“Viva Las Vegas: Who doesn’t dream of getting married by Elvis in a drive-thru chapel with an obnoxious heart theme?” Photo courtesy of Amanda Parker.
By Amanda Parker
When talking to people how many times do you hear, “You’re planning a wedding — how fun!” If your reaction is anything like mine you say, “Yes! It’s so much fun!” But really I’m thinking, “Thank god I only have to do this once!”
Planning a wedding is a lot. It’s stressful. You’ll have your share of arguments (especially about “the list”), about the food and about a lot of other stupid stuff. The key word here is stupid because, in the bigger picture, it really doesn’t matter. A wedding is fun and exciting, but it is only one day. Granted, it’s probably the most important day of your life, but still…one day. So, to relieve some wedding stress, I thought it would be fun to give you some of my top reasons to consider eloping:
1. Destination wedding. It cuts the list down for you really fast. If you can’t fly or you can’t get the vacation time, you don’t come. It is truly that simple. Throw the dreaded list conversation right out the window for this one.
2. Viva Las Vegas. Who doesn’t dream of getting married by Elvis in a drive-thru chapel with an obnoxious heart theme? (Let’s be honest: I’ve totally thought about it.) Or you could even just run into one of their pop-up chapels (which was totally tempting when we were in Vegas!).
3. Shhhhh is the word. Just don’t tell anyone. Not a soul. Go on a nice warm vacation and come back married. BAM! It’s done. No invitations, no unwanted opinions, just done.
4. Cousin Vinny twice removed. How do we tell that cousin (you know, the one you’ve never met?) that he’s not invited to the wedding? It’s going to divide the family! If you elope, he probably will never even know that you were engaged or even got married.
5. Sweating for the wedding. You don’t have to work out like a crazy person in the months leading up to your wedding because, if you elope, no one’s going to be there. Two strangers can be your best man and maid of honor and they’re not going to sit there and say, “I’m surprised she chose that dress! An a-line would have looked much better on her.”
6. The “I can’t wait for your wedding” random person. I barely know you, and we’re cutting family: What makes you think that you’re invited?! Always an awkward conversation.
While eloping could be fun and exciting and it works for some people, our number one reason for NOT eloping: family. We’re so close to our family, and I honestly couldn’t picture our wedding without everyone that we love. However, when I get frustrated or aggravated with the planning and say, “We should have just gotten married in Vegas,” (and my dad laughs and says, “Then your mom and I could have bought that condo in Florida!”) I don’t really mean it. How could I embark on this new journey without everyone I love surrounding me? So, all you brides-to-be, the ‘let’s just elope’ feeling is totally normal. But you need to sit back and remember that it all will be worth it.
And honestly, half the stuff we have nightmares about and stress about won’t really matter that day. So sit back, relax and try to enjoy this crazy, fun, emotional roller-coaster thing we love called planning a wedding.
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