There’s this myth that you can’t include your family when you elope. That couldn’t be further from the truth! One of the greatest things about eloping is that you can literally do whatever you want! So if you want to include your family in your elopement, you absolutely can! Here are five ways to include your family in your elopement!

Have Your Family Write Letters for You to Read During Your Wedding!

One of the sweetest ways I’ve seen couples include their loved ones in their “just us” elopement is to have them write letters to the couple to read during their ceremony. This is such a great way to kick off or end your ceremony. Writing letters is such a personalized way to celebrate you and your partner and has led to some really special and personal moments for our couples. Some family members have given marriage advice, encouragement, and support. Whatever your family chooses to write to you about, you can bet it will be a special addition to your ceremony!

Skype Your Family for Your Ceremony!

If you want to include your family but they can’t physically be there for your wedding, consider Skyping them! This works really well if your ceremony location has phone service or internet access like at an Airbnb, but if you plan to be in a truly remote area that doesn’t have service, you can totally do this when you get back to your lodging and celebrate with your loved ones after! 

Have Your Closest People Physically Attend Your Elopement!

You and your partner can totally have a handful of your closest people actually attend your elopement! Some of the sweetest elopements I’ve photographed have included close family and/or a couple of best friends. A great way to include your family/friends in this way is to give them each a role to play during your ceremony! For example, each person can read a verse, poem, or encouraging letter. One person can hang out to the rings. Another can perform a unity ceremony.

After the ceremony, we can part ways with your family and head out for a big adventure, just the four of us! There are so many incredible ways you can incorporate your loved ones into your elopement! Mariah and Connor did just this and you can check out their elopement story here!

Have Your Private Ceremony and Meet Your Family for Dinner and Celebrate!

If you want to keep your family close, but want to have a “just us” ceremony, consider having a private ceremony and afterward meet your family and friends for dinner and a celebration! Crystal and Bo did just this for their adventurous Wyoming elopement and it was a perfect way for them to honor their privacy but party with their people afterward! This works really well if you rent an Airbnb and hire a private chef to come back to after your full day of wedding adventures! 

Turn Your Elopement into a Two Day Adventure-Packed Wedding Experience!

Torn between wanting the most epic wedding experience in the most incredible location and having your family and friends attend? You don’t have to choose! This is such a great way to get the best of both worlds! Craft your adventure-packed Colorado elopement for one day where you get to do exactly what you want to do like kayaking, rock climbing, or backpacking. The next day, you can meet up with your family and friends to celebrate your marriage!

Kaylyn and Holden did this seamlessly with a two-day backpacking adventure where they backpacked to their favorite spot in Colorado, exchanged vows, and the next day they met their family and friends for a ceremony. You can do whatever the heck you want and turn your elopement into an absolutely incredible two-day wedding experience. 

Hire a Videographer!

We love when couples choose to include their closest people in their elopement! There are so many great ways to do this, but one of the best ways to share your Colorado elopement is to hire a videographer, and we’d love to help document your wedding experience from start to finish! We absolutely love combining photos + video for our couples because it really tells your entire wedding story. Photos are amazing for capturing moments in time, hanging on your wall, gifting to loved ones, and to re-live your precious moments over and over again.

Video is an amazing way to transport you and your partner back to your wedding day. To be able to feel like you are back in the place where you promised forever to each other. Videography and photography complement each other so well and allow you to have a complete retelling of your wedding day! Pssst… we offer photo + video and would be honored to document your Colorado elopement!

We’re Here to Help!

Jake and I are so passionate about Colorado elopements and are here for you and your partner every step of the way! We love when couples choose to elope and choose to do their wedding their way! We love when couples choose a “just us” wedding experience or choose to include their loved ones. There is no wrong way to elope! However you choose to elope will be absolutely amazing and we can’t wait to not only help you every step of the way with location guides, vendor referrals, marriage license assistance, and so much more but to also document one of the best days of your lives! Your greatest adventure yet starts here, and we are so excited for you!

Your friends,
Bailee & Jake

We are a husband and wife Colorado elopement photographer and videographer! We are so stoked and honored to be able to document incredible couples getting married in the great outdoors! There is nothing that we love more than when a couple decides to be true to who they are and create their totally unique wedding experience. We absolutely love getting to meet so many amazing couples and love it when they turn into lifelong friends. 

We thrive on connecting with our couples in a real way while also getting to show them the coolest places in Colorado! You can bet we’ll be there every step of the way cheering you on, helping you out, sharing a ton of laughs, and exploring this incredible state with you and your partner! Learn more about us!