When someone says “We want a Destination Elopement” and then proceeds to tell us they plan for 50 people to be in attendance, we have to put the brakes on and ask the question, “Do you really know what constitutes an Elopement?”
I often chuckle because I follow a lot of really great photographers on Instagram, etc. and I see them posting photos from weddings with 15 bridesmaids and 200 guests with tag lines like, #destinationelopementphotographer and #dreamelopement.
And I get it. Everyone wants to promote themselves these days as both a “Wedding Photographer” and an “Elopement Photographer.” So they post photos in categories which obviously have nothing to do with the content of those photos.
Rather shameless, in my opinion. I mean, it’s OK to be both. Just separate the two in your promos, please?
So here at Simple I Do’s at least, we have specific definition for the following: Elopement, Micro Wedding, Pop-Up Small Wedding and Traditional Wedding. In the next few weeks we will post packages related to all of these categories. But in the meantime, what follows is our delineation.
An Elopement, traditionally, is when two people ‘run away’ to get married without the knowledge or presence of family. Sometimes it is with the assistance of friends and/or a select few family members who are in the know, but it is an elopement almost exclusively because no one back home knows that the couple is getting married.
We recently had a couple come to Asheville to elope. Their family thought it was just a romantic getaway for one of their birthdays. We had a wonderful time, a sweet ceremony, and took beautiful pictures and an awesome video. They planned to break the news to their families back home upon their return, so we asked them later how it went. And although they said the announcement was met with mixed reviews, the couple has zero regrets!
A Destination Elopement is just one that you travel somewhere to do. Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains just happen to be one of the best destination locations on the East Coast. So we welcome you to come here for your elopement. And please don’t choose a ‘courthouse wedding’ for your destination elopement.
A Micro Wedding is really an Elopement with a few guests, typically 2-4. So the whole party is six people or less. As long as at least two fo them are over 18 years old, then Simple I Do’s does not have to provide witnesses. Since a Micro Wedding has a few more people involved, it obviously is less of a secretive affair. It also begins to take on the thing that to me really defines a wedding – planning. It still is very flexible, but you have to plan more peoples’ schedules and housing, food etc. for them too. So you see where this is going!
A Pop-Up Wedding is a new trendy term. I’m not sure the exact definition, but it began with the concept of multiple couples getting married at the same time in a very public setting. One officiant reading the vows to a number of couples – anything over two at the same time – is really a Pop-Up Wedding. We’ll stick with this definition in our packages. And of course, Simple I Do’s can do this for several couples who want to get married together as well.
A Small Wedding is just that. It is more than an elopement, because it requires – you guessed it – more planning! These are usually up to 20 people. When done in a Destination setting, they don’t have to be overly complicated. You don’t need chairs or bridesmaids dresses. Just show up and, have a short ceremony, take some groups pics and then send everyone to dinner while we finish a romantic portrait session with the couple. We do this a lot at Simple I Do’s. But you do have to plan… Where will everyone stay? How will they get here? Where will we get dinner reservations? Just for beginners.
Which brings is to a Full Wedding aka a Traditional Wedding. Anything over 2o people, in our opinion, fits this category. And mostly because it involves planning and lots of coordination of travel, schedules, meals, and the works. NOTE: The National Park Service caps all weddings on their properties at 25 people – and a PERMIT IS REQUIRED! So when your wedding has to have this many guests, go ahead and plan to book a venue and a reception hall. And expect to pay more for photography, too, because there is much more involved. Yes, the cost will go up proportionally, but, unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast.
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