the.com/elopement
A wedding that fired the guest list and kept the marriage.
means A secret or sudden marriage undertaken without a formal ceremony or the family's involvement, usually by running off together.
from From the Anglo-French word 'aloper,' describing a wife running away from her husband — itself possibly linked to the word 'leap,' as in bounding off impulsively. The word originally carried a whiff of scandal, tied up in old laws about runaway wives, before it loosened over the centuries into today's more romantic sense: two people dashing off to marry on their own terms, guest list be damned.
- original meaning
- Running off specifically to escape disapproving parents
- modern twist
- Now often just two people and a hired photographer
- cost logic
- Skips the $30000 reception, keeps the vows
- legal status
- Just as married as the 300-guest version