Reasons to elope now and have a reception later
Maybe you’ve already decided to elope. Perhaps you’re still on the fence, and one of the biggest things keeping you from making the final decision is that you’ve always dreamed of a festive post-wedding reception. Well good news: you can 100% have both. And again, there are no hard-and-fast rules, so you can elope as soon as you’re ready, then have your reception down the road — whether that be a month or a year (or more!).
Here are just a handful of the reasons you may want to elope now and have a wedding reception later.
1. You get an intimate and authentic day with your partner
In my personal opinion, after shooting so many elopements, all extremely different, this is one of the most meaningful reasons to elope and then have a wedding at a future date. There are, of course, exceptions, but many couples look back on their traditional wedding day and describe it as “a blur.” There’s so much going on and so many people to talk to (including, often, people they hardly know!) that the newlyweds hardly find a spare moment to connect.
Eloping solves that problem completely, giving you a 100% authentic, just-the-two-of-you wedding day that you’ll remember forever. The “wedding” later? You’ll look back on that as more of a celebration or party, but the important date will always be just for the two of you, exactly how you envisioned it.
2. No waiting
While plenty of people spend months planning their elopement, you certainly don’t have to (remember the whole no rules thing?). In fact, I’ve shot more than one elopement within a week of signing the contract! The only things truly needed for it to count as an elopement are the two of you, a great photographer (that’s me!), an epic location, and a sense of adventure.
3. No pressure & no drama
One of the benefits of having a true elopement for just the two of you is that you get to eliminate all the “noise” of pressure and other people’s opinions. You don’t have to worry about inviting your parents’ friends, where to seat those two cousins who had a still-unresolved conflict years ago, or whether your guests will like the venue you picked. Including family and friends in your elopement is tricky!
I’m not saying you won’t still have to navigate that for your reception later on, but at least that’s more of a party and not your actual wedding!
4. Spread out the cost
Finances tend to be somewhat of a hush-hush topic of conversation, but let’s be honest: weddings, elopements or otherwise, are expensive. This is true whether you’re eloping in the desert somewhere with nothing but your partner and photographer or you’re hosting a lavish affair for 100 guests.
If you choose to elope sooner rather than later and have a wedding reception at some future date, you can stagger those expenses and make both events a lot more manageable.
5. A reason to wear your wedding attire a second time!
I’ve always thought it’s a bit tragic that we don’t have more occasions to wear wedding attire, especially dresses. Of course, you technically could, but the reality is that most people don’t (and won’t) for sentimental reasons. Eloping and later having a wedding reception allows you to don those fancy clothes at least twice, though!
6. Extend your wedding celebrations
Whoever said that a wedding should only be celebrated once? Since you’re already going the non-traditional route by eloping, why not throw a reception later and celebrate twice?! This also allows people to celebrate you as a true newlywed couple, rather than as an engaged couple.
7. You still get to party with the people you love
As I said a bit earlier, this is one of the biggest reasons I see people worried about fully committing to eloping. They (understandably!) want to celebrate with friends and family, but also don’t want all the stress that comes along with that, or feel drawn to the idea of their wedding day being just them and their about-to-be spouse. Eloping and having a wedding allows you to have the best of both worlds, making memories both with one another and with loved ones!
