Why We Are Eloping in Alaska

I wish I had a dollar for every time I was asked the question “why are you eloping?” or “why Alaska?”. I get it!! We admit that it seems pretty random, so I’m here to answer 7 questions we get asked almost every day! 😊

1. Why are you eloping?

The first reason we decided to elope is because we wanted to hold our vows as the most important and intimate part of the wedding process. So much of this is public. Heck, so much of my life in general is public, but it was extremely important to the both of us that we give this moment the privacy it deserves.

When the hard days come, it’s just going to be the two of us. I want to always go back to that day on the mountain and know that we were both clear-headed and not distracted by anything when we made our vows. I am a people-pleaser by nature and I know that if we had a traditional church wedding, I’d be focused on if my mom was happy or the bridesmaids were fed or everyone was there on time. So, we opt’d out of the whole thing.

2. Are you writing your own vows?

Yes! That has always been a non-negotiable for me, and I made that clear to Mike from the start. However, that didn’t stop him from trying to get out of it, haha! We went to my friend Kirsti’s wedding after 3 months of dating, and they wrote their own, beautiful vows. He leaned over to me and said, “I’m never writing my own vows” and I said, “well then you’re never marrying me!” I didn’t mean it to sound so sassy; I was just stating a fact.

In my mind, if my fiance isn’t willing to put the time, thought, and energy into reflecting on our relationship and writing personalized vows, I really don’t see him putting time and energy into working on a life-long relationship. I want the vows to sound like Mike. That is just my personal opinion about my own marriage though. ✌️

3. Why Alaska?

Why not Alaska? Actually, let’s go to Mexico real quick. Mike & I dated for 13 months before we said “I love you” and finally said it in Mexico in December 2017. During that trip, I remember bringing up the idea of eloping on a mountain and making an epic adventure out of it. This is one thing that Mike and I immediately agreed on, so we started looking into eloping in Asheville, NC.

When we got engaged, I started thinking more large-scale and I was probably following too many elopement photographers on Instagram. I pitched Norway. That got shut down immediately. We both wanted to be in a park that wasn’t overly crowded and Mike definitely wanted to stay in the USA. So, we landed on the last frontier! 🙂

4. Who is marrying you?

My dad! He is an elder at our church and he married us legally before we left. 🤫

5. What date will you celebrate for your anniversary?

HA good question. I mean, we are basically having 3 weddings. The first (legal) one, the real one, and then the reception. I’m the type of person to celebrate all of the little days, but we will use August 1^st as our anniversary!

6. What did your families think?

Ooo if you’re asking this question, you probably already know the answer. Honestly, it wasn’t easy. People at church would go up to my mom, apologize to her, and literally cry because they were so sad for her.

As an only child, I felt like the only reason I wanted to have a traditional wedding was to honor my parents and friends, and that right there was enough reason to rethink things. After everyone realized that we were serious, most got on board.

7. Do you have any regrets?

Like anything in life, there are pros and cons. I’d be lying if I said I’m not sad that I didn’t get to walk down the aisle with my dad or have my nanny be a flower girl or stand up next to all of my girlfriends. But, no regrets. It was hard to not type that as ragrets.

I think the most common misconception about all of this is that our decision was perfectly easy and we just wanted to set off and leave everyone else behind. Our decision to elope, just the two of us, has everything to do with the sanctity of our vows and nothing to do with excluding anyone from our wedding.

Hopefully that cleared up some confusion for you! Mike and I are so excited to start this new chapter of our lives, and we are so thankful for you. If you haven’t checked out our Charleston Proposal Story, go give it a quick read. I finally got around to writing the post after what, 8 months? 😊

xx, Chels

*Photos by the incredible Emily Eileen Photography