We always knew that if we got married, we would elope. Eloping just fits with our characters. So when my amazing girlfriend finally agreed that marriage was 'now or never', running off for an elopement was the only approach to 'getting hitched' that made sense.

To be honest, neither of us is particularly keen on being the center of attention in a crowd of friends and family. We are sociable, sure, and enjoy people's company, although we do not need a hundred people we know around us to feel like we are having a good time. Plus, the idea of taking friends by surprise seemed quite in keeping with how we think they view us.

There is a lot of information on the web to assist the secretive couple-to-be, most of it designed to attract them to a particular destination, elopement package, or expensive memento of the occasion. And there is nothing wrong with that, since so much of the appeal of eloping is the fact that you can pay someone to do everything, and it still doesn't break the bank. Say that about inviting dozens of guests to a large wedding ceremony. If you really don't want that style of wedding, but really do want to get married, there should be no reason to feel guilty about eloping.

The part that we forgot, and I'm sure most people do, is how to break the news afterwards. Of course we knew that we were going to speak to our families, by phone, to tell them. But what we didn't think about was how to show them what a great time we were having and what a great decision we had made. If your mother is anything like mine, she'll be speechless when you tell her. At which point everything you say afterwards is probably lost on her. So I hope you do what we did, and make sure that you can appeal to her remaining senses – she's speechless and not hearing well but still able to see things. Make sure your folks, and everyone you speak to, have a nice place to go and see photos of your special day. We put together a simple, clean, attractive photo album on our very own elopement website. This let us get the photos to friends and family while the news was still fresh and real. And the photos were presented in a style that fitted us, in a way that looked good.

The feedback we got back from people was incredible. They could see what an amazing time we had on our wedding, well eloping-day, while we were still enjoying the honeymoon. Anyone that would have even considered being upset by the fact that we had not invited them to a large wedding probably had to question their own motives, since the photos showed it all - we were amazingly happy - and that was all that counted. At that point we could get on with enjoying ourself, not really having to worry about having to tell people.
I'm male, and happily married, and talking freely and openly about eloping. Seems kinda strange I'm sure. But its really just a way to honestly say that if you would like to announce your elopement in the same way we did, take a look at the website we set up after we settled in to married life at www.WeJustEloped.com. You'll still see our album posted up there, and there are examples of 'eloping announcements' you can use for friends that may just get an email before they get a phone call. While you are there, sign up for your own album, or contribute ideas for great elopements of your own.

Whatever you do when you elope, have an amazing day, in a great location, and announce it in style!