The History of Elopements: From Running Away to Rethinking the Micro Wedding

Once upon a time, to elope meant something very specific: you were running away to marry. The word has long been associated with escaping secretly and historically, an elopement could mean a couple disappearing together, sometimes without their families approval to get married somewhere else. Just the two of them, a decision and a little bit of rebellion. But the meaning of elopement has changed quite a bit over time.

For much of history, marriage wasn't entirely a private affair. Families, finances, religion, social expectations and reputation could all have a say in who married whom and how the wedding was celebrated. So, for some couples, running away was a way of taking that decision back. The runaway wedding has always carried a certain mythology with it: two people leaving everything behind, traveling somewhere they could marry and returning with the deed done. It sounds like something from an old movie and perhaps that's part of why the idea of eloping has remained so romantic!

Today, eloping doesn't necessarily mean sneaking out in the middle of the night or keeping the marriage a secret. Modern couples have taken the original idea, let's just skip the production and just get married and interpreted it in their own way. An elopement might mean just the couple. It might include parents, siblings or a few close friends. Somewhere along the way, the line between an elopement and a micro wedding became beautifully blurry.

So, What Is a Micro Wedding?

A micro wedding is essentially a small wedding celebration but there's no universal number that makes something officially “micro.” For some couples, it's six people. For others, it's fifteen or twenty. For couples planning an elopement or micro wedding in Miami, or looking for a small wedding venue in South Florida, keeping things intimate doesn't mean keeping things ordinary. Little Rose Chapel offers a private, intimate setting for couples who want to get married with their closest people, without taking on the scale of a traditional wedding. And if you're coming from Fort Lauderdale, Broward, or even Orlando, we’re close enough to make your wedding day feel like a little getaway without actually going far.