What To Do On Your Elopement Day + How to Make Your Elopement An Experience
Elopement Day Activities | Elopement Experience | Elopement Photographer
Elopements used to be a type of wedding celebration that was seen as less than. Less special, less elaborate, less meaningful and less of a celebration. But, that couldn’t be further from the truth! The new wave of elopements are just as amazing, special and meaningful as big wedding celebrations, if not even MORE! Yep. I said it!
But, because elopements are all about not having rules, strict tradition or structure, there can be a lot of confusion that comes about with planning an elopement. I hear many couples say, “heck yeah - sign us up! We want a day that is ours, and still feels really special, but…how do we do that?” Might seem like a silly question at first, but it’s not - it’s a hard one! Kind of like being asked to talk about yourself. You know yourself better than anyone, yet when asked to speak about yourself….crickets!
How DO you create a day that is meaningful, unique and reflective of you? And how do you make it about more than just your ceremony and some photos? The good news is, I’m here to help. I am a STRONG believer in elopements being an experience. That is what I love about them so much! They bring forward all of the things that are truly important to a couple and allow them to experience them on a day that holds so much meaning. So where do we start? Well, there are a few things to think about when it comes to making your elopement an experience, so I’ve broken it down for you!
What to DO on your Elopement Day?
Big question! Okay, we have our ceremony, we take some photos, but then what do we DO on our elopement day!? So much! Your elopement day is still your wedding day, and similarly to wedding days, it deserves to be a full day (or weekend!) celebratory experience. However, with an elopement, we have a lot more freedom to be intentional about how you’re celebrating. I believe that the best elopement days are the ones that couples are experiencing things they already know they love to do together, as well as experiencing some things that they’ve always wanted to do together and having unique experiences.
Your Big 10
Think about the the top 10 things that you and your fiancé LOVE together. Big things, little things, simple things, extra things. These can be things, places, activities, people etc. but they should all be things that bring you so much joy, and make you feel like the best version of yourself. So your list might get a little longer than 10, and that’s okay (more the merrier!). But shoot for 10 at first to give you a great idea of those things that you guys share love in!
Here is an example list of 10:
Ice cream
Good food
Hiking
Your family
New experiences
Your dog
Hot tubs
Cooking together
Drinking coffee in the morning
Bonfires
Just based off of this list, I can come up with so many different ideas of how to make your day unique to you! By incorporating a ton of the things that you guys love together, the things that make you so happy, the things that make you feel clear + centered, you’re essentially designing your most perfect day - which is what your elopement day should be, right?! If someone gave me the list of these things, here is what I’d suggest to them in terms of incorporating those things into their elopement day:
ICE CREAM - stop for ice cream at a bomb local creamery, have an ice cream cake to celebrate, organize an experience at a creamery where you can make your own flavors of ice cream!
GOOD FOOD - go to the best rated restaurant around for dinner, hire a private chef to come back to your airbnb and make you an incredible meal just for you!
HIKING - incorporating hiking to get to your ceremony spot, to get to a spot for some portraits, or just to explore a trail that has been on your bucket list forever!
YOUR FAMILY- have your family write letters for you to read during your ceremony, have them send in videos with well wishes, or FaceTime your mom just before your first look for a little extra love!
NEW EXPERIENCES - take a helicopter ride, hike on a glacier, go for a dog sledding experience, take a float plane to a high alpine lake, go sky diving, take a private sunset sailing tour!
Your dog - bring the pup along to join you for your hikes!
Hot tubs - find an airbnb with a hot tub and start your morning with a soak, or head to some hidden hot springs for a dip!
Cooking together - cook breakfast or dinner together, or take a cooking class!
Drinking coffee in the morning - leave lots of time to drink your coffee together in the morning
Bonfire - end your day with a bonfire!
If these were the things that you guys loved the most, imagine having a day that combined all of them. That was full of everything that makes you feel happy and makes you feel alive. And then imagine getting married during that day, too! That’s what I call an elopement experience.
Elopement Experience
So what would this full day elopement experience look like put together? For the list above, it starts out with a late wake up call, some time to cuddle before you get out of bed, and lots of time to make your coffee, sip it, and enjoy each others company. After your coffee, you cook up your favorite breakfast together - French toast anyone?! After your scrumptious first meal of the day, you have a little soak in the hot tub before hopping in the shower to get ready. As you’re getting ready, you FaceTime your mom for a little chat, and have your first look in a spot where you can smell all of the fresh pine trees around you. We set off on a spot that overlooks the ocean for your ceremony where you share your vows, read letters from your family, and officially get married! For your first activity as a married couple, you hop into a helicopter to take you for a scenic ride around the incredible place you’re in. After the helicopter ride, we pop into the local creamery for a mid day ice cream snack. We then take off on a hike, with your pup in hand, to the top of a mountain for portraits. Soak in the sunset, dance around together, pop some champagne and throw those headlamps on to hike back down as it gets dark. We get back to your airbnb and your private chef is waiting for you, with your first course ready! You enjoy a multi course meal, complete with mini personal cakes for desert, and head outside to build a bonfire. You spend the last bit of time of your elopement day enjoying the sounds of wood crackling and the smell of a bonfire surrounding you.
Sounds like a pretty perfect day, doesn’t it? Add in lots of wiggle room to be able to fully enjoy everything your doing, be present with each other, and take it all in? This is how you create an elopement experience. By creating a day that is not only a BLAST, but is filled with everything you love, you’re guaranteed to be feeling your absolute best. You’re going to leave your elopement day feeling so grateful, excited and inspired that you’ll want to make your entire life and relationship together about feeling that way. And when you look back on your photos, you’ll not only remember how gorgeous you looked, how incredible the day was + all of the things you did, but you’ll remember what it felt like, which is a gift for the rest of lives!
So, does this help give you an idea of what to spend your elopement day doing? The biggest take away is that there isn’t a one size fits all because your elopement day will be best if you put intention into making it special for you and your partner! Having a photographer that specializes in elopements and has done this with couples before, will be helpful in getting creative with ideas and planning a day that is 100% unique to you.
Ready to start figuring out your Big 10?! Shoot me a message through the button below and let’s get the conversation started. I’m stoked to hear what you have in mind and dream up your most amazing elopement day!