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Inspiration & Ideas

Newlyweds cross street in downtown Chicago with their backs to camera

7 Reasons You Should Have a Weekday Elopement

Notes from Italy: A Conversation with Elopement Photographer Peggy Picot

Your Wedding, Your Way is Out!

4 Pro Tips for Buying an Engagement Ring

It’s Goddess Season: Crossing the River Styx

You’re Eloping. Can You Make a Registry?

How to Create a Tablescape for Your Intimate Wedding or Elopement

Positano elopement

How to Tell Loved Ones You’re Eloping

7 Tips for Planning an Airbnb Elopement

Couple looking at city from boat

How to Elope Abroad Right Now

Vendor Dispatch: Ashley Peters of The Stylist Abroad

Vendor Dispatch: Katrina Evans of Destination Elopements Asheville

Sep 27

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Aug 18

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Not us coming back from an IG break while IG went through an ID crisis... Here's to Big Elopement Energy now and forever and always 🎀 Photo: @coralielescieux

Jul 16

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When a courthouse (almost) steals the show... The Santa Barbara Courthouse is a real stunner, white-washed and draped in coral trees. 🌺 It's so popular for tying the knot that it has its own wedding coordinator, plus designated outdoor spaces for intimate weddings with 15 people or fewer. Now that's how you do a courthouse wedding. 🥂 Gorgeous photo/credit and permission from @veilstailsphoto (P.S. Peep my book, Your Wedding, Your Way, for more fabulous courthouses, plus tips on eloping in a different state!)💡#linkinbio

Jun 28

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Happy Pride Day 🏳️‍🌈 On June 28, 1969, the revolutionary Stonewall Riots outside the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village triggered the LGBTQ movement as we today know it. In light of recent rulings, may we continue the fight. Stunning photo by @artofeloping vendor @alliedearie 🌈 #prideislove #stonewall #stonewallriots #stonewallinn #gaypride #gayrights #prideday #lgbtqia #loveislove

Jun 19

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On June 28, 1895, the wedding announcement for Ida B. Wells appeared on the front page of The New York Times in a single paragraph at the bottom of the page. Though small, its significance was extraordinary: Wells was a Black woman, born into slavery in 1862, three years before the end of the Civil War. But Wells led a remarkable—and often overlooked—life in the years following the war. A journalist and pioneer of civil rights, she launched an anti-lynching crusade and co-founded the NAACP. In 1884, more than 70 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus, Wells refused to give up her seat in a whites-only train car, and was dragged off and arrested. In honor of Juneteenth, I’m sharing her extraordinary story on the blog. Read more about her legacy (and wedding) at the link in bio. Photo courtesy of GPA Photo Archive

Jun 15

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"I'm a French woman with an Italian heart. I document life and love." I've been emailing with elopement photographer Peggy Picot since 2019, she from an idyllic lakeside town in eastern Italy, me from my roost in northern Virginia, sitting at a tiny desk in my loft, no book or website, just a prickle of an idea that she shelled out generous time and energy for as I poked around this world of eloping. Peggy's been in this game since 2011. At the time, Instagram was barely a year old. Time is funny. So is the internet. She's now one of the most trusted elopement photographers in Italy, guiding couples around the Amalfi Coast, or Rome, or Tuscany, her portfolio bursting with stacked pastel homes and beautiful ruins and golden hour countrysides. Just her, a couple, and romance at its richest. La dolce vita. Recently I came across an old interview I did with Peggy in December 2019. Time had slipped away between then and now. As it turns out, the conversation aged well. Catch the whole thing—plus more delicious photos—at the link in bio, where Peggy shares her top 3 places to elope in Italy, how she defines an elopement, and what she considers to be "the essence of eloping." Thank you, Peggy, for your sheer kindness to a stranger an ocean away. Then and today. Photos by Peggy / @maisonpestea

