Guilt about eloping

I understand your concern. So her parents can't come right? What if you do a small thing in both places so that both sets of parents can be part of your wedding?

At the end of the day it's your choice. You could do a small ceremony at each place. You could elope and have a small reception at each place. You could elope then after the baby have a ceremony with a reception even. "Every girl dreams of her wedding day." - what does your bride think about it? Would your parents travel if the wedding was in her home state?

I think you did the right thing based on your situation. There is no reason to go into debt over a wedding. I understand the guilt part though. We didn't invite every family member my parents wanted us to invite because we are paying for the wedding ourselves and couldn't afford the huge guest list. I feel guilty, but its just what we had to do. I love my parents, but I'm an adult now and have to do what's best for my family now, which is just FH but will soon be kids too.

You're doing nothing wrong. The wedding is for you both and I totally understand your choice. I'm in a similar situation. My family is hundreds of miles away but my fiancé's family is here where we met and live. A wedding in either place wouldn't be fair to one side, so we're choosing to have a wedding in NEITHER place. We're eloping and we're planning for it to be just the two of us. We will probably have two very informal backyard celebrations sometime after we get married... one in each location... but that's it. Neither of us really wanted the big wedding at all. We don't like to be the center of attention, and the money seems much better spent on our future together (house, retirement, etc.). It's going to break my parents' hearts, and I'm struggling with that, but this day isn't about them. We plan to get professional photos and a video of our elopement that we can share later to somewhat allow them to experience the event after the fact, so perhaps you could offer that as a way to appease them?