Elopology

Famous Historical Elopements

Aside from recent celebrity elopements, there have been many famous elopements throughout history.  Below is an excerpt from our book, Let's Elope! showing that eloping is not just for a the budget traveler but it is for true romantics.  My favorite is the Clark Gable story. Enjoy!

Famous Elopements

A Love Written in the Stars (and Stripes): Betsy Ross

Betsy (Griscom) Ross was raised in a strict Quaker family in Pennsylvania. She was serving an apprenticeship as an upholsterer when she met and fell in love with John Ross, an Episcopalian. They eloped, but Betsy suffered the con­sequences. She was “read out” of the Quaker meeting house for marrying an Episcopalian, which cut her off completely from her religious community and her family. Soon after, at the request of Congress, Betsy Ross sewed the first Stars and Stripes flag for the new United States of America.

Sweet 16s: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley, famous radical political writer of the early 1800s, first caused a scandal when he married 16­-year-old Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a coffee­house keeper. They eloped to Scotland and Shelley’s father never forgave him for creating such a scene. Shelley moved to Ireland and became known for his revolutionary speeches on politics and religion. He later returned to En­gland and met fellow revolutionary thinker William God­win. Shelley was struggling financially, so Godwin invited Shelley and his wife to live in his home. Shelley started to feel that Harriet was not able to share his intellectual pur­suits and they separated. Shelley then became intrigued with Godwin’s 16-year-old daughter, Mary, and they be­came secret lovers. Godwin disapproved of the romance and in July 1814, the couple eloped to France. Mary Shel­ley went on to become an author and wrote the famous horror story Frankenstein.

Frankly, Scarlett, I’m in love with someone else…

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, perhaps one of Hollywood’s most romantic couples, eloped in March 1939. Their romance began in 1936 when both were at a formal ball called The White Mayfair Ball. Although earlier they had filmed a movie together and seemed to be interested in each other at that time, they had an argument and no romance followed. The morning after their “remeeting” at the ball, Gable awoke to doves flying about his hotel room. Lombard had ordered the doves and Gable knew he had another chance with her. In March 1939, when taking a few days off from filming Gone with the Wind, Gable showed that he really didn’t “give a damn” about Scarlett, and he and Lombard eloped to Kingman, Arizona.

My story

So, as I sit here and say to myself “how can we make our site attract more visitors?”, “How can we get people so share their story,” and “why did I invite my entire Yahoo address book that spans back 10 years to join me on LinkedIn?” (an accident), I thought I would share my eloping story. I’m new to this blogging thing. I’ve actually never blogged before I had a blog. I actually read the directions on “how to blog”. Seriously. I’ve read a lot about how to exist on the web and so far I have invited old boyfriends and my children’s teachers to join me on LinkedIn and I have a few people following me on Twitter (I know them all). I also finally signed up for Facebook and am feeling a new wave of popularity because so many people want to be my friend, now, despite the fact that I haven’t even finished my profile – and I haven’t posted my picture. Will they still want to connect with me when they see I’ve shaved my head, had it tattooed with images of bats and skulls and had those fake devil horns inserted into my scalp – and I got porcelain bonding on my teeth so that I have fangs?

One thing I do very well online is research and book travel. That is the beauty of the web. You can find great travel deals, especially if you have the luxury of being spontaneous – which I don’t – but I fantasize about using every weekend e-saver that is posted. I intend to bring you great ideas, stories, deals and the latest info on how and why to elope. So if you can ignore an occasional font mess-up, weird indent or story that I may think is funny and you don’t…you will enjoy the site. In my vast reading about “How To Blog” (should be followed by…”yes, you’re an idiot), the experts say “be honest,” and “be yourself.” I’ll give it a try.

I was born in 1968 to a nice couple…Just Kidding. I won’t start there. Oh, not kidding about the couple, they are nice people.

Back in 2001, my husband, Harris, and I were engaged and tried to plan a destination wedding but it wasn’t working out. We were both traveling every week. We would meet up on the weekends and preferred to re-group and go out rather than to plan a huge event. I did not need to have “the big day” with all eyes on me and Harris had no wedding dreams of his own (oh…well...except to marry some totally hot chick, I suppose).

So, we decided to elope. We thought Vermont would be nice. I went to the bookstore. The woman at the counter said “oh, I was at a beautiful wedding at the Inn at the Round Barn Farm in Vermont.” I walked home, checked out the Inn at the Round Barn Farm. Perfect. I called asking if they had anything available for the following week. They did. I asked if they knew someone who could marry us. They did. One of the Innkeepers was a Justice of the Peace. I asked if they could make us a dinner reservation. They could. I booked the rooms and then booked the flights. Now to my bride’s checklist:

1. Buy dress
2. Get tux
3. Buy rings
4. Plan a big party for after our return

Not a bad list when you think that it involved a marriage ceremony. I decided to tell my brother and sister. They were on board. In the following week, I got a cute dress off the rack, Harris bought a tux (he’s 6’7”, not a lot of rental options), we got rings, booked a reception site, picked the menu, and printed up invitations to the reception. We made the guest list and a friend addressed the invites. I told my brother and sister. We all went out for drinks to plan a bit and to celebrate and we got flagged at the bar! When was the last time THAT happened to you?

We were set to fly to Vermont from Newark on July 5^th. On July 4^th I went to my parent’s house for a family gathering. In my old room I hid a box wrapped in wedding paper as well as a bottle of champagne with a wedding label on it. Inside of the box I had the invitation addressed to my parents (which was the standard….Mr. and Mrs. Blah Blah invite you to celebrate the marriage of their daughter….) and a photo album that included pictures of my sister and I buying the dress, our night out, the wedding bands, and a brochure from the Inn.

The next day I did the usual bride stuff: manicure, pedicure, etc. and drove to Newark with a carry-on bag and my dress. Met Harris at the airport. Boarded our plane to Burlington. It was a short flight. We drove to the Inn and arrived around midnight. Samples of wedding vows were on our pillow. We picked one out. The next day was Friday, July 6^th, our wedding day. We got our marriage license, a bouquet of flowers and boutonniere and went back to the hotel. I went swimming. We were getting married at 5pm and had dinner reservations at 6pm. I got out of the pool, got dressed and met Harris in the hallway. We went outside to a place we had picked out and were married. There happened to be a famous opera singer staying at the Inn and he sang a few notes for us from the deck. We all enjoyed champagne together and then went to the room. I called my brother and sister to tell them we were married and they got in their cars to drive to my parent’s house. I then called my parents and told my mom to go to my old room so she could find the box. She opened it up, read her invitation, and realized we got married. My parents were thrilled and thought we made a great decision. I then warned my mother that she had 5 weeks to find a dress to wear to our party, change the menu if she wanted, and add/delete to the guest list. We hung up the phone and went to dinner. Great food, great wine, great time.

We spent the next few days enjoying Vermont and relaxing.

The party was a huge success. I danced with my dad and he wore his tux. We had great music, a fabulous bar, delicious food and we carried on well into the night.

I have no regrets. It was the perfect option for us.So, think about it. It’s fun to plan something in secret and something that you want as a couple. Give it a try, you won’t be sorry.

Oh, if you want to check out the Inn at the Round Barn Farm, the link is below.

http://www.innatroundbarn.com/