|
|  The average cost of a wedding including rings, the ceremony and the honeymoon is now $36,000!!!
Ceremony Ideas
Make your wedding reflect who you are as a couple. Head back to a destination that you have always loved or make your fantasy vacation a reality. Love water, what about taking a cruise or going to the Caribbean? Love wine, it's time for Napa.
Or just do something extravagant with your wedding. A few of Let's Run Off's favorite real life elopements have been a Hawaiian beach wedding, a ceremony in a Spanish cathedral with an opera singer performing Ave Maria, and an exchange of vows in a remote, loch nestled, baronial manor house in Scotland.
Some thoughts on making your elopement unique:
Have your wedding mountain side and ski to it or have the ceremony fireside. Have it in a vineyard's main house with the related accompaniments! Have it in a majestic theater or a museum. Have it under your favorite tree. Have it on a quiet beach barefoot. Have it in a luxury resort in Europe. Have it on a cruise.
Elope in a hot air balloon in New Mexico, there is enough room for the bride and groom, the pilot, the officiant, and a witness.
Elope to a quaint village with your immediate family to a small bed and breakfast with just enough rooms for the wedding group. You will have the place to yourselves so you can really enjoy your time together. Get married at the local Justice of the Peace and take your family to dinner afterwards. Let your friends and extended family in on the surprise when you return.
Invite your entire guest list to a destination wedding at your dream location. Only a small percentage will attend. After the wedding, in lieu of a reception take guests to dinner in appreciation of their attendance.
Get married in Colorado and go mountain hiking and white water rafting. The month of May is typically low season and great deals can be found around the ski resorts.
Elope on your own and then have a party afterwards for your family and closest friends. Rent a space and a DJ and ask your guests to bring potluck dishes. Wear your wedding clothes and display pictures of the event and your guests will feel like they were there.
Get creative with your wedding and do something you couldn't do with 200 on looking guests. Your memories will thank you for it.
 How to tell family & friends
Instead of telling your friends and family of your decision to elope, the best approach is to first discuss your idea with them and why you want to do it. This gives your family and friends an opportunity to express how they feel about it and they feel they have been included in your decision. You may find that many of your closest family and friends will congratulate you and wish you the best for making such a wise decision!
Be aware that for many people marriage is a sacred institution and it is customary for it to be celebrated publicly. If you were to elope, your family and friends may be hurt or find it disrespectful. To witness the actual wedding is an important event and not being included may be considered an insult. Again, discussing your intentions with family members and friends may go a long way to help them accept it and bless you on your way.
Remember that it's your wedding and most people will respect your wishes to have an intimate ceremony. If anyone asks just explain that this is your dream wedding scenario.
If eloping is not an option with your friends and family, have a no frills, small wedding at the local Justice of the Peace with those closest to you. Afterwards leave for your honeymoon and upon return inform the rest of your friends and family that you eloped.
You can always have a party with your family and closest friends to celebrate your wedding when you return home or even before you go.
Wedding vows
This may surprise you but there are several versions of traditional wedding vows.
The following is an assortment of traditional and non-traditional, religious and secular vows. Work with your officiant as he or she may have specific words that you cannot deviate from for a religious ceremony or he/she may have additional samples of vows. Otherwise, feel free to add your own embellishments, loving words, and inside jokes.
I, (Bride/Groom), take you (Groom/Bride), to be my (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.
I, (name), take you, (name), to be my [opt: lawfully wedded] (husband/wife), my constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.
I (name), take you (name) to be my (husband/wife), my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.
In the presence of God and these our friends I take thee to be my husband/wife, promising with Divine assistance to be unto thee a loving and faithful husband/wife so long as we both shall live.
I, (name), take you, (name), to be my friend, my lover, the (mother/father) of my children and my (husband/wife). I will be yours in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, for all eternity.
I, [name], choose you [name] to be my [husband/wife], to respect you in your successes and in your failures, to care for you in sickness and in health, to nurture you, and to grow with you throughout the seasons of life.
