Are you considering eloping? If that's what you want to do then how do you come back and celebrate with your guests?
Well, one of our couples recently did this and it was amazing! So let me share the story and a few ideas on how you can celebrate once you'd eloped!
So first of all guys, some of you may be sitting in the camp of elopement because you don't fancy having a big traditional wedding, you're not too keen on the party and you just want it to be a romantic and intimate affair between the two of you and that is absolutely fine, you do you as I always say!
However, some of you may want to elope but then still want to celebrate the marriage with your friends but don't want to do it in a traditional way. I feel we can then split these types of couples into two sub-groups. So let me explain...
First group - you may want to go ahead and have a semi-traditional wedding. You may have eloped because you just wanted to get married or wanted to get married abroad and didn't want your guests to have to pay to go out there.
Second group - you want to elope to have your ceremony super personal and intimate but then you want to have the party element without the huge price tag of a traditional wedding.
Our Couples Story
So our couple fell into the second group, they knew that they never ever wanted a traditional wedding even their friends and family knew this. So they decided to secretly elope abroad, keeping it really intimate and personal and super romantic.
But... they still wanted to celebrate with their friends and family but they weren't sure what to do and asked me to get involved to help pull their ideas together.
Firstly, you need to decide how you're going to tell everybody! You can either send an invite telling your guests that you've eloped and that you'd like to invite them to your party/gathering...
OR, you can do what my couple did, which is not tell anyone you've eloped and invite guests to come and celebrate you 'engagement'. Yes you heard me right, engagement! How cheeky but brilliant is that!
What's Next?
So once you've invited everyone to your 'engagement' party there are then two ways in which you can announce that your actually married!
Invite guests to arrive before you, get them all seated and then make an entrance and announce you have a little secret to share with them. This way your photographer can capture all their shocked faces all at once.
This is what my couple did... Hide yourselves away at the venue, when your guests arrive one by one they're greeted with a sign that says ' We have a confession to make, this isn't our engagement party it's actually our wedding reception'
Now you might be thinking with option two the couple don't get to see everyone's reactions but don't worry have your photographer there capturing each and every guests reaction once they read the sign. Trust me, this worked amazingly, it was awesome to see all the guests reactions one by one.
You might also be thinking isn't it a bit strange not telling the group as a whole but it really depends on you as a couple, you might have eloped because you don't like all the attention on you so making a big announcement could be a bit overwhelming. With a photographer capturing the guests realisation with photos and video the couple could then look back at these later.
How They Celebrated
The couple kept the whole celebration a very low key affair, they hired a small venue, we came in to style the space with fairy lights galore, they offered the guests a buffet style meal which again we helped to style, doughnuts for dessert and they did a small speech when they entered the room.
The guests loved it, they ate, they drank, they mingled and they danced. The only thing is some guests wished they'd known to be able to dress up more! But what a perfect small and simple way to celebrate a secret marriage!
So if you're one of those couples that are thinking of eloping and want to throw some sort of celebration afterwards then I hope this has given you a little bit of inspiration.
Remember if you want any help with styling your elopement, wedding or party then we offer a bespoke design service paired with our on the day management to help bring your ideas and dreams to life and of course make sure that happens on the day! So please do get in touch!
Happy Planning
Lauren xx
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Photos by: Graham Nixon
