First things first. I'm not pregnant again. Seriously. I'm done making babies. Now that that's out of the way...the title says it all. We're eloping. There's a multitude of reasons that will bore you, but the initial one is that we want to be married without the brouhaha. We went into wedding planning begrudgingly because we don't like weddings, and that feeling hasn't lifted much. So...here we are, and here come my questions.
We decided to elope in the morning on New Year's Eve. We have a minister available for the date and time, and we approached a local used book shop owner this morning asking if we could have the ceremony in his store. He agreed, rather enthusiastically, and so now our planning is done. My two best friends have agreed to be our witnesses, and we purchased our wedding rings last night. The ceremony will be quick, and the only guests will be the shop owner and his wife, our two children, my two closest friends, and one of their husbands. I mentioned questions, right? Feel free to answer some, all, or none of them...or even to just say "shut up, Mel, this is way too long for me."
1) We will be seeing Todd's family in the evening, as we have standing plans for New Year's Eve with friends in Connecticut. So, we'll be delivering the news to his parents in person. My parents are not local. How should we tell them? Should we call them, or try to arrange to see them, as well? They're not on our route, and aren't likely to be offended...but I worry about things. OOT and all the other MOB/MOGs...if you're reading this, I'm especially interested in your input!
2) The shop owner is probably as excited as we are about this. I mean, he was just beaming and ridiculously happy that we asked to be married in his shop. We asked if we could make a donation, or at least purchase a nice bottle of wine...anything for his generosity. He responded "absolutely not, I should be buying something for you!" Obviously we want to do something for him. Besides being loyal customers for the rest of our lives, what can we do to thank him? Should we just give him cash? A present? Wine? Tip off the local paper about the mom and pop shop holding a New Year's Eve wedding so he gets publicity for his store? (that's mostly a joke, but one of my friends suggested it). We want to do whatever we can to show him how thankful we are.
3) Announcements...are they necessary, or we okay with just making the phone calls to our closest friends and family, and letting the rest of our extended relatives find out through the grapevine?
Thanks, love your faces!