How to Tell Family You are Eloping

So you’ve chosen to elope. You’ve chosen a date and a location and maybe even your elopement photographers and you’re excited. Until you remember that you need to tell your family that they won’t be present. You could just wait until after the wedding and make a surprise announcement. But if you’re feeling a bit anxious about how they will react, there’s a way to explain your choices without feeling guilty and even apologising for making that choice. Any backlash you may face, shouldn’t define the way you get married and you shouldn’t feel ashamed about it.

Here are some ways to deal with potential objections when you decide to elope:

• Involve Those Who You Want To Be Involved: One big thing about eloping and why your family may feel rejected, is because it’ll mean they won’t get to be there to witness one of the biggest moments of your life. So why not ask them to help with some of your plans. There’s no reason why they can’t still be there when you try on dresses. Or they could help you find a place to stay near to where you plan to elope. There’s plenty of ways to get them involved which may even make them feel more excited about your choice of wedding! Remember though, you don’t have to tell anyone. It’s your wedding and therefore, your choice!
• Remember Why You’re Both Doing This: a huge reason for wanting to elope is to avoid the “traditional” wedding stress that’s often involved with the bigger weddings – who to invite, how to tell someone who’s expecting an invite that actually, they’re not coming, what colour scheme, flowers, cakes, feeding 100+ people. It’s easy to become so wrapped up in others peoples expectations for your big day, that you can lose what it’s really about – marrying the person you love!! You may offend someone by choosing to elope but in all fairness, you’ll offend someone somehow regardless of how you choose to marry!
• Check in with Yourself: During the planning process, take time to check in and make sure your plans have not fallen off track. Sometimes, peoples objections can have an impact on our emotions and decision making. People have been known to completely change their minds and hold a big traditional style wedding (we were guilty of this!) just to keep people happy. As long as you take the time every so often, to check in with each other it’ll help to keep things in perspective.

Which ever way you choose to get married, there may be some element of stress involved. But the main this is that you choose a wedding that is true to you and your partner. Whether you want it to be just the two of you on a mountain top, or 10 of your closest people on a beach the main thing is the two of you! We can help you to create a story of your day, which makes for a perfect way to announce your big news.