HOW TO ELOPE IN THE FRASER VALLEY
Have you and your partner considered eloping but don't know where to start? Eloping can be a wonderful and intimate way to celebrate your love without the stress and expense of a traditional wedding. In this blog post, we'll guide you through the process of planning your elopement, from choosing a location to obtaining necessary documents. Let's get started on creating your dream elopement
1. Pick a day (or two).
Before you can really do anything else, you have to pick a date! As with many other areas of planning an elopement, the date is something you don’t have to overthink. Just find a few days that work for you and your partner in a season or month that you love! Decide which one would be your top choice and keep the other one or two as a backup date just in case your vendors are already booked. Once you have that done, you can start the rest of your planning!
2. Pick a location.
There are so many incredible places to elope. In the Fraser Valley alone, we have mountaintops, lakes, flower fields, barns and farms, private estates, and so much more!! Our couples get access to our exclusive Location Guide and will receive personalized suggestions based on what they’re looking for, but if you want a start, check out this blog post to see our top 5 favourite elopement locations in the Fraser Valley!
3. Book your vendors.
Once you know when and where you’re getting married, you can start reaching out to the vendors you want to include in your day! The only vendor you truly need is an officiant or marriage commissioner to perform your ceremony. Although you can technically get married without a photographer, we highly recommend having one there to document your day. Besides having those pictures to look back on for years to come, you’ll be able to share a part of your day with family and friends that weren’t there with you! That’s why we include both an officiant and photographer in our basic elopement packages at Wildly Wed Elopement Co.!
4. Invite your witnesses (and/or guests).
Just because you’re “eloping” doesn’t mean you can’t have guests there. In fact, in order to legally get married, you must have two witnesses sign your marriage documents! These can be any two people from your guest list, two of your vendors (not including your officiant or commissioner), or even two strangers walking by who have a few minutes to be present for your ceremony! Our packages are based on elopements with up to 15 guests, but if you are choosing to not invite any guests, we are more than happy to help provide witnesses!
5. Get your marriage license.
Your marriage license is what your officiant or commissioner needs in order to legally sign off on your marriage. If you do not have this with you at your ceremony, you cannot be legally married. It is super important to have, but it is also super easy to get! Only one of you has to be present to get it, but you will have to have identification for both of you (birth certificate, immigration form, permanent resident card, or citizenship card- passport/drivers license may be accepted, but it’s better to bring the primary forms of identification). It is a $100 fee and you can find where to purchase it here: https://connect.health.gov.bc.ca/marriage-offices!
And that’s it.
Getting married doesn’t need to be stressful or complicated. If you’re ready to start planning your dream elopement, we’d love to help you!! Reach out here to get this party started!