Your Guide to the Best Elopement and Micro Wedding Ideas

In a previous post, I discussed ways to save money on your wedding. One of the most obvious ways is to cut down on the size of your wedding. For many people, having an elopement or micro wedding is a great alternative to an opulent wedding day. It can be a great way to save money, focus on your close friends and family, and have a unique wedding celebration that is tailored to your and your partner’s preferences.

In this blog post, I’ll talk about the difference between eloping and micro weddings, their pros and cons, unique elopement ideas, and things to consider as you plan your small wedding or elopement.

Elopement vs Micro Wedding

Elopements and micro weddings have a number of similarities. Both are much smaller than a traditional wedding. They also share a variety of advantages that I’ll describe below. However, an elopement is a particularly informal and intimate wedding celebration. It generally doesn’t include a reception. And the activities involved are very much tailored to the couple rather than a traditional wedding celebration.

In contrast, a micro wedding is much more similar to a traditional wedding, it’s just smaller. A wedding is classified as micro if it has 50 guests or less. Unlike an elopement, a micro wedding often has both a wedding ceremony and reception, first dance, and other traditional elements of wedding celebrations.

The Pros and Cons of Small Weddings

A lot of couples prefer eloping or a micro wedding to a big wedding because they come with a wide variety of benefits. I’ll delve into each of these benefits below.

Lower Cost

First, elopements and micro weddings involve considerably lower costs. Indeed, these wedding alternatives area a great way to combat the inflated prices in the wedding industry. For example, an elopement photographer tends to be cheaper than a traditional wedding photographer. You’ll also frequently find that the same photographer charges about half the price for an elopement or micro wedding. Indeed, elopements and micro weddings generally involve less time and effort for vendors. Some venues and vendors also have elopement packages or an elopement special that allow eloping couples to rent a venue or vendor services for a much lower cost.

And, as mentioned in my post on saving money on weddings, the average couple spends $256 per wedding guest! That means that you can save $25,600 if you have a 50 person micro wedding instead of a big wedding with 150 guests!

More Time with Close Friends and Family

Aside from saving money, small weddings also allow couples to focus their time on their closest friends and family members. This is an incredible way of making your wedding as enjoyable and meaningful to you as possible. Indeed, the best things about weddings are generally the opportunity to spend time with loved ones. Micro weddings and elopements can make you feel less obligated to invite people you don’t care as much about spending time with.

Lower Stress

Additionally, planning a wedding is often super stressful. A wedding has so many moving parts. A small wedding or elopement can cut down on the number of things you have to plan. With fewer guests, you also have to worry less about coordinating friends and family members. You may therefore find that planning a small wedding celebration or intimate elopement is less stressful than a traditional wedding.

Greater Personalization

Finally, it’s generally easier to tailor an elopement or micro wedding to your particular interests. I’ll go over some of my favorite elopement ideas below. With fewer guests and a more casual structure, these kinds of weddings are the best way to plan a whole day based on your preferences from your favorite foods to your favorite places to your favorite people.

Cons of Elopements and Micro Weddings

While elopements and micro weddings come with a variety of pros, they do have some cons. For example, you might experience resistance from family members and friends who prefer you to have a traditional celebration. This may especially be the case if you can’t invite everyone that your close family members would like you to. 

Similarly, a small wedding may involve compromises, particularly on traditional wedding elements you might be interested in. For example, if you always wanted an epic dance party at your wedding, that’s going to be tougher to pull off with a small group. You may also find that with celebrations like adventure elopements you can’t invite family members with financial or mobility limitations or young children. Indeed, doing so would likely be overly inconvenient or inaccessible for them. 

And destination elopements can sometimes end up being as expensive and difficult to plan as a larger wedding. For example, if you celebrate at a far-flung elopement location, you may consider paying some of your guests’ travel costs. You’ll also have your own travel costs that quickly add up. Consequently, elopements and micro weddings come with both limitations and exciting possibilities.

Unique Elopement Ideas

If you decide to move forward with an elopement, there are many unique eloping ideas that you can tailor to your interests. I’ve listed some of the best ideas below. Of course, the great thing about eloping is that the sky is the limit in terms of fun ideas. You can use this list as inspiration to consider how to incorporate your own favorite things into your personalized wedding celebration.

Elope in the Great Outdoors

• Elope at a national park or state park. Permits to get married at a national or state park cost anywhere from $0 to $500 depending on the park and number of guests so this is a potentially very inexpensive way to get married in some of the best places in the United States.
• Similarly, it has become an increasingly popular option for active couples to get married at the top of a mountain, an alpine lake, or other far-flung outdoorsy spot! Of course, the pictures are incredible and a mountain top makes for gorgeous elopement ceremonies. Couples may then have a celebratory party afterwards with a larger number of people.
• Get married on a hot air balloon ride! This is a tiny ceremony location. However, if you want to celebrate with just your partner, an officiant, a photographer, and perhaps another person or two, this is incredibly scenic.
• Elope at a ski resort! For snow lovers, a ski lodge is a beautiful spot to get married and then enjoy some skiing, snowboarding, or sledding.
• Have a beach elopement! My older sister did this in Hawaii. We went to dinner afterwards at a fancy local restaurant. It was delightful and very scenic.

Elope at a Bucket List Vacation Spot

• Find a vacation rental in a new place or favorite destination for a small, private ceremony. You can optionally hire a private chef for a delicious meal afterwards. Mexico is a great location for this as there are incredible private chefs you can hire for a relatively small amount. Additionally, many gated communities have large vacation homes for rent. Keep in mind that you’ll want to review any rules and regulations for your vacation rentals as some specifically prohibit any kind of wedding ceremony.
• One of my favorite countries I’ve ever visited is New Zealand. It also happens to be a popular and beautiful place to elope. You can even find companies like Mountain Weddings to help you plan unique elopement ceremony ideas like a helicopter ride to a unique location. Make this into a multi-day adventure to make it even more special!

