Should You Invite Guests To Your Elopement?
If you’ve been keeping up with current wedding trends, you’ll know that elopements are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to traditional wedding ceremonies. While a typical wedding takes place in a venue like a church, a beach, or a seaside resort, an elopement can take place anywhere, from breathtaking mountain trails to secluded alpine forests. Aside from the venue, a key difference between traditional weddings and elopements is the guest list. But the question is, should you invite guests to your elopement
While traditional weddings can have guest lists ranging from dozens or even hundreds of guests, this is usually not the case for an elopement. However, modern elopements have evolved and sometimes include a guest list of close friends and family to share in all the joyful moments.
Do you have to invite guests to your elopement? Of course not! This is your day, and these decisions are entirely up to you, but if you are considering an elopement, there are a few important things to consider when making this decision.
Pros + Cons Of Inviting Guests To Your Elopement
So, do you invite guests to your elopement or not? It’s important to keep in mind that there are tradeoffs that come with whatever decision you make.
Having the people you love around you to witness this amazing moment in your lives can of course be wonderful and deeply enhance the experience but it can also bring potentially complicating factors to consider.
Pros
A Personal Connection
Sharing your elopement ceremony with a close group of friends and family can deepen the personal connections you feel to the most important people in your life, and add a celebratory atmosphere to the proceedings.
Love And Support
Your wedding is a huge moment in your life, and it can be deeply fulfilling and meaningful to have close friends and family by your side to lend you their love and support as you reach this incredible milestone.
Shared Memories
Inviting guests to your elopement means that you’ll form beautiful memories together that you’ll be able to share for the rest of your lives.
Cons
Potential Loss Of Privacy
Elopements can offer a level of privacy that you can’t get at a traditional wedding. Inviting guests to your elopement naturally means that some of this privacy is lost. You’ll be sharing these happy memories with people who are deeply important to you, but if you’d rather this moment exist just between the two of you, inviting guests to your elopement might not be the right choice.
Increased Cost
You’ll need to consider your budget when inviting guests to your elopement and take into account whether or not your guests will need accommodations, food, transportation, or any other necessities.
Less Flexibility
When you invite guests to your elopement, you’ll have to take each guest’s individual needs and schedules into consideration. Will all your guests be able to access your chosen location? Will everyone’s schedules be amenable to your chosen itinerary?
Whether or not you invite guests to your elopement will come down to what you envision for your day. Are you hoping for a destination elopement, or something closer to home? What kind of budget are you working with? Are you hoping to host your guests overnight, or are you planning for something more low-impact?
Ultimately, the way you answer these questions will determine the size of your guest list.
How Many People Should Be Invited To An Elopement?
The next big decision you’ll need to make is how many people will be coming. While there’s no set minimum or maximum to your guest list, a typical rule of thumb for adventure or wilderness elopements is that it’s best to limit the guest list to 15 people at most.
Who Do You Invite To An Elopement?
Since an elopement is much more intimate than a traditional wedding, with a much smaller guest list, the people you invite will typically be only your closest friends and family members.
Think of the people you love most, the ones who have been with you and watched your love blossom into a lifelong commitment. These are the people you’ll want by your side to witness your adventure elopement.
Alternatives To Inviting Guests To Your Elopement
Celebrating your big day with friends and family does not necessarily require inviting guests to your elopement ceremony. There are many ways you can share your special day with the people close to you while keeping the elopement ceremony a private event between you and your partner such as:
Host a gathering back at home afterwards
Invite guests to attend virtually over Zoom, Facetime, etc
Invite guests to send in personalized messages such as recorded audio or video messages
Let’s Get This Party Started!
If you’re looking for an adventure elopement photographer in Washington, Oregon or California, then we should definitely have a chat! No matter the size of your guest list, we’ll work together to plan an awesome adventure elopement that’s unforgettable for everyone involved.
Hey, I’m Sally! I’m a destination adventure elopement photographer based in Washington, but traveling worldwide!
Check Out My Free Elopement Planning Guide & Checklist!
This freebie gives you a step-by-step guide on exactly how to plan your dream adventure elopement.