Jun 1

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P R I D E 🏳️‍🌈 is: 🖤 diversity
🤎 inclusivity
❤️ life
🧡 healing
💛 sunlight
💚 nature
💙 harmony
💜 spirit
&
🏳️‍⚧️ blue + pink for colors traditionally associated with boys and girls
🤍 white for those who are intersex, transitioning, or who don't have a defined gender Here, P R I D E is evoked as "Design 6: 'Love Is Love," a beautiful tangle of a rainbow's perfect arc, created by students working on a group project—the backdrop for a wedding celebration—at London's @mcqueensflowerschool. To all the beautiful, tender, tangled love out there, happy Pride Month from my heart to yours. 📷: Senior Tutor @christopheberreterot

May 19

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Pro wedding tip: Elope Gorgeous Florida elopement captured by AoE's newest vendor @hazography_ 🦩If you need an elopement photographer in the Sunshine state, she's your girl ☀️ Hit the link in bio to find the best elopement vendors in the game Photo: @hazography_
Hair & Makeup: @studiobride & @hello_cathee
Dress: @amazingbridescouture
Sneaks: @vans

May 9

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Hey @iamwellandgood thank you for including me in this thoughtful and wonderful piece by the most talented @ericapaigesloan, alongside brilliant experts (actual doctors) who specialize in wedding-related stress, and money pros who discuss the less glamorous side of (non low-key) weddings, like going into debt to afford the perfect day. I have long felt that the mainstream wedding industry tends to ignore certain topics like the toll that planning can take on mental health and the reality of serious financial debt looming at the onset of a marriage, which is why I address them head-on in my book, Your Wedding, Your Way. It's refreshing to see these topics discussed so intentionally by experts and supported by stats from real couples in this piece, such as the 2021 @brides survey that reported that one in five couples used loans or investments to help pay for their wedding, and 41% went into credit card debt 💸 Whether going big or small, let's normalize these conversations. And if you're in over your heads with stress or finances, the resources linked in the article, such as the boutique therapy practice @aisletalk and @brittneycastro with Mint, can help 💡 Full article at link in bio 🤍 #yourweddingyourway #artofeloping #lowkeywedding #justelope #letselope #iamwellandgood #wellandgood

Apr 29

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Eloping is a sighing sea.
gauzy streaks of air on a hot evening.
dew drops on china from the jungle's palms.
remembering how it started. The most precious gift of eloping is the awesome suspension of time. Photo courtesy of @tulumpluton / @lucasflorxs
Venue @wildtulum
Video @sebastian_galdeano_ & @photodanielgastaldi
Florals & decor @floristamarydiaz & @stephtllz
Rentals @archiverentals
DJ @av_riviera_events
Planning @tulumconciergeama

Apr 25

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I think it's safe to say that 2022 is the year of the city hall elopement, and to that I say: It's about damn time. There's no ceiling for my love for a courthouse ceremony, which is why I dedicated a whole chapter in "Your Wedding, Your Way" to pulling one off. It's chock full of ideas on: 1. What to wear, like this fabulous pantsuit captured in all its glory by AoE vendor and talented lady @leandracreativecophoto 2. How to have what I call a "Destination Courthouse Elopement," including the 5 most gorgeous courthouses in the U.S. 🏛 3. How to celebrate after: Go to brunch, order takeout for a picnic on some city steps, or hit up a dive bar for celebratory shots with the locals 🥃 Cheers to having #yourweddingyourway #artofeloping #cityhallelopement #cityhallwedding #cityhallweddingphotographer #whitepantsuit #westvillagenyc #weddingpantsuit

