What is an Elopement?

Elopement can more or less be defined as “a marriage conducted without the knowledge of the couple’s family and friends, particularly their parents. Typically, those who elope only have a ceremony and do not host a reception or celebration.” The size, scope, and formalities of an elopement ceremony can vary greatly from couple to couple. Whatever your preferences might be, we want to be sure to provide you with the best info possible to ensure your special day is exactly what you hope for!

Is an Elopement right for you?

Choosing to elope rather than a traditional wedding ceremony is an important choice a couple must make before beginning the next chapter of their life together. Depending on your budget, schedule, living arrangement, or personal preferences, it’s important that both people are on the same page when it comes to choosing the quicker route to matrimony. Most importantly, there needs to be a plan in place to let family and close friends know of your elopement. There are several resources available to help you do this.

Selecting a Destination

Is Utah the right place for you?

Eloping in Utah is a great option regardless of your budget and interests. There are so many fantastic locations to consider including Park City, Sundance, Moab, Grand Canyon, or Red Rock Canyon. First, consider what you would like to experience during your wedding. Next, visit our Utah Elopement Locations for more information on National Parks, cities, and towns to hold your wedding in.

Utah Elopement Venues

Budget Elopement

If the purse strings are tight, any place will do for a quality elopement ceremony. Some venues require no spending at all. You might find a place in Utah’s great outdoors. Utah is home to over 22 million acres of public land. At any rate, you’ll probably want to double-check that you’re okay to have a wedding in your chosen location. If you’re not picky about location, holding your elopement at a local courthouse can be an efficient way to tie the knot.

Spendy Elopement

If money is no object, Utah has many spectacular wedding venues to offer. Many eloping couples opt to hold their weddings at one of Utah’s many ski resorts, which offer magnificent views year-round. Southern Utah is also home to many quality resorts with scenic redrock vistas. It all depends on what you like, and what’s the best fit for you as an eloping couple.

 

Choosing a Wedding Date

Planning a wedding can really only begin when you choose a date for the big day. With an elopement, this process can be quicker and easier to manage. Nevertheless, you should still consider elements such as dates that are important or symbolic to you or your partner, locations that have a special meaning, and the time of year that most appeals to you. If you’re choosing to elope on a budget but still want to explore venues or locations, the cheapest months to get married are typically March, April and November. Sticking to a budget can also be a lot easier if you choose a date during the week instead of a weekend.

 

Making Travel Arrangements

Depending on the size and scope of your elopement, you’ll want to take care of travel as soon as you can. As with many events that require a fair amount of planning, with elopement travel, time is on your side. It’s a good idea to inform any attendees of your plans as early as you can so they can book their travel as well.

Budget Elopement

For more frugal elopers, it’s wise to plan far ahead of time, before flights become scarce, and therefore more expensive. Consider more inexpensive airlines, or even driving if your destination is close enough. If you have a wedding party traveling with you, look into group rates. Checking travel sites such as Kayak and Expedia can help you find discounted airfare as well. If you’re looking to spend more on the special day itself, finding creative, inexpensive ways to travel can really help.

Spendy Elopement

For those with a bigger budget to play around with, traveling in style and luxury can add to your elopement experience. Buying direct flights, as opposed to flights with multiple layovers, might be more expensive. However, it can save you more time to spend eloping with your special someone. You might even consider a unique and special mode of travel, such as a cross-country train ride.

 

Arranging Accommodations

Just as important—if not more—as how you get to your Utah elopement, is where you stay when you get there. Depending on your destination, you may have multiple options, from hotels to bed and breakfasts. Regardless of your budget, planning your accommodations well ahead of time can be greatly beneficial. Utah’s popular mountain ranges and national parks get busy during peak seasons, which can affect your elopement planning.

Budget Elopement

If you’re going thrifty, or even just going solo, you can get really creative with where you stay during your elopement. As with travel, if you are traveling with a party, you might be able to save money on a group rate at a hotel. Depending on where in Utah you are eloping, an Airbnb could be a more economical option than a hotel. Southern Utah features many unique stays, like a geodesic dome tent near Canyonlands and a treehouse near Zion. For the truly adventurous at heart, camping is always a budget-friendly option.

Spendy Elopement

If you can afford to spend more on your elopement, you have a multitude of options at your fingertips. Utah is home to dozens of luxurious hotels and resorts. If you have a specific destination in mind, doing a little bit of research into nearby hotels and resorts can help you find the best accommodations for you and your partner’s special day.

