How to Feel Empowered to Elope After the Pandemic | Iceland Elopement Photographer & Planner
How to Feel Empowered to Elope After the Pandemic | Iceland Elopement Photographer & Planner
Hey all you kool kats and kittens. How are we feeling? How are you surviving during this time of the pandemic? This unprecedented time has been rocking the world of adventure elopements so I’m here to rock it a little more. (In another direction).
This resource might not be the traditional resource. I feel like everyone is getting a bit oversaturated with the realities of the virus, with articles about the virus currently, and companies making seemingly disingenuous commercials. Everyone is keeping you in the current state when I want to empower you to have something to look forward to. So though this isn’t a traditional ‘how to elope’ resource, I want to give you a glimmer of empowerment.
If you haven’t been a stranger to this website, to my social media, or to me in real life you will know that I don’t really like to do things because everyone else is doing them.
Which is not-so-strangely at all why I am an elopement photographer & planner in the first place.
My entire soul, including this elopement business, is meant to empower you to do something other than the ordinary.
In these past 6 weeks I’ve spent an insane amount of energy helping my couples with elopement’s in 2020 deal with the reality of having to postpone, making their postponement as easy as pie, and also trying to empower couples who want to elope in the future still feel really good about this decision. I am not downplaying the losses happening, the lives being changed forever, and the severity of the situation. But, we also need to see past ‘the now’ and have something to look forward to.
So here I am, feeling inspired to help you feel empowered to elope after this pandemic, too.
Below are 5 ways to feel empowered to elope after the pandemic levels out and our lives get back to what we choose to make them.
How to Feel Empowered to Elope After the Pandemic-
Step 1: Know That Everything Will Be Ok. (Eventually).
This is the first step and possibly the most important step. Right now we are in a state of ‘what the actual hell is going on’, which doesn’t make anyone feel good. People are feeling conflicted of:
Do I still plan to elope?
Do I want to keep wedding planning and elopement planning right now?
Everything is uncertain so I feel like I need to just pause everything.
I’m here to give you some permission to still plan.
This too shall pass, and when it does, you still want to be joined with the love of your life creating your new future together. If anything, this is the time to really think about how much you love them, how you have supported each other during this pandemic, and that they really are your person.
Let’s face it, if you can spend months on end in self-isolation with them and still want to marry them- they ARE your person.
When you elope you can have an entire day, nay, an entire trip dedicated to your love.
Understanding and knowing that everything will be ok, the world will balance itself out again, will help you feel better about continuing to plan.
This can even be empowering to take back control over your own future and see the next chapter you are taking together, once we are allowed back outside again.
So, get out those Pinterest boards and start feeling how happy adventuring around for your wedding will feel.
How to Feel Empowered to Elope After the Pandemic-
Step 2: Now is the Time to Commit to Eloping
Now is the time my friends. Trust me, as an elopement photographer & planner, I have personally helped many couples overcome this often push-pull feeling of ‘do I elope or should I have a conventional wedding?’ Usually, the pull comes from the couple not wanting to disappoint people they are closest to. They are afraid that their family members or even best friends will make them feel bad about the decision to elope because they are not being included in the day.
The drama that comes with choosing to elope from family & friends can be enough to not do what you want.
However, now is the time to really do what you want- guilt free.
I knowwwwwwww I know, “But Steph, you don’t know MY mom.” and “Steph, we want nothing more to elope but I won’t hear the end of it from my best friend”. I’ve heard this all before, quite often. The beauty of being the (kinda) biased party in this conversation is I have the UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE of seeing how happy couples are after they OVERCOME these feelings of guilt, tell the people they love that they will party with them later, and decide to have a celebration of their future on their terms.
Now is the time to choose your happiness
Have an adventure elopement story of your fricken dreams for your wedding.
If there is one thing we are learning during this COVID-19 pandemic, is the world can change in literally a blink of an eye, so do what makes you happy.
There. I said it.
I will tell you as I tell 100% of my couples dealing with this same drama-
You can blame me when you are getting guilted.
