To elope, or not to elope, that is the question

If you are recently engaged or maybe in the middle of planning your wedding, let me start off by saying CONGRATULATIONS! Planning a wedding is so exciting. Years of pinning wedding inspo to your Pinterest board, and it is finally coming to life! While it’s all fun daydreaming about the possibilities, we also get that it can be a little overwhelming. It is difficult trying to please everyone, and not knowing which type of wedding suits you and your partner best. This is why we decided to break it down and help you to decide if you want an elopement or traditional wedding!

Elopements

When it comes to how to decide on if you want an elopement or traditional wedding you might think they are pretty similar. But let’s talk about elopements first! There are several kinds of elopements and they usually have a guest count count anywhere from 0 to 50 people. Elopements can be super intimate, where it’s just you and your significant other in a beautiful place. You also have the option to elope with some of your favorite people by your side.

Pick a location that means the most to you!

You can have an adventurous elopement like taking a helicopter out to the middle of a glacier in Alaska to say your “I Do’s” or hiking up a mountain in a national park. This can really make your elopement a memorable experience! Others choose to stay closer to home, and have just as memorable of a time finally getting married to the love of their life. The best thing about an elopement is that you can do whatever you damn well please! Because at the end of the day it’s all about the two of you and we love that!

What’s Included

Now even though elopements are a little more intimate than traditional weddings, there are still ways to make it feel like a traditional wedding. Elopements include the very best parts of the traditional wedding, such as first look, ceremony, cake cutting, champagne toast, and first dance. You can even have a gorgeous sweetheart table for the two of you with some charcuterie on the side while your guests enjoy a grazing table. Lastly, some newlywed photos, but elopement style, adventuring off in the beautiful scenery with your photographer.

Now lets get into the Pros and Cons of having an elopement

Pros

1.Location! Getting to go somewhere intimate, romantic and adventurous. Its a once in a lifetime experience.

2.Highly Customizable, you can do whatever you want, LITERALLY!

3.More relaxed, since elopements are super intimate there’s less stress on this day.

4.Less time to plan. Elopements are known as the run off to Vegas and get hitched vibe! You could literally plan an elopement in a week! You can even plan more of an elaborate elopement too! Either way, they require substantially less time than a full service wedding.

5.Elopements are 2-6 hours. How long your elopement last depends on how long you book photography and how many photo locations you decide to go to. A longer elopement time would include getting ready photos, ceremony and photos to follow at the ceremony location, and then going to a second location for more fun photos in a different scenery. Even longer elopements still leave you time to party after! Full service on the other hand is an all day event. So if you are trying to squeeze in site seeing and adventures along with getting married, but are short on time, eloping is for you!

Cons

1.Locations! Adventurous locations means adventurous weather! We all know mother nature has a mind of her own so if you are someone who disdains winds and weather, consider and indoor location.

2.Your dress might get dirty– but it can be cleaned & looks AMAZING in adventure photos.

3.Not having your friends and family present. Being that this is such a special day you could miss sharing this with your friends and family. To help them not miss such a special moment you could stream the elopement or look into hiring a videographer to share the moments with them. There are even elopement announcements that you could send so they can keep a photo of this special moment.

4. Although elopements are very customizable you might miss out on some religious traditions like the hora or even an epic dance party! If you love dancing just as much as me you can always plan a kick a** party or maybe you’re eloping in Vegas you can totally have an intimate ceremony with just the two of you and then meet up with your friends and family on the strip!

Traditional Wedding

Now that we’ve established what an elopement is you’re probably still wondering on how to decide if you want an elopement or traditional wedding. It’s okay sis, we get it so let’s break down what a traditional wedding is. Traditional Weddings are more of a scripted day that’s a bit more over the top with a big party with a larger guest count. There is definitely a lot more planning that goes into having a traditional wedding like finding a venue, vendors, coming up with a guest list.

What’s Included

A traditional wedding is a full day extravaganza. This day starts off with getting glammed up with your bridal party and for the men there is male grooming (we 10/10 recommend this!) so that you look all cleaned up for the day! Then a first look before ceremony. Newlywed photos are after but these could also be done before the ceremony. Thinking to do a first look? This is a great moment for some beautiful photos and video. While newlyweds are going on there is a cocktail hour that leads into the reception. Once you get into reception there’s a grand entrance, first dance, dinner, dancing, cake cutting and so much more!

Here are some Pros and Cons when it comes to a traditional wedding!

Pros

1. Get to celebrate with your loved ones! As we all know your wedding day is a major milestone in your life and there is no greater feeling than being able to share this special day then with your friends and family.

2. Spotlight moment, this is for me Leo’s who love a good spotlight moment. This is the day that all eyes are on you and celebrating your love.

3. Ceremony and reception! After months and months of planning, designing, picking out florals and décor. Doing a room reveal is not only a super cool idea, but it’s like walking into everything you have ever dreamed of and such a special moment.

4. Once in a lifetime moment, this day is the that all your Pinterest board dreams come to reality.

5. Photography & videography. Traditional weddings are an all day affair! Which can capture the full story of the day and full range of emotions starting from getting ready all the way to the end of the night at the reception. This will be something that you can look back on.

Cons

1.Coming up with a guest list. Let’s be real here, coming up with your guest list is not the best part when planning a wedding. It can be very difficult to narrow down your guest list that suits you and your partner. You could even be limited on a guest count due to the venue. And trust me we get that you want to invite everyone, but sometimes that’s not the case.

2. Going around to every guest leaves less time for the both of you together. It is a whirlwind of fun and emotions having everyone all in one room celebrating you, but often time couples will feel that they spent more time with other people than their spouse. To prevent this from happening, we love adding in special moments throughout the day for you to take it all in. This can include a moment alone after your ceremony, a room reveal with just the two of you before guests enter, or a last slow dance to end the night.

3. Requires more planning time and organization of everything. Like booking catering, bar/beverages, DJ, lighting and rentals, photobooth or any other entertainment, back drop décor, stationary and name cards. Some tasks include creating a seating chart, finalizing rsvp’s, room arrangements and set up. I would recommend a planner for this!

4. The Spotlight moment. If you don’t really like having the attention on you this aspect can be scary for some! And both partners may have different feelings about the spotlight, you know how extroverts and introverts always end up together! However, there are many ways to navigate this so both partners feel comfortable. For instance, if saying personal vows in front of everyone is overwhelming, you can set aside time to do private personal vows with just the two of you. If the first dance is not your thing, you can skip it all together or have others join in. If the thought of a grand entrance is terrifying, it’s seriously all good! Quiet entrance it is.

5. Feeling stressed or overwhelmed, which is very easy to happen when wanting to please everyone. As planners we are there to navigate the beautiful mess with you every step of the way. We keep the focus on what the two of you want so both you and your guests are happy!

It’s not easy a decision to make when it comes to how to decide if you want an elopement or traditional wedding. If there’s anything you’ve gathered from this blog, its that getting married can be magical, love filled affair no matter where it happens or how many people attend. It’s a celebration of our love. Think you’re ready to take the plunge on an elopement or traditional wedding, Ember and Stone is ready for you!