Your Wedding, Your Way: Destination Elopements, Intimate Ceremonies, and Other Nontraditional Nuptials: A Guide for the Modern Couple

Your Wedding, Your Way is a resourceful handbook for modern couples who want to celebrate their marriage in a way that feels true to them and is financially reasonable, whether that's an elegant dinner party, a weekend camping trip in a national park, or a road trip to Vegas.

Nowadays, more and more couples are eschewing tradition for a wedding celebration that feels more reflective of who they are and what they value. Whether it's a courthouse ceremony or a weeklong destination trip, there are so many ways to celebrate a union that don't require a big white dress, months of stressful planning, and an inflated budget.

For couples who want to do things a little differently, Your Wedding, Your Way is a resourceful guide full of helpful advice and how-tos, fun sidebars and listicles, and anecdotes from real couples who did it themselves. Modern couples of all ages and sexualities who are uninterested in the traditional wedding hoopla and are looking for alternative ways to celebrate will appreciate this practical handbook, and particularly millennials and Gen-Zers who reevaluated their priorities in recent years; who feel disconnected from antiquated traditions; who are getting married later and financing their wedding themselves; and who prefer meaningful experiences over things.

UNIQUE TO MARKET: Your Wedding, Your Way is an in-depth and one-of-a-kind resource for modern couples. There is no book dedicated to nontraditional weddings that is nearly as thorough as this one.

KNOWLEDGABLE AUTHOR: Scott Shaw wrote one of the few books to focus on elopements, Let's Elope, in 2001. Scott Shaw brings this background and his own personal experience (he eloped!), while Kim Olsen brings a youthful perspective and her journalistic eye.

ART OF ELOPING BRAND: The authors, Kim Olsen and Scott Shaw, recently launched their elopement brand, called The Art of Eloping, a go-to resource for couples who are planning to elope. Their website complements this book, offering a database of elopement vendors, interactive checklists, and inspiration via stories of real couples who eloped.

Perfect for:

• Couples who are interested in having a nontraditional wedding
• Millennial and Gen-Z couples who want an intimate celebration that doesn't drain the bank
• LGBTQ+ couples
• People who have been married before/are celebrating a second wedding or vow renewal
• Modern couples who prefer experiences over things

Scott Shaw is an entrepreneur, restaurant owner, and author of Let's Elope (2001), which was the first and is still one of the only books on this topic.

They both live in Washington, DC.

Kim Olsen is a freelance writer who has written for Runner's World, Washingtonian, and Pittsburgh Magazine. She has an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Pittsburgh.