Let's Elope: The Definitive Guide to Eloping, Destination Weddings, and Other Creative Wedding Options [Paperback]

Scott Shaw (Author), Lynn Beahan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2001

Can't cope? Elope!

Admit it. You always thought eloping sounded kind of romantic, right? Too bad everyone expects you to have The Big Wedding -- the kind you always thought you wanted. So now that you're engaged and knee-deep in wedding planning, why are you secretly wishing you could just fly off to a tropical island and say your I do's in your bathing suit?

Well, you can! There are many different ways to elope -- and not all of them involve running off in the middle of the night. These days, "eloping" is anything other than a traditional wedding -- from a steps-of-city-hall ceremony with just the two of you, to a fun-filled "destination wedding" with your family and closest friends.

Let's Elope is filled with creative ideas for exchanging your vows in a memorable, personalized way that won't necessarily cost you a fortune -- or your sanity. Let's Elope includes:
* A brief history of weddings -- and why people first began to elope
* A quiz to help you decide if eloping is right for you
* Inspiring anecdotes from real-life couples who chose to opt out of a traditional wedding
* Elopement etiquette, including how to break the news to your family and friends
* Information on how to plan destination weddings, country weekend weddings, and surprise weddings
* Up-to-the-minute addresses, phone numbers, and Web sites for the world's top elopement spots
* Tons of ideas about what to do with all the money you saved!

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Here's a guide for couples willing to break some traditional rules. Behan and Shaw, who eloped with his wife in 1997, offer a short history of elopement and talk about reasons modern couples elope: stress reduction, finances, and the desire to be unique. They define elopement today as anything other than the big, traditional wedding and discuss options ranging from minimally planned escape elopements to some of the hybrid wedding-elopement choices like surprise weddings, dinner-party weddings, destination weddings, and theme weddings also covered extensively in Robin Kring's Storybook Weddings (Meadowbrook, 1998). Sidebars feature happy couples discussing their elopements, while a quiz helps readers identify which elopement option is right for them. Sections on communicating the big decision to others and elopement etiquette are quite helpful. More than half of the book discusses where to wed, offering tips on web sites, wedding packages, and favorite, romantic, and exotic locales. For all collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Can't cope? Elope!

Admit it. You always thought eloping sounded kind of romantic, right? Too bad everyone expects you to have The Big Wedding -- the kind you always thought you wanted. So now that you're engaged and knee-deep in wedding planning, why are you secretly wishing you could just fly off to a tropical island and say your I do's in your bathing suit?

Well, you can! There are many different ways to elope -- and not all of them involve running off in the middle of the night. These days, "eloping" is anything other than a traditional wedding -- from a steps-of-city-hall ceremony with just the two of you, to a fun-filled "destination wedding" with your family and closest friends.

Let's Elope is filled with creative ideas for exchanging your vows in a memorable, personalized way that won't necessarily cost you a fortune -- or your sanity. Let's Elope includes:
* A brief history of weddings -- and why people first began to elope
* A quiz to help you decide if eloping is right for you
* Inspiring anecdotes from real-life couples who chose to opt out of a traditional wedding
* Elopement etiquette, including how to break the news to your family and friends
* Information on how to plan destination weddings, country weekend weddings, and surprise weddings
* Up-to-the-minute addresses, phone numbers, and Web sites for the world's top elopement spots
* Tons of ideas about what to do with all the money you saved!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (January 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553380826
• ISBN-13: 978-0553380828
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as "Beyond Vegas", July 10, 2003

By 

Econ PhD Student (Cornell University) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Elope: The Definitive Guide to Eloping, Destination Weddings, and Other Creative Wedding Options (Paperback)

I bought this book as soon as my fiance and I were engaged, excitted about the prospect of eloping. Reading it will get you excited about eloping, show you that it can be done, and give you some general ideas as to how to start the process, but when it comes down to it, the book does not offer that great of advice.

I highly recommend that you consider buying "Beyond Vegas" by Lisa Tabb and Sam Silverstine instead of "Let's Elope." We ended up buying both of them in the end, and actually using the information in BV to plan our wedding in Scotland. Unlike with Let's Elope, the authors actually got married in all of the destinations discussed in there books, and give all the pointers you need, not just what can be found on the official country registrar web sites.

Have fun with it. But don't buy two books when one will do.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Straight Dope on Eloping, February 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Let's Elope: The Definitive Guide to Eloping, Destination Weddings, and Other Creative Wedding Options (Paperback)

Since my engagement over a year ago, I have been delicately evasive when asked the constant When's-the-date? question. I adore my fiancé and am ecstatic at the idea of our spending the rest of our lives with each other. Still, I've seen too many of my supposedly level-headed friends get in over their heads during the planning of a wedding: finances spiraling out of control, knock-down drag-out fights over minute details, overbearing mothers-of-the-bride...you name it.

Enter "Let's Elope : The Definitive Guide to Eloping, Destination Weddings, and Other Creative Wedding Options". I found it on a display at Barnes and Noble, hidden behind a ponderous book on wedding floral arrangements. At last! A book that confirms what I've suspected all along! Beahan and Shaw cover alternatives to a traditional wedding in a lighthearted, hilarious style. I loved the sections about throwing a "Surprise Wedding" and breaking the elopement news gently to loved ones. The how-to half of the book is chock-full of ideas on holding your wedding anywhere from Nantucket to Scotland to Fiji. My only disappointment is that their website (www.letselope.com) isn't ready yet. You can be sure that I'm buying additional copies and shipping these anonymously to my family and friends!

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for those already sold on eloping, July 20, 2004

By 

Agave grrl (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Elope: The Definitive Guide to Eloping, Destination Weddings, and Other Creative Wedding Options (Paperback)

I bought this book hoping for some research on wedding locations. Instead, this book spends a bit of time in each chapter reminding you of the benefits of eloping and querying you to make certain you want to elope.

I know I don't want a wedding. I was just hoping for some well-researched advice on locations where I could get married and have my marriage legal in the US. Felt too much like a traditional wedding book to me.