Eloping - Various Locations
Written by Amanda Jones for San Francisco Chronicle Magazine
One of you just popped the question, the other agreed, and the euphoria of lifelong commitment has set in. You shop for rings, which you swore wasn’t really important to you, but now that you’re looking, the four C’s (carat, clarity, cut, color) suddenly strike you as the definition of eternal love. You end up spending twice what you thought you would, but what the hell, you only get married once—right?
Ah, but you’re still an innocent, you have no idea of what is to come. The ugly truth about the cost of getting married is yet to be revealed. According to wedding planner Kristi Amoroso, the Bay Area is America’s most expensive place to wed. She organizes larger budget weddings—which, in these lavish times, can range into the millions of dollars (one dot.com magnate paid Elton John a purported 1.3 million to sing at his nuptials). This year she’s busier than ever. “Clichéd as it sounds, I think everyone popped the question at midnight on December 31st, 1999.” A very average-budget wedding, according to Amoroso, costs about $30,000—and that’s with average food, average dress, average flowers, average music—no ice sculptures, no tent, no giant prawns.
So, has the thought of elopement ever occurred to you?
Imagine where you could go, where you could stay, what you could eat and drink for half the $30,000. Or consider the upside—you get to spend the whole lot on yourself; you won’t have to return the four faux antique brass spittoons you are given; most appealing of all, you leave Aunt Rose the madwoman and cousin Charlie the drunk behind. We’re stretching the term elopement a little here, allowing you to include a few of your closest friends and family (if you so wish). You can plan it in advance, and you are permitted any amount of festivities at the destination. The following places are quite used to couples fleeing the tribulations of a hometown marriage.
Palazzo Terranova, Umbria, Italy.
If you’ve always dreamed of owning an Italian country house, here’s your opportunity to at least pretend. Two hours outside Rome, Palazzo Terranova sits in the bucolic setting of Northern Umbria. It’s a fabulous mini-palace built in the 1720s. The British owner, Sarah Townsend, has restored it to its glorious, opulent, Romanesque decadence. To be legal, you must have a civil ceremony (with translator) at the town hall in Citta de Castella, a charming old Roman town. Then you return to the Palazzo and have a “blessing” ceremony in the flower garden overlooking the Tiber Valley. Naturally, the feast afterwards is to die for. The house has eight bedrooms in total, (suitable for an intimate ensemble). Stay in the La Traviata room, the palazzo’s most decadent. It comes with hand carved marble bathtub, perfect for two.
Phone: (39) 075-857-0083
E-mail sarah@palazzoterranova.com
www.palazzoterranova.com
rooms between $290-$610
Coconuts Beach Club, Upolu, Samoa
If your style is barefoot on a beach somewhere far, far away—would Samoa do? The island of Upolu is lush and pristine, abundant with waterfalls and white sandy beaches. It has two fine resorts, one of which is the casually elegant, American-owned Coconuts. You can take the few family and friends, or, (here’s a concept)‚ go alone. Although you can get married perfectly legally by a Samoan Methodist minister or a secular celebrant, consider the exotic option of a being joined by a local chief, (who also happens to be the late-night bartender at Coconuts), in a traditional Samoan ceremony. Chief Papalii, wearing his bark cloth lava lava (wrap around skirt), presides; the best man is Sila the tour guide, and Alofa the hotel manager’s pretty girlfriend stands in as bridesmaid. Get the fire dancers (more skilled than anything you’ve ever seen in Hawaii) and traditional string band to perform afterwards as you snack on your lobster feast by tiki torch.
Phone: 685-24849 Fax: 685-20071
E-mail:reservations@coconuts.ws
http://www.coconutsbeachclubsamoa.com
Rooms from $99-$299
Gold Lake Mountain Resort and Spa, Ward, Colorado
So you want to run away but you don’t have the time, money or inclination to go too far? Gold Lake may be a solid solution. Nestled in the Indian Peaks Wilderness 30 minutes outside of Boulder, this place is a true retreat. Built in the 1800s beside Gold Lake, it has natural hot pools and seventeen organic cabins decorated with copper, marble and slate. Although they do plenty of regular weddings, if you’re looking for any kind of alternative ceremony (Buddhist, same-sex, New Age) this is definitely the place to go. Wedding couples stay in the Lake House, a secluded cabin right on the lakefront with it’s own sauna, antiques, log beds and fireplace. Imagine your wedding day. You hike at sunrise, soak in the hot pools, have a massage, get dressed and catch a horse drawn carriage (the groom can arrive by canoe) to the ceremony on Inspiration Point, a meadow overlooking the lake. What could be simpler?
Phone:1-800-450-3544
E-mail:reservations@goldlake.com
http://www.goldlake.com
Lake House (depending on season) $395-$495.
Chateau Gilly, Burgundy, France
Smack in the center of France’s famed wine making region is this chateau, originally established as a priory in the 6th century, added to in the 14th century and remodeled in the 17th century. If grand is the way you want to go, you can’t do better. Complete with moats and acres of sprawling sculptured gardens, here is your opportunity to impress your friends. Imagine getting hitched in an original Gothic period room with Gregorian chants performed by locals. The chateau actually has a wedding “package” which includes flowers, photographs, an honorary citizenship to the Gilly les Citeaux Village, gourmet dinner, a carriage ride through the Citeaux forest and one night in the Prestige room.
Phone: 33 3 80 62 89
Fax: 33 3 80 62 82 34
E-mail: gilly@wanadoo.fr
http://www.slh.com/pages/g/gilgilba.html ; Rooms $77-$370
Glenora Estate, Waiheke Island, New Zealand
You want the flavor and elegance of Europe, but you’re sick of the Continent and want something fresh. Or, putting it bluntly, you need a location so far offshore that all those obligatory invitees won’t show up. New Zealand, although only a 12 hour (from LAX) overnight flight, will guarantee that. And Glenora Estate, a very upmarket B&B built to look like a one hundred-year-old French farmhouse, is the perfect one-stop-shop for an effortless, unique wedding. It just so happens that owner Sally Holland is a photographer and her husband, Derek, a marriage celebrant. Sally has exquisite taste and you can be assured of a classy affair. Stay in the romantic Brittany Barn in the potager garden and put your bridal party in the two rooms in the house.
Phone: 64 9 372-5082
Fax: 64 9 372-5087
E-mail glenora.estate@xtra.co.nz
www.waiheke.co.nz/glenora.htm
Rooms from $95-$160.
*please check on legality of ceremonies
*room prices quoted are for double occupancy per night. Prices may fluctuate with currency conversion