My elopment invite

I was once in a wedding where the bride made a Zola registry for wedding related costs, i.e. flowers, catering, etc. However, not one guest contributed to it. I'm not sure if in your circle it is common to contribute to the wedding. Maybe instead of asking for money, you could make the dinner a potluck so everyone brings a dish.

There's not really a polite way to go about this. You can't really ask guests to pay for the party that you invited them to.

You don't. That'd be extremely rude.

If you cant afford to host 8 people you should elope just the two of you.

No matter how large or small the wedding is, you don't ask your guests to chip in and help pay for it.

If you can't pay for it yourself. then hopefully your deposit on the rented house is refundable. I suggest cancelling it and truly eloping.

I'm not sure there is anyway to do this.

Just reading this made me cringe. It would be considered very rude to ask your guests to pay for any part of your wedding.

I'm sorry to say, this would be extremely rude. That's like saying "hey, we are having a New Year's Eve party, so can you pay me money to come celebrate with us"?
This is YOUR party (wedding), so it is your bill, not your guests bill.

It would be very rude to ask, but you're not some terrible person for thinking about it, especially since you're obviously very close to those 8 people and know their level of understanding. I would say that these people, knowing there's a lower level of attendance, might be a little more giving. If I was invited to a wedding with 8 attendees and my room was being paid for, I personally would probably get a very well thought out gift out of gratitude for being invited to such an exclusive wedding. But know who you're inviting, and recognize you may not totally know their situation. Do not rely on them as a source of income for this, be grateful with what they have to offer to you. Also know you're area: in some circles cash is weird as a gift, some places everybody gives cash. If you don't create a registry, it doesn't mean you'll end up with cash, it probably just means you'll end up with some things you don't want.