Post-Elopement: the Reception Party!

YOU DID THE ELOPEMENT, NOW IT’S TIME FOR A RECEPTION PARTY!

So, you did the deed. You and your love ran off and got hitched, the elopement was just for the two of you, or maybe with only a small handful of close friends and family standing by as witnesses… and now you want the reception party!

You might have had it planned that way all along. Perhaps you liked the idea of a small wedding, or maybe a destination wedding was always your dream and smaller just seemed smarter. It’s even possible you got so overwhelmed by all the wedding planning that you just decided to pull the trigger and get er’ done.

However it came about, you’re now married – so congratulations!

Skip the Big Wedding…Just a Party Please!

What a lot of people may not understand about eloping is that it isn’t usually an effort meant to take the celebration out of a wedding. For some people, the exchanging of those vows just feels like it should be done on a smaller scale. And for others, the whole thing kind of just… happens. But for most, there is still a desire to celebrate those nuptials with friends and family, even those who couldn’t be there to witness the event.

And that is where post-elopement receptions come about.

The beautiful thing about a reception is that it doesn’t have to take near the same amount of planning as a wedding. Sure, you still need to figure out the venue, and you should probably nail down plans for what to feed your guests and how to stock the bar. But so much of the minutia that takes up wedding planning – dress buying, hair and makeup, tuxes, a wedding party, etc. – can be bypassed when you are just throwing the reception.

And since this is an event taking place after the formalities of the wedding have already been handled, you can go as low-key or as high class as you want, without worrying too much about standard decorum.

A lot of couples that had an elopement will try to plan the post-wedding reception party for within a months of the marriage. But sometimes there are life circumstances that may get in the way of that, including upcoming deployments, the birth of a new baby, or close family members or friends traveling for the summer. Often, all those extra pieces are actually the reason why the elopement happened in the first place, so most guests will understand if you need to hold off 6 months or even a year for that reception.  And remember, there is nothing wrong with throwing a party for your 1 year anniversary!

In the end, it is just about being able to celebrate this new life stage with you.

When sending invitations, whether by mail or internet, make sure to note the day of your actual wedding and to invite your guests to help you celebrate after the fact. You can go into the details of why you decided to elope, or you can leave that open and simply explain that you now have reason to celebrate with those who mean the most to you. If there are those who were hurt about not being able to witness your actual “I Do’s”, you can even use this as a way to show them that celebrating this momentous occasion with them is important to you – even if you just weren’t able to wrap your head around the idea of a big wedding affair.

Whatever you decide to do, just remember that part of the fun of an elopement is eliminating some of that stress that goes into wedding planning – so don’t counteract that effect by then stressing yourself out to plan the reception party that comes after. An effective way to make your party planning much easier is to pick a day for your party that doesn’t compete with the traditional San Diego wedding season. A Saturday in June will make it much harder to find a venue and other wedding vendors, than say, a Sunday in March. This is supposed to be a fun celebration for you and those you love, so make it as easy on yourself as possible.

And as long as you have a wedding photographer there to still capture all those happy moments (hint, hint!) there should be no regrets!