Louisville Bride magazine is Louisville, Kentucky's premier bridal publication, featuring photos of wedding gowns and listings for Louisville reception halls, caterers, wedding planners, photographers, and other wedding service providers.
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1 4 S p r i n g / S u m m e r B R I D E 2 0 1 8 ELOPEMENTS Ask the Expert PRIVATE PARTY How did you come up with this service? "A couple came to me and were like, 'We still want a beautiful wedding, but we don't want all the clutter that comes with all the people.' Then I had another one come up last January and this client was in New York, where there are a lot of specifics around getting your marriage license. If you're di- vorced, you have to have your divorce decree. You have to have your social security card or your birth certificate, and in other states like Kentucky — and most people think of Nevada and Vegas — you don't have to have those things. The fiancé was sta- tioned overseas and all of his important documents were overseas. They said, 'Do you have some sort of package or is there some hotel where we pay X number of dollars and we get our photographer and we get our cake, kind of like Vegas?' I looked around a little bit, but there wasn't any- thing like that. That's when it really kind of struck me that we do need something like this. Elopements and tiny weddings are becoming more and more popular. So that's when I started talking to other vendors so that we could make a customized, comprehensive package for people so that they're still able to have an amazing wedding, just quickly and smaller." Does it end up costing less than a normal wed- ding because the vendors aren't doing as much and therefore their services don't cost as much or is it because couples are just eliminating so many guests that they have to host? "Honestly, it's both. First off, elopements can happen on Tuesdays, which makes a vendor able to drop their price considerably because most vendors are holding out all those Saturday dates and these are really more like bonuses for a vendor. Their time is significantly less — a two-hour elopement is different than a 10-hour wedding day. Also because you aren't hosting 100 peo- ple for dinner, you're saving a significant amount. For $2,400 you can have a legit beautiful elopement." What's the difference be- tween an elopement and a pop-up wedding? "I know a pop-up wedding is a surprise. You invite every- one over for an engagement party or invite everyone over for a backyard barbecue and then you get married in front of everyone but you're not telling them in advance. Elopements can either mean it's a secret — that tends to be the most classic defini- tion — but I think people are finding more and more that it's less about the secret part and more about the intimacy. Just the couple or maybe one or two other people is kind of a modern-day definition." What are the venue options in your packages? "We have four different options, but we can always customize more. We wanted to break it up into different aesthetics. For people who want more of a Kentucky Bluegrass feel, we have a partnership with Hermitage You've just gotten engaged and already your head is spinning with financial and social demands. For a fraction of the cost, you can have the entire day — venue, photographer, cake, flowers, officiant, hotel accommodations and dinner reservation — and you can do it without that headache of a guest list. Maggie Heely, owner of the wedding-coordination service Weekend Wedding Warrior, talks with us about her new curated elopement packages (that start at $2,400) and the growing trend among couples to get low-key hitched.