Use Meaningful Activities and Locations for Elopement Inspiration

• Recreate your first date! You might consider getting married at a restaurant or location you went to on your first date. This is a meaningful way of celebrating your love story with your partner. Similarly, if you have a special place that is meaningful to both of you like a favorite restaurant, consider eloping there. Bonus! You get to eat your favorite, delicious food!
• Design an elopement around your favorite activities! For example, if you love rock climbing, you might look into eloping at your local rock climbing gym is a great option. In fact, a couple who belong to my rock climbing gym did this a couple years ago. For book lovers, consider eloping at a local library or book store (with permission and proper planning of course).
• If you’re animal lovers, eloping at an animal sanctuary, zoo, aquarium, animal shelter, or farm is a fun way of celebrating that shared love. Presents could even be donations to your local animal shelter.
• Similarly, you could go horseback riding to a scenic spot for your elopement ceremony.

Choose a Free Local Venue

• Consider eloping at your own home or one of the homes of your best friends or family members. You can, of course, save tons of money and tailor the decorations and food to exactly what you want.
• And, of course, you can elope at City Hall! While this may not sound like an especially great place to get married, many city halls are surprisingly beautiful. Going to a nice restaurant or hosting a party with friends afterwards is a perfect way of making your day feel extra special

As the ideas above show, there are so many different ways of combining your favorite things to create a wedding celebration that is tailored to you and your partner. An elopement is a perfect way of saving money and stress while celebrating your love. The right place for your elopement is one that speaks to you, your partner, and your shared love.

How to Plan a Micro Wedding or Elopement

That being said, remember that your micro wedding or elopement day isn’t totally free of planning! The first steps for planning and elopement or micro wedding are similar to planning a conventional wedding. First, you’ll want to establish a timeline. Doing so will give you a sense of how much flexibility and how many options you have. If you have a long timeline, you can spend more time saving and planning for your dream wedding. If you have a short timeline, you might have to make more compromises. 

Next, set a budget. A budget will help you determine whether you might need to make compromises like a smaller guest count or perhaps a local wedding venue or backyard wedding. Alternatively, a larger budget means you can potentially accommodate a destination wedding, larger wedding, more elaborate wedding experience, etc.

Once you have your budget, establish your guest list. This might seem like a silly step with a micro wedding or elopement. After all, how hard is it to list a handful of people!? However, you might be surprised at just how many people you list as non-negotiable wedding guests. Having this list will help you determine whether you truly want a very intimate affair like an elopement or whether a micro wedding or even traditional wedding best accommodates everyone you want to be part of your day. For more details on these steps, check out my Ultimate Guide to Wedding Planning.

Micro Wedding and Elopement Plans

While the initial steps of planning for an elopement or micro wedding align with those of a large wedding, there are some steps that are somewhat unique to smaller weddings. Specifically, if you are eloping or having a micro wedding in an unconventional location, you’ll want to make sure you’ve secured the proper permits and permissions. For example, you may need a permit to marry at a park, beach, or campground.

Second, if you are traveling, make sure your wedding party has up-to-date travel documents. If, say, your parents need to renew their passports, you don’t want to figure that out 2 months before the big day. On a related note, while you might not need a wedding planner, you may find that working with a travel planner is helpful for coordinating plans for a group.

Additionally, do not neglect your officiant or marriage license! It’s easy to forget these steps. However, you’ll need an officiant and witnesses for your marriage license. It’s easy to get ordained, so you can always have a friend or family member do this. Indeed, having a loved one be your officiant is one of my favorite ways of personalizing a wedding ceremony.

Bonus tip! It’s a great idea to have a backup plan for inclement weather! Of course, you should have a backup plan regardless of if your wedding is large or small. Nevertheless, it is especially easy for an adventurous elopement to get derailed because of bad weather. So have a Plan B that you would be happy with if things get rainy.

Things to Keep in Mind

While micro weddings and elopements are a chance to get away from the traditions of the wedding industry, there are still some traditions you might want to focus on or include. For example, many couples recommend keeping the first look. The first look is an opportunity to share an intimate, once-in-a-lifetime moment with your partner. And many couples are very glad they captured it at their elopement. 

Second, especially if you are getting married in a beautiful location, you might want to prioritize photography and videography. Saving money on the rest of your wedding celebration can allow you to splurge a bit more on an elopement photographer. And, as mentioned above, sometimes these photographers are actually cheaper! Plus, having a photographer and videographer can let you share your special day with family members and friends who are not in attendance.

If you are on a budget, consider what special moments are especially important to capture, like wedding vows, the first kiss, first look, etc. Make sure you have booked your photographer for enough time to capture each special moment that is really important to you.

Final Thoughts on Small Weddings

Your wedding day is hopefully the best day (or among the best days) of your life. It should reflect your and your partner’s love and personalities. Elopements and micro weddings are a great way to create a perfect day that is aligned to exactly what you and your partner want, while giving you plenty of focused time with your closest loved ones. There are so many creative ways to celebrate your wedding and I hope this blog post gave you lots of great inspiration. 

If you’d like more inspiration, check out my post on saving money on your wedding, my ultimate guide to wedding planning, my guide to wedding diet and fitness plans that empower you, eco-friendly holiday gift cards (you can use similar advice in this post for your wedding invitations!), and inexpensive, romantic date ideas. You can also check out my Wedding Planning Printables on Etsy!

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