 

Check Elopement Legal Requirements

If choosing to elope is right for you and your partner, don’t forget to check the legal requirements depending on where you live or where you choose to get married. Marriage law varies from state to state in the U.S., so it’s vital you confirm the legal details before you travel across the country or abroad. There are several resources available for you, including a guide to marriage laws by the state as well as international requirements if you choose a destination wedding.

 

Officiating a Wedding

Rules governing who can officiate a wedding vary from state to state, so it’s important to examine the specific rules depending on where you choose to have your elopement ceremony. In Utah, for example, ministers or priests of any religious denomination who are in regular communion with any religious community may perform a wedding ceremony. Be sure to check the requirements before making your plan.

 

Assignments

Depending on how traditional your tastes are, and on how many people you bring with you, you may want to make some assignments for the ceremony to help it go more smoothly. Here are a few ideas for elopement ceremony assignments.

• Officiant: You will probably want someone to perform the marriage and serve as a master of ceremonies. Your religious convictions and personal preferences could play a large role in who officiates your elopement wedding.
• Wedding Party: Will you be bringing friends or family with you on your elopement? You may want to have them be part of your wedding party and stand with you as you say “I do.”
• Ushers: Depending on the size of your elopement, you may want to assign people to usher guests into the ceremony venue.
• Ringbearer: You might want to have someone hold onto the rings for you so they don’t get lost in the shuffle on your wedding day.

Set an Agenda

The agenda of events also depends on how detailed you want to get. If it’s not that important to you, you may want to leave these items to your officiant.

• Entrance order: Do you want the party entering the venue in a certain order? Then you’ll want to write that down and let your party know.
• Music: Is there a particular song you want playing while you walk down the aisle? You’ll want to make plans for performers or a way to play audio.
• Vows: If you and your partner want to exchange vows, make sure to set aside time for it in the ceremony.

Write Vows

Depending on your preferences, writing and reading or reciting vows can add an extra layer of meaning to make your elopement wedding all the sweeter. Vows are a great way to express love, make commitments, and strengthen a new marital bond. Here are a few tips if you need help writing your vows.

Make Your Love Known

First and foremost, wedding vows are a sincere expression of love between two partners. The best thing you can do when writing your wedding vows is speak from the heart. Dig deep and listen to your heart, and you can find a way to tell your future spouse you love them in a way that only you ever could. If you do that, you can’t go wrong.

Make Meaningful Promises

At its heart, a vow is a promise. So when you write your vows, make a series of promises that will really mean something to your partner. As with a normal promise, you’ll want to make sure your vows are something that you can keep. The more specific you can get with your promises, the better. Some people like to mix humor into their vows, like promising never to complain about their partner’s morning breath. However, you make your promises, make them meaningful.

Make Them Personal

The generic approach can work for many things in life, but it’s best to avoid this approach with wedding vows. The more personal you can make your vows, the better. Think of stories and unique details that only your partner could truly understand and appreciate. Writing a list of all of the things that make your partner special can help too. Whatever you do, make it personal. If you do, you may end up writing some vows that your future spouse will never forget.

Style

Style will be a huge indicator of what you wear along with what matters most to you about your wedding. If honoring tradition matters, consider a classic wedding dress or suit. If comfort is more important, there are many options of simple wedding dresses for eloping that can be stylish and comfortable.  Some elopers specifically want unique and epic experiences and photos. If that’s you, consider what theme you want your wedding to follow and explore some alternative wedding dresses or apparel.

Location

After deciding what matters most in terms of style, an important thing to remember is that Utah elopement locations bring unique climates. Planning a Utah National Park elopement, means being prepared for the desert, red rocks, and sun.  If you are considering a Park City, Utah elopement snow and green mountains come into play. Whatever clothing you choose, make sure it compliments the climate of your location.

Hair and Makeup

Location and weather will be important to remember with hair and makeup. Hiring a local vendor will be helpful if you are coming to Utah for a destination elopement wedding. These local makeup artists and hair stylists can advise you on products best for our climate. Other activities you have planned for your wedding, including a reception or travel should also be kept in mind. Remember to make your hair and makeup work for your wedding.