Apr 7

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Hey friends. Here's some ~authentic~ 1980s Kodak film for ya. Been serving since 1983 what's up. Photo by Dad. *edit: Dress by Mom. So yeah I got hacked on here a little over a week ago and nothing is more boring than talking about being hacked (kinda like telling someone about a dream you had, sorry if that's you but actually it's me every morning #gemini) but I've been having a really shitty time with the Facebook backend of things. As many of you know, it's deemed necessary to link your biz IG to your FB if you want to do ads or boost posts. And, it uses whatever you decide your FB was at the time you chose to go for it and make your IG a business account in order to do so. My FB was a personal account, and currently I STILL can't access it after being hacked and getting my IG back, cool cool. So I'm currently trying to sort that out. Yawn. However, when I got hacked on IG, the hacker/bot weaseled its way to my FB Page and changed my status from being an Admin to an Employee, so I can't see my own billing. Clever. I'm trying to log in on FB. I can't. They claim to send a code to my phone and after hours of trying on multiple browsers across two weeks—no code. So. I'm still working on this. I totally value this platform and will always love it for the connections it's provided, as a bunch of you know that my book exists largely because of you and my brute outreach on DMs, but right now it's very, very hard for me to trust this platform in any way. I'm going to try and continue to resolve things on the backend, but will be taking a break from posting here while I do so. I feel at once very betrayed and like I should've known better, since of course nothing we do here is owned by us, it's owned by Mark Z. And it can disappear at any time. That's the lesson. And it sucks. If you're a vendor, get yourselves a website (Wix is easy and great), establish an email list, send a newsletter like @thestylistabroad and start a blog. You own those. You don't own this.

Mar 30

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I regret to inform you that I did not, in fact, win a silver Mercedes, but I did get this account back in almost the same condition it was stolen in, so I consider that a solid W 🥊 And, a tip! If you get hacked and have a second account, and aren't hearing from IG via the regular self-help steps they offer on the app: Go to your second account and shake your phone very, very hard, like you do in Notes to undo an action. A box will pop up where you can message IG and attach screenshots. Thank you to my brother @andy0lsen for going to the depths of Reddit for that one. ❤️ Reddit. I've included a screenshot of what that looks like here, but first please enjoy some perfectly filmy images from @mirandatatephotography 🤍 I'm still waiting on my Bitcoin payout so stay tuned there.

Feb 28

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Photo by @maleyphoto. Many of you know his phenomenal work and follow him on here. He's in Ukraine; his family is not. Men ages 18-60 have been ordered to stay and fight. The borders have seen more than 500,000 people who've fled their homes in Ukraine since the war started 5 days ago (@unitednations). Many arrived in Ukraine from Afghanistan last year, as it was the only country that would grant them a visa. Now they are refugees again (@aljazeeraenglish). If you feel compelled to help, I've linked a Google Doc in my bio from @globalshaperscommunity listing ways you can donate or show support as a foreigner. There's also @wckitchen from the superhuman @chefjoseandres who has set up along the border to distribute hot meals to refugees ➡️ Link to donate is in @wckitchen bio or wck.org 🇺🇦 #chefsforukraine #ukrainefreedom #freeukraine

Feb 28

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They eloped ❤️ If you're in love with the idea of a Positano elopement, first hire a fabulous Italian photographer like @maisonpestea 📸 Then check out page 80 of my book for everything you need to know for pulling off an elopement on the Amalfi Coast, including when to go, the best way to get there from the airport, and the hidden beach you have got to visit—via a romantic boat ride, of course
🇮🇹 Saluti! #yourweddingyourway

Feb 22

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This lil Tiffany Blue gem is finally out there for consumption. Please eat it up 🍰 Link's where it likes to hang out upstairs
⬆️
I hope my book finds its way to couples who want to do things a little differently, maybe get their feet wet in the rebel fringes of the wedding industry. The book offers 11 different ways to do just that.
💌
This book encapsulates two (pre-pandemic) years of interviewing couples; thousands of tabs left open for research (where my tab queens at?); and a lot of cold-DMing elopement vendors (thank you @alexmari_ , @thestylistabroad, and @joshua_kane_photography for being some of the first to pick up the phone).
✨
I have many hopes for this book, but my biggest is that it gives those couples who feel trapped by tradition the confidence to step back. And not only consider themselves, but prioritize themselves. Your marriage day should be a reflection of your values as a couple and no one else's, whether it looks like a backyard wedding or jaunt to Scotland. You're in charge.
🥂
Cheers to having Your Wedding, Your Way.
📸@reneecgagephoto ❤️

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