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Then there is the issue of witnesses. Does your state require someone? If you have a friend or family member in mind, will you send a formal invitation, or just ask them to do you this favor? Will your witnesses be wedding guests, or just people who sign paperwork? If you have your best friends as witnesses, are they maid of honor and best man? And what will you ask them to wear? You are probably fine letting them choose their own outfits for your wedding, but you should probably at least establish the level of formality. Will you want them dressed up, or would it be more important to you that they show up in casual clothes?

And what will you wear? If you're not making a big event of it, do you still want a traditional wedding dress or tuxedo? It's certainly not a requirement, but it's your wedding -- do what you want. By eloping, you're saving lots of money, so you can splurge on a fancy dress if it's what you want to do. If not a wedding dress, maybe you at least want wedding clothes -- maybe a nice suit with a new tie for him, and a sweet new dress for you -- something that will always be your wedding dress, but that you can wear again whenever you want.

The day will always be memorable for you, no matter how you dress or arrange the ceremony -- the question is simply what you want to remember about it.

My wedding -- I feel weird even calling it that, because it was so low-key -- was about as un-wedding-like as could be. McKenzie and I had been talking about eloping for a while already, not really planning anything, but we had agreed this was what we would do. On March 31st, he said, "Do you think it would be funny to get married on April Fools Day? We could tell everyone and no one would know if we were serious or not." To me, this was brilliant. What fun to think that our friends and families might wonder for years to come if we were pulling off the greatest prank of all time. This is exactly the sort of thing our friends would suspect from us. I loved the idea, and we went to the courthouse that afternoon to get our license and make an appointment for the next day.

At the Albemarle County courthouse, weddings are performed at the sheriff's office by whichever officer is present at the time. We made our appointment without meeting the officiant, and returned the next day to get hitched. We didn't get special clothes or flowers for the event, but we did decide to dress nicely, in clothes we already owned. The sheriff asked us if we wanted to go out in the park for our ceremony, but we opted to just exchange our vows in his office, surrounded by pictures of his kids and the FBI's most wanted.

When he got to the part about exchanging rings, he had to improvise, because we were already wearing them, as we had been since early in our relationship. It was done in two minutes, and we were married. It may not sound like your idea of a dream wedding, but the quirky ceremony was perfect for the two of us.

When you have a wedding, everyone says "It's your day -- do what you want!" Well, the same goes for your elopement. Make it as much -- or as little -- of a wedding as you'd like.