How to Include Your Family In Your Elopement
Here is an instance where the freedom in choosing to elope really shines bright. When you ditch any pressure or feeling of obligation towards a traditional wedding routine, you are at liberty to design an experience uniquely catered to your desires. Perhaps you want to have an intimate experience with just your partner but have an intrinsic desire to involve your family or friends. You can absolutely do both! The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. There are numerous ways you can include the people you love either on your elopement day, or in your elopement experience. Let’s take a look at a few. You can also check out how to tell your family you’re eloping here.
Welcome emotional support
Let’s take a moment to acknowledge arguably the most simply, but without question the most valuable form of including your family or friends. Taking the time to personally reach out to each individual and share a few kind words letting them know how much you welcome and value their emotional support and positive attitudes not only helps them feel included, but fosters rich intimacy for everyone sharing in your elopement experience. Talk with each other about how you can still celebrate together even if they won’t be there to witness the exchange of vows between you and your partner. They can be included simply in how they show up and support you both emotionally and practically.
Enjoy planning together
You can invite your family or friends to come alongside you and help in the planning process. Even with elopements there is often much to plan. They can help you with everything from possibilities on where you could elope, help you shop for your wedding attire, pick your accommodations while you travel, etc.
Have multiple celebrations
In the spirit of breaking the “rules” of traditional weddings, who says you have to have one single celebratory event? You are free to include anything and everything you want in your wedding experience and do it your way. You could have a big engagement party before your elopement, a big reception afterwards, or both.
Share messages on your elopement day
Whether you will see family or friends on your elopement day or not, this is a beautiful chance for emotion and connection. You can ask loved ones to write letters, cards, or personal messages preceding your elopement for you to read on your elopement day. Another wonderful option is to prerecord video messages. This is not only a way to include people but creates opportunity for rhapsodic moments to occur. In turn, you could do the same for them and make it even more of a shared experience, despite any physical absences. You could also send them video clips, audio messages, and photos throughout your elopement day.
FaceTime or Video Chat
If you’d like to close the gap, furthermore, consider doing a live video chat at any point, or multiple points, throughout your elopement day/days.
Include personal touches
So much of a story lies in the details. A subtle but powerful way to include family or loved ones is to incorporate small pieces that remind you of them. A few examples could be a mother’s necklace or earrings and a father’s watch or cufflinks.
Segment your elopement day
Having intimate and secluded time with your partner on your elopement day is invaluable. It is still a viable option to partial out the day for some time with just you guys, then some time with family. For example, you could have a sunrise elopement ceremony where you and your partner exchange private vows and share this intimate space with just each other, then join your families in the evening for a shared celebration. Or oppositely, invite your families to join you for a relaxing breakfast or be together when getting ready, before sending you off to enjoy your vows privately.
Enjoy a multi day experience
Building upon the idea of joining the best of both worlds together, if you want an intimate private experience with your partner but also the joy of a family ceremony this is entirely possible. Consider having a deeply inward day with your partner which is shortly followed by a day of celebrating with close loved ones. If you’re thinking “what do we do for two weddings?” there are things you can do to make both events intimate, meaningful, and unique. To incorporate diversity and separation yet retain novelty and intimacy, you could exchange private vows with your partner at one beautiful location and then hold a family ceremony at another. The time with just your partner could simply consist of sharing your vows together as this is where you promise your lives to each other. The following event is when you could have an officiant formally marry you, invite family and friends to share kind words, sign your marriage certificate with loved ones as witnesses, or even wait to exchange rings with one another. Any combination of events is a viable option.
Livestream your elopement
This is an especially useful way to share your ceremony with friends and family if you’re traveling. Be sure to test your connection beforehand however as many outdoor locations may not have adequate reception for live video feeds.
Remember that no options are off the table. Period. Any idea you can think of you can bring to fruition. Celebrate your love, your way.
Hey, I’m Warren and this is my why behind everything I do!
I believe this is where it all starts and is at the heart of everything, so let me tell you. I have a soft spot for sentimentality and I think love is awesome. I’m so grateful that I discovered photography early in life because I’ve been able to document my own journey in a creative fashion. For that reason, I have a strong passion for giving that same experience to others and take great pride in getting the responsibility of documenting their stories. Each picture has a story or feeling behind it and I love to capture that novelty. Arresting those moments in time allows us to remember and feel more intensely. I know how much I value that and enjoy passing that along to others through photography. I would love to be a part of telling your story.