Tell them it’s my fault.
I’ll be the bad guy for you.
Here for you.
* raises fist *
How to Feel Empowered to Elope After the Pandemic-
Step 3: Eloping is Better for the Planet
This time is forcing everyone inside, forcing factories to shut because the workers can’t be gathered together, and forcing other industries to take a pause right now. This is something that we have never seen before in our lifetimes. Ive been seeing news articles showing how the pollution levels have lowered dramatically during this pandemic. This is one side affect I am pretty stoked on and really hope people take this into account moving forward after we all get back to a seemingly normal day-to-day life.
Eloping is also better for the planet in terms of the waste it saves, so choosing to elope can keep this trend of helping the planet heal.
Eloping helps curb the 400 POUNDS of garbage and 63 TONS of Co2 a conventional wedding creates. With about 2.5 million weddings a year, that equals to about 1 BILLION pounds of trash and as many emissions as four people produce in year- in one day. When choosing to elope, you will be avoiding all of that garbage and contribute to much less of a carbon footprint. There is still some impact due to flights and car rentals, which you can donate to charities to help offset your carbon footprint.
Eloping will help you not add to the wedding waste and help the trend of the planet getting a much needed break.
Plus, eloping will save you money in the long run (not paying for a venue, for catering, for pointless details, etc) AND give you an experience that you will hold as one of the most important experiences for the rest of your lives.
How to Feel Empowered to Elope After the Pandemic-
Step 4: Being Secluded in Nature
One thing we are all learning is that for the next few months (see: unsure how many) we might want to stay away from some crowds. Eloping will have you secluded and away from as many people as possible. Just you two and me.
You can feel empowered to deciding to elope because everyone will understand the want to be secluded.
Here in Iceland, and in pretty much every other spot I get taken to for elopements, we are out in the wilderness. Just the fresh air, the mountains, and the vast nature. It’s calming on a level that nothing else can compare to. You can be away from groups possibly feeling paranoid that you can’t even hug everyone, shake hands, or feel completely free.
Making the empowered decision to elope is also being empowered to take the day into your own hands and go out into nature where you can be fully present all day, loving on your parter.
How to Feel Empowered to Elope After the Pandemic-
Step 5: It Takes a Lot Less Effort to Postpone an Elopement
If something were to happen again, which I don’t want BY ANY MEANS, it takes a lot less effort to postpone and reschedule an elopement. Usually you are dealing with anywhere from one person (if you hired a planner and photographer like myself) to a few if you also have hired some vendors like hair and makeup, florist, etc. So you can feel empowered knowing that in the long run you might have the most amount of control in moving your wedding should something happen again.
Having control during a situation seemingly so out of control can feel empowering.
As being someone within the wedding industry, I have been reading so many horror stories from couples who have planned the conventional wedding and then not be able to postpone and lose their venue completely. I’ve been seeing venues sadly going out of business and not giving the couples back their money, and I have seen couples struggling to rearrange so many moving parts to their day. It hardly seems to come back together how it was planned in the first place.
When choosing to elope you are choosing to boil your day down to the important parts, to leave out the things that will cause extra effort, and only have a small amount of planning to do.
Feel empowered right now to say that no, you don’t want to have that big wedding, because you are regaining as much control over the event as you possibly can.
The bottom line is this:
if you were wanting to elope but needed some extra help, this is your permission to do so.
More often than not when I am speaking to couples on the phone for the first time they express to me in some capacity:
We aren’t totally committed to eloping because we are getting guilt tripped.
We really want to elope but we don’t know if we will be supported.
We deep down know that an adventure elopement is the right choice for us but the idea of being brave to declare it is still scary.
As we are coming through the trenches of this pandemic changing our world, there is one big lesson here I am learning.
The world can change in a moment flat.
Why do something in order to make others happy when this is your one chance to stand up for what would make you happy?
Regret can change your future, so here’s your excuse to feel empowered to make the decision, elope, and have the time of your fricken lives.
And don’t forget to blame me if drama ensues. I got you.