Kristen Marcus Photography

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Tuscaloosa Riverwalk Elopement

Planning a wedding can be crazy stressful and every bride is bound to think, “should we elope instead”, at least once! That thought definitely crossed Baili and Billy’s minds and they went for it!! They realized that a big wedding wasn’t what they wanted. I asked Baili for some honest answers about her decision to elope. My goal is to help those of you who are reading this blog wondering the same thing that they did!

01. What was the main reason you decided to elope?

We mainly decided to elope because wedding planning was very overwhelming for us— especially because I am a full time graduate student and Billy has his own business. We also realized that having a big wedding wasn’t “us”, as a lot of our friends and family mentioned when we told them that we were eloping. We wanted a more intimate wedding and quickly realized during the wedding planning process that the wedding was much larger than what we were comfortable with!

02. Who all did you invite to be there with you when you elope? And why?


We decided to only invite our parents! We both have very big families with four siblings each and, although we would have loved to have them there, we decided that that would still be bigger than we wanted— we wanted the occasion to be VERY low key.

03. Cost wise, did you save a lot by eloping?

We saved A TON of money! If it wasn’t for my dress, which was bought before we decided to elope, the entire thing would have cost about $1,500! But, in the long run, we saved a lot and will be able to build our dream home by eloping!

04. Do you have any regrets about eloping?


I have zero regrets about eloping! It still involved a bit of planning, but nothing near what a wedding would have involved, which was what we were aiming for. It also allowed for us to spend time with our parents, who all live out of state besides one set, and we got to spend more time together, which was really big for us!

If you’re considering eloping, sit down with your fiancé and discuss your personal pro’s and con’s. Some things to talk about:

  1. How will your friends and families react?

  2. Realistically, can you afford a big wedding or would you prefer to save up for something else (like a house)?

  3. Will we possibly regret eloping?