Has anyone ever Eloped or knew someone who did? Did they regret it?

I want to so bad but David wont let us. lol Damn men and their weddings. lol

I think in your heart you already know if you would regret it or not. If there is already doubt. You might.

My FH's brother eloped. They are fine with it but his mother isn't. But, at the end of the day, it's about what you want. Maybe you can afford to do a private ceremony and honeymoon together with the funds you'll have available.

I told M that if we weren't so close to our wedding we would just elope lol

I would. We really would like to, but my sister passed and I am parent's only daughter. They had only us two. She died before she could marry. If I was going to elope, their hearts would be broken. My dad is excited to walk me down the aisle. My mom and I are going to make great memories but doing the fresh flowers together. I could never deny them these things. They have been through more than enough.

My sister did. We were never OK with it. We wanted to share with them and participate in the celebration at least to some extent. The family really supported their marriage, and we're not more or less crazy than any other family.

I would have appreciated at least knowing what they were planning. We could have had lunch when they came back. It just seemed sneaky for no reason whatsoever. I do not believe weddings have to be elaborate or expensive. But this was just a slap in the face.

My officiants and I perform upwards of 100 elopements a year. The ceremony is sweet and intimate, the settings are often homes or parks or historic sites, and usually there are the closest family members there as witnesses. Afterwards? A nice little lunch or a cool party at home. It's still a 'whole wedding experience', just a different one. Personally? I really love them.

Eloping doesn't mean you do it alone, usually; it's just usually smaller. It's a lovely way to get married and not be worried about numerous things; money, guest lists, favors, music....on and on and on.

If it works for you, then by all means, do it.

Celia, that is beautiful and wise advice for the OP

My mom's cousin did it. My great aunt wasn't very happy about it since one of her other children (only son) also eloped about 20 years beforehand. Both were spur of the moment things, with no family around.

If you are going to elope, do as Celia made mention and make sure you invite at least some close family and friends to celebrate with you. If you have a nice white dress, some flowers, music, photos and a small party afterwards I don't think you'll be missing out on anything.

I did and honestly I wish I would have waited and had the big day right the first time. We were in the middle of planning and my step-father was dying so it just didn't seem right to continue planning (In that aspect I am glad we didn't go through with the wedding because his funeral ended up being the weekend before our original date) Now we are being married in the church because we were never married under God's name and in my church you are required to be married in the church if you were apart of the church. Normally convaildations (what its called) are small but our Deacon said we could have guests and everything like a large wedding if we wanted to and we decided to because we wanted to right the wrong we did with our friends and family. We really hurt them by them not being there.

I want to quickly clarify that I did not regret eloping or getting married all I regretted was that I went behind my parents back and did it.

I may be misunderstanding the term, but to me if you have a small ceremony and lunch with your closest family and friends, that's not eloping. That's just a small wedding. My understanding of elopement involves only the couple.

We started off planning to elope, got talked into a wedding by his mom who than did not even so much as give me a list of her side of the family, than ended up postponing numerous times because of his military schedule, we eventually decided to do JOP and than since I'd done so much work already have a wedding after he got home from deployment, but the longer I thought about it the more of a hassle a wedding seemed to become. So, we're not doing a wedding now. I don't regret our JOP wedding...well, okay I wish we had just stuck to our original plan of eloping.

I guess it depends on you. For me planning a wedding was kind of a hassle, and I just couldn't bring myself to muster up the enthusiasm to spend 1 more year planning it. I used to be the girl who told everyone I was never getting married. I never dreamed of a wedding, and didn't have any idea to start so it was completely from scratch and that was exhausting for me. If you have dreamed of a wedding since you were little

You might regret it. Most of the women I know(my MIL included) who regret not having "The Wedding Experience" are ones who dreamed of a big wedding for a long time.

Our elopements are usually little family groups, not couples 'running away' by themselves. Weddings have gotten so complicated, huge and expensive that having 10 people for a private ceremony and lunch IS eloping!

It should still be meaningful, inspiring and special, and in many cases, that aspect of the deal gets lost once 100 other people enter into the mix. Not always.

At the end of the story, it's about being married; the path there is different for everyone. (I do have to admit that I like it when the couple's parents are there, unless there is a problematic relationship.....)

I am on the verge of elopement myself. I would like our children to be there with us though. I do have a question though

..If a couple decides to go that route and have a big ceremony later, does the officiant use the same wording as a "first time" wedding or vow renewal?

Just curious in case the guests didn't know you were already hitched lol

Thank you all for your stories! We were thinking of eloping but not just us...we were hoping at least both our moms, and maybe two friends could join us. I just want to be responsible and not but us in a bind.

You ladies are great!

My parents eloped when they were 18 and both regretted it so much that I was not "allowed" to get married unless I was over 24 (of course I didn't wind up getting engaged until 29, so they had higher hopes for me .)

They said that they cheated their family and friends out of a real celebration and hurt a LOT of people.

I know a few couples that have eloped and surprisingly every single one of them doesn’t regret it. They are happy they avoided the wedding stress. FH and I thought about it, but instead we decided to have a small wedding with family and close friends. It really all depends on the couple! You will miss all the stress of planning a wedding but on the other hand you will miss the joy and celebration of a wedding day. There’s pro’s and con’s. Weigh them together as a couple. This decision is ultimately up to the both of you.

My mom and stepfather eloped. It was very cool! I was about 4 years old but I remember everything about that day! Afterward, they went to visit all of the immediate family members and they let me tell everyone which I thought was big deal at the time.

My mom's first time around was not an elopement but it was a small informal ceremony. Either way, my mom always says she has never felt like she missed out on the "big wedding" experience. In fact, she has always thought it was more romantic to do it that way. She has been pushing for me and FH to run off and get married for years! lol

I think people have a tendency to think about weddings in extremes. Eloping where you only have the couple vs. big, expensive, complicated, stressful productions. There are so many options in between. The thing is just to find the one that works for you.

Also based on many posts that we have, people don't differentiate between "must haves" and fluff, as Pan calls it. You don't need to have all the fluff to have the "wedding" experience.

So Jade, I would just think about who you would really want at your wedding. Get those people for a small ceremony and a brunch, and you'll have all the wedding experience on the planet. Don't forget that decorations, *cutesy* ways to ask your BMs, and escort cards that you slave over for days are not what makes a wedding.