p.6/The Art of Slow Travel: Turning Your Elopement into a Love-Filled Journey
Discover how slow travel transforms your elopement into a meaningful, stress-free, journey. Savor every moment of your intimate wedding and honeymoon.
What is Slow Travel?
Slow travel is the antithesis of the whirlwind vacation where you race through seven countries in ten days, ticking off landmarks like items on a grocery list. Instead, it is about depth over breadth, quality over quantity, and presence over productivity.
For eloping couples, this means choosing to spend more time in fewer places. It means renting an apartment instead of hotel-hopping. It means shopping at local markets, learning a few phrases in the local language, and finding your favorite coffee shop by the third morning. It Is about creating space for spontaneity, long conversations over wine, and simply being together without an agenda demanding your attention.
Elopements are inherently intimate affairs. You have already made the decision to step away from the traditional wedding circus and focus on what matters most: your commitment to each other.
Slow travel takes that same intentionality and extends it beyond your ceremony into the entire experience.
When you are not rushing from one photo opportunity to the next, you have time to actually feel your feelings. The magnitude of getting married deserves more than a hurried moment between flights. Slow travel gives you permission to wake up on your wedding day without an alarm, to let your ceremony unfold naturally, and to spend your first evening as a married couple doing absolutely nothing if that is what feels right.
This approach also reduces stress dramatically when planning your elopement. There is no pressure to see everything or do everything. You are not worried about missing out because you have built spaciousness into your itinerary. This calm energy becomes part of your wedding story, something you will remember far more vividly than any rushed tourist attraction.
Planning Your Slow Travel Elopement: Practical Tips
- Book Accommodations with Kitchen Access
One of the hallmarks of slow travel is cooking some of your own meals. This does not mean you cannot enjoy wonderful restaurants—it means you also have the option to shop at local markets and prepare simple meals together, which can be incredibly romantic and grounding.
- Work with an Elopement Planner Who Understands Slow Travel
A knowledgeable elopement planner can help you design an itinerary that balances meaningful experiences