I, (name), take you, (name), to be my partner, loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. I eagerly anticipate the chance to grow together, getting to know the (man/woman) you will become, and falling in love a little more every day. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us.
Readings
Reading 1
Love is patient; love is kind.
Love is not envious or boastful
or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way:
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice in wrong doing,
but rejoices in truth.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things
And now faith, hope, and love abide,
and the greatest of these is love.
Reading 2
I love you.
You are my best friend.
Today I give myself to you in marriage.
I promise to encourage and inspire you,
to laugh with you, and to comfort you in
times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in
bad, when life seems easy and when it
seems hard, when our love is simple,
and when it is an effort.
I promise to cherish you, and to always
hold you in highest regard.
These things I give to you today,
and all the days of our life.
Reading 3
We pledge to each other to be loving friends
and partners in marriage.
To talk and to listen, to trust
and appreciate one another; to respect
and cherish each other's uniqueness;
and to support, comfort
and strengthen each other through
life's joys and sorrows.
We promise to share hopes,
thoughts and dreams as we
| build our lives together.
May our lives be ever intertwined,
our love keeping us together.
We will build a home that is compassionate
to all, full of respect and honor for others
and each other.
May our home be forever filled with
peace, happiness and love.
Reading 4
As we stand beside the ocean tide,
may our love always be as
constant and unchanging as these
never-ending waves that pour
beneath our feet, flowing endlessly
from the depths of the sea;
your love
came softly upon my heart,
just as the foam comes
softly upon the sand, and just as
there will never be a morning
without the ocean's flow,
so there will never be a day
without my love for you.
I pledge myself to you this day.
Our love will be as unchanging
and dependable as the tide;
as these waters nourish the earth
and sustain life, may my constant
devotion nourish and sustain you
until the end of time.
Reading 5
Today, we reaffirm our commitment to each
other as beloveds and partners in marriage.
We continue to strive to be sensitive to each
other's needs, to be open and understanding
with each other, and to share our thoughts,
our feelings, and our experiences
with each other.
We renew our promise to try always to bring out
the qualities of forgiveness, compassion,
and integrity in our selves and in each other.
We continue to cherish each other's uniqueness
We continue to share in life's joys and remain
steadfast and comfort each other
through life's sorrows.
Reading 6
Now you will feel no rain,
for each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there will be no loneliness,
for each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two persons,
but there is only one life before you.
May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead
and through all the years.
May happiness be your companion and your
days together be good and long upon the earth.
Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.
Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.
When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another, remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems wrong.
In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives --
remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there.
And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.
Reading 7
Then Almitra spoke again and said,
And what of Marriage, Master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together,
and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when
the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in
the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens
dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between
the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread
but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous,
but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though
they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress
grow not in each other's shadow.
Reading 8
I promise to give you the best of myself
and to ask of you no more than you can give.
I promise to respect you as your own person
and to realize that your interests, desires and needs
are no less important than my own.
I promise to share with you my time and my
attention and to bring joy, strength and imagination
to our relationship.
I promise to keep myself open to you,
to let you see through the window of my world
into my innermost fears and feelings,
secrets and dreams.
I promise to grow along with you,
to be willing to face changes in order to keep our
relationship alive and exciting.
I promise to love you in good times and bad,
with all I have to give and all I feel inside
in the only way I know how,
completely and forever.
Reading 9
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old grief's, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Reading 10
I take you as my partner, my friend and my love.
My hopes and dreams will now be intermingled
with yours. I will seek to balance my needs with
those of our community and family.
I will openly draw from our combined experience
and feelings in our search for truth and meaning.
I will strive for harmony through compromise
and understanding.
I will be forgiving, but not complacent.
From this day forward, I take shared responsibility
for our marriage, family, community and myself,
regardless of our successes or failures.
I promise to be faithful and true to you in mind,
body, and spirit; to cherish you and respect you;
and to be a source of comfort and encouragement,
free and bound by our love, as long as we shall live.
|
