I did. Second marriage for husband. First for me but I was pretty old. Just us. Married 11 years. I don't think we'll divorce!

OP, why would you want to elope? Why not?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who eloped ended up divorced.

Eloping or not eloping, 50 percent of couples end up divorced.

50 percent of all marriages which includes 2nd, 3rd etc. is different than 50% of couples. First marriages survive at a rate of 60 to 70 percent.

I eloped when I was 25. 10 years later we are still happily married.

Op- it was just my husband and I. Yes family was hurt and upset. We did it for us though. It was a little crazy but a really intimate moment only we share. Six months later we had a "ceremony" at family's request. It was more of a celebration of our union and because I was already married I think I escaped all the menial details and such of wedding weddings which truthfully was never really my thing. I feel like I got the best of both worlds and I don't regret it.

Sometimes I think eloping is the way to go. With a big fabulous party later for all your friends and family without all the traditional trappings and price tags.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who eloped ended up divorced.

This happened to me! My first marriage was a disaster, and we eloped. Correlation might not be causation but my second marriage was a huge party with family from all over and people I've been friends with for decades. There was some magic to affirming our commitment in front of everyone that we love.

When I got engaged almost 20 years ago, my very practical parents suggested a small private wedding (immediate family only) or maybe even a destination wedding without any guests. They were paying for my wedding and offered that that money instead could go towards a down payment on our first home.

Not an elopement per se, but my parents would have loved for me to save my money and elope.

We had a smallish church wedding a reception...125 people and truly that was about 100 too many. I wish I would have taken my parents's offer.

We wanted planned on eloping for various reasons. I decided to give my family the courtesy of knowing beforehand and then the drama erupted. Ultimately, we compromised (caved?) and had an incredibly tiny but beautiful wedding ceremony with only immediate family and we had a celebration after the fact with our closest friends. I'm sure we pissed off a few cousins or something, but I have zero regrets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who eloped ended up divorced.

Eloping or not eloping, 50 percent of couples end up divorced.

No they don't, this has been debunked ... ad nauseam.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who eloped ended up divorced.

Eloping or not eloping, 50 percent of couples end up divorced.

Anonymous wrote:I threatened to elope because my stepmother was turning my wedding into a circus, including wanting to invite over 100 of her parents friends and family. It went from an over 400 person affair to a 70 person affair. I really would have eloped too - I didn't care about the wedding. I just cared about the marriage. Thank god my MIL got involved.

Sounds like what happened when DH and I got married. His mother wanted to invite third cousins, tens of work colleagues, family friends who I had never heard of.

I threatened to elope because my stepmother was turning my wedding into a circus, including wanting to invite over 100 of her parents friends and family. It went from an over 400 person affair to a 70 person affair. I really would have eloped too - I didn't care about the wedding. I just cared about the marriage. Thank god my MIL got involved.

But PP, did they elope because they got married spontaneously, or did they elope because they didn't want to spend 50k on a wedding?

Everyone I know who eloped ended up divorced.

Experience with this? How did family feel? Was it just you and your SO or did you invite very close family/friends? Did you have a reception later?