Rings

Rings are a time honored tradition at wedding ceremonies, but can also be adapted to meet your unique needs.  Consider what wedding rings symbolize to you and your partner and how you would like to include them in your elopement. Rings are something that eloping couples can be in control of regardless of where the ceremony is.

Photography

Just because you are eloping, doesn’t mean you won’t want photos to remember the day. The amount of photos and quality of photos is what this decision comes down to. If you are looking for some high quality photos of your day, Utah has many elopement photographers. Be sure to express your desires and needs to the photographer and remember to shop around before making your decision.

To save money on photography, consider asking trusted friends or family members to take photos on cameras or cell phones. If privacy is most important for you, remember a tripod and an Iphone can get the job done as well.

Flowers

Unlike most other vendors or services you need, flowers are something that cannot be found everywhere. You can look online to find images and inspiration of flowers that best match your wedding. Next, consider your location. For a Park City, UT or other major city elopement, review local search and rating websites to find highly recommended vendors. If you are hosting a destination Utah elopement, explore vendors closest to your location but also consider transporting the flowers to your destination and plan ahead.

Planning an Elopement Guest List

Now it’s time to ask yourself: Who do you want to share your amazing Utah elopement wedding experience with!? By nature, elopements typically have much smaller guest lists, especially if you’re traveling to Utah from afar. So it’s important to ask yourselves who you want to share this experience with.

Do you want to be completely alone with just the two of you? For some couples this really is the best option and they absolutely love it; However, most couples really appreciate the love, support, and fun that comes from inviting your inner circle of family and friends. Which means you’ll need an elopement guest list.
Surprisingly, this can be a difficult topic for couples to discuss! After all, the definition of “inner circle” can be vastly different if you come from a big or small family. Our top recommendations for building your guest list are:

1. Build it privately
2. Remember that each of your inner circles are equally as important. Each relationship is unique and special. Don’t presume to tell your fiance who he/she can or can’t invite. Work together!

 

The Reception Venue

Selecting a venue depends on your budget, the size of your reception, and the overall vibe you’re going for. Visit our “Picking a destination page” for the comprehensive guide on picking your perfect venue

 

Wedding Cake & Food at your Wedding Reception

Before we talk about ANYTHING else food related. You need a wedding cake. Simple or fancy, big or small, expensive or frugal, it doesn’t matter. Cutting your wedding cake is a classic tradition that is so fun for couples at the reception!

There are plenty of Utah local wedding cake makers that you can find, but we recommend She Makes the Cakes. The cakes are affordable and beautiful just like the one shown below:

Most couples opt to have their wedding reception catered, which is typically the most convenient yet costly option. If you value convenience and you want the food to be handled without having to worry, get it catered. If your family and friends can handle the food, it’s typically the cheaper yet more stressful route. So essentially catering is easier but more expensive, and friends/family is cheaper but more difficult. You pick what works best for you!

Also for ideas on what kinds of foods to have at your wedding, check out. They have a variety of options that will help you decide what delicious foods to have at your celebration.

 

Decor at your Venue

The first thing to remember is that your reception venue plays a big role in terms of decor. So make sure you pick a venue that will fit the decor that you’ve been pinning on your Pinterest board!

Furthermore, Pinterest is a perfect place to look for inspiration on what you want your reception to look like. Most couples have an overall idea, but need a little additional inspiration for the minor details.

 

 

Start a Wedding Registry

Wedding registries are just flat out fun. Everyone loves being able to walk through a store or browse online and pick their favorite things for free! And the best part is, starting a wedding registry is actually incredibly easy. Amazon Wedding Registry is a wonderful place to start due to the convenience it provides your loved ones. If you’re partial toward a specific store or brand, just contact them directly or visit their website and they’ll get you all hooked up.

Special note: If this is your first time living away from home, we recommend asking family and friends for recommendations. You never realize how much you appreciate something like a can-opener until it’s standing between you and your dinner…. And you forgot to put it on your registry.

Announce your Elopement

To be clear, elopement announcements are not the same as elopement invitations. Hopefully that clears up a few questions right out of the gates!
There are two main purposes for elopement announcements. Number one is that they notify the people that love you that you got married! Number two, GIFTS! What was the point in making a wedding registry if no one knows you got married and where to buy your gift!?
So if you want all your loved ones to know and if you like free gifts, announcing your elopement is a must! Check out Minted Weddings  to start building your perfect elopement announcements.