As a recently engaged couple, my fiancé and I had to decide whether we were going to keep it simple and elope to a tropical island or plan a wedding, where there is potential for conflict, awkwardness, language barriers and lots of unsolicited opinions.

Before we decided, we had to ask ourselves a couple of questions:

• Do we like enough people to invite to a wedding?
• Which family members are currently beefing?
• Who’s an alcoholic, and how do we keep them away from the 4-hour open bar?
• Will I be sad if my dad’s not there to walk me down the aisle?
• Are we going to regret not having ANY family or friends there to experience the day?
• Is Uncle Ted* going to be creepy and hit on all of my friends? (Name has been changed for anonymity)

The pros of eloping are obvious. Number one:  ELOPEMENTS SAVE MONEY. Also they save you from a ton of opinions from your mom, mother-in-law, and whoever is helping you pay for the wedding. The cons? Well, for starters there’s no one else there to enjoy the momentous occasion; and if there’s no guests, there’s no gifts…

Despite the anxiety that comes with wedding planning, I decided to put my best bridezilla game face on and plan a June 2018 Florida wedding, where our officiant is my co-worker, and the majority of our 50 guests may or may not like each other. Should be a blast.