things you may not have thought of. But yes, the money is the best perk! I started to get very stressed out at the prices for everything and looking and touring wedding venue after wedding venue, only to have each one be extremely over priced and completely unwilling to negotiate. I thought for sure they would be wanting my business enough to haggle with me a little bit, but I was very wrong. The wedding industry is huge and they’re not worried or care if you don’t want to pay that price, because someone else definitely will.
By eloping I saved myself a huge stress of trying to find an ethically priced venue or trying to haggle over each line item.
Some people are fortunate enough to have family to pay for their wedding or have the finances, and for those of you who do, that’s amazing and you definitely shouldn’t feel guilty about it! But, this isn’t always the case for everyone. If you are trying to plan a wedding on a budget, remember that this is an expensive market and everyone will try and up-sell you. So when you go to look at flowers, they will show you what you can afford, and then an even nicer, more expensive version of your dream. So, literally every time you go to plan a part of your wedding, whether it’s flower, the cake, the food, a photographer, you better believe you are going to be shown a bigger, better “package.”
Maybe some people are okay with that and won’t be bothered by it. More power to you! I do my best, but I am not always one of those people. I didn’t want to feel crappy after I left each appointment when I knew I would be starting the day floating on air and super excited to plan something for my wedding. Then there would be this small cloud of disappointment because I would feel frustrated that I couldn’t afford what I really wanted and then spending hours on Pinterest trying to see if I could DIY something. You all know what I’m talking about! But the last thing you want to be doing days before your wedding, is making a bunch of things and running around like a chicken with your head cut off.
By eloping, I saved myself this disappointment and I actually made money because my husband and I were able to file jointly on our taxes, which saved us over $10,000!!!! WOOOHOOO!
Wait so you can actually save money, not lose money by eloping?? Oh yeah!
My husband and I used that money to go on a 3 week…yes, 3 week vacation all over Greece and Italy. (you can check out those blog posts in my travel section if you want some travel tips!)
I made some of the best memories on that trip and got to spend some great one on one time with my husband. Not to say that a wedding isn’t a memory you will cherish forever, but having a 3 week “honeymoon” definitely took the sting off of it!
I got to not worry about a guest list. Should I invite that family member that I’m not that close with because if I don’t it will cause drama, or should I invite my good friends I actually want there instead?
I got to not become a stressed bridezilla, running around days before my wedding trying to make my Pinterest board come together.
And after eloping, and having all of these barriers pop up trying to plan a wedding, we kept pushing it off and pushing it off. Finally, it became a little weird to have a wedding having been married for two years already, and pretty apparent it wasn’t that big of deal after enjoying the actual marriage.
10 years ago, I would have thought I would have had the biggest regret not having a wedding. But, I have literally ZERO regrets and if I decide later that I want one, I’ll plan a ten year wedding vow renewal!
This is my husband and me getting married at our minister’s house.
P.S. There is no word for when you elope but don’t leave town…
Has anyone else eloped? Let us know your thoughts down below too!
