I’ve heard of destination weddings and I’ve heard of elopements, but destination elopements was a new one on me.
Apparently, couples who are not wanting to fork out ghastly sums on dinner and dancing for 100 or more guests at a local catering hall, or to force their nearest and dearest to spend money and vacation time going someplace they’d rather not for a destination wedding, are employing this option.
My idea of elopement, entirely from popular culture, is that the groom leans a ladder up to the bride’s bedroom window, and they run off in the night to get hitched. But the current meaning seems to be simply that they get married, just the two of them, with perhaps a friend or two as witness. They are not at all spontaneous events, planned a year in advance and, of course, including the obligatory big white dress.
I am now an expert on all this because we witnessed one yesterday in the town of Ortisei where we’re staying in the Dolomites, and then had the good luck to be sitting at breakfast next to the mother/daughter duo who ran the thing; the daughter as the photographer/planner and the mother as the officiant. The way it works is that the daughter does all the organizing, mom has the license signed in the U.S. to make it legal, they all fly over and do the ceremony (and the all-important photos) in a spectacularly scenic location, and then bride and groom continue on to a fabulous honeymoon nearby. The couple we saw chose the top of Mount Seceda in the Dolomites, reached by a combination of cable car and hiking. The bride wore white sneakers, out of necessity.
Not surprisingly, Italy is a popular destination. I’m sure it ain’t cheap, but it’s got to be far less than the average American wedding.
What I don’t know is the consternation it caused family and friends back home to miss out on the “big day,” or whether they will someday regret not having Nonna there, after she has passed. And we all know the sorry state of marriage these days. But I do hope it all works out okay. They seemed like a nice couple of kids.
Gigi's Italia 