do they not have everyone's appoval and blessing? However, there is no statistics on marriages that start like this - no religious marriage or family approval? What's everyone's thought on this?

Im not sure about the elope part, but in my case....I had a purty good size wedding in my first marriage, and so did my new spouse. We both decided the second time around that we would have an extremely small wedding with only our parents and best friend in attendance. We figured we were in love and there was really no reason to spend a whole lotta money for the wedding that could be used elsewhere.

yeah, it probably is to save money, but if it is one partner's first marriage, wouldn't they want the wedding, isn't that every girl's dream.

Not my dream.

My first wedding I did not see the point is spending thousands of dollars on a one day event, especially when that money could be used towards a house.

I never wanted to go through the business of dress shopping, trying on, worrying about gaining one pound, finding the right flowers, cake, coodinating the church, photagrapher, the hall, the caterer. (I know of people who had to change the date multiple times to get it all coordinated on the same day). I've been in two big weddings, it it was more than enough for me.

If I had my way, we would not have had the expense of going to Vegas, we would have gotten a judge at the courthouse to perform the ceremony. H had to talk me into Vegas. (I wanted to save the one thousand we spend on air fare, room, food and fun). He convinced me we should at least do it up a little.

I like my life simple.

Hi Nezi,
for me, stage freight! I cant imagine me standing infront of a hundred people, all looking at me. I eloped with my first H. We divorced after 7 years. Thinking back, I also was a little ashamed, I thought everyone else was thinking I could have done better.

Some friends and family were very upset, so after my divorce, they all said if I remarry, there BETTER be a wedding.

So I had a VERY SMALL 2nd wedding, and I was still SO nervous! I dont even remember much of it! It's all a haze. I hated it, and I had a miserable time.

Love my H, hated the wedding. There will be NO 3rd wedding! If this ends, I'm going to be that crazy woman with a lot of cats! - Dru

My current DH and I eloped 12 years ago. Our friends and families knew we were getting married, but we invited no one. The reason? We didn't want any of our 5 children, from our previous marriages, to have to pretend they were happy we were no longer married to their original parent.

If we had the choice to make all over, we'd do it exactly the same way.

BTM

I should add, I was not an ow. But, DH had married his previous wife twice, so I was not exactly welcomed with open arms by his children. For many years, they treated me as though I was the ow (because in their mother's eyes I was), despite the fact that it was their mother who had been unfaithful. Thankfully, the years have improved things considerably.

BTM

So eloping doesn't really effect whether you will be married or divorce. Me and my ex eloped, but we were both single, we did it because our family was against it, then we still had the huge wedding after everyone's approval. We ended in a divorce 3 years later and now ex has eloped with OW. I guess wanted to see if eloping affected your chances of divorcing.

Hi Nezi,

I am not the Ow in my marriage but it is my first. We eloped for our wedding. My mother hijacked the wedding down to even picking the meal and ridiculing me on my dress option. So we were married in the Registrary office in Canterbury. We still have plan on a full wedding but it will not be in the States. Even though this is my one and only marriage I still want it small. Somehow allowing my Mom 30 guest have changed to 100. Imagine 100 people that I nor my husband know. Hence, we are now going to have a blessing in a very small chapel here in Canterbury. It is lovely building built in 13 Century and the reception will be in the basement. Therefore I will get my flowers, my dress, my food ideas, my cake and not have to ask lots of people who are you. So who knows why other people elope but that is why we did. Also not sure about the States anymore but in England lots of couples like to do destination weddings. Nice little marriage and honeymoon in one go.