I’m Eloping! Why Millennials are Leaving Big Weddings at the Altar
My family — and my fiancé’s family — all raised their collective eyebrows when we told them we were eloping. We are thrilled to be getting married — and while we have been together for over two years, our entire engagement will have last a whopping three months before we officially tie the knot. We love our family and friends, and while we don’t want anyone to feel excluded, we knew in our hearts, months ago, that a big wedding wasn’t for us. As millennials, we have been attending a lot of weddings lately — and don’t get us wrong — we love attending them! We have traveled out of state several times to witness friends’ nuptials, and had a blast celebrating with them. However, our actual time spent with the bride and groom was limited, and they were dealing with the stress of the day and trying to make time to personally greet, welcome, and celebrate with every guest.
The amount of money weddings cost is staggering these days. While the Knot reports an average cost of $34,000 for weddings in 2021 (an average which includes elopements and backyard weddings), the actual amount we have seen friends spend can be much, much higher. One of our friends, a groom at a wedding we recently attended, remarked how he had never spent more money in a single day before. Now, don’t get me wrong. Weddings should be a once in a lifetime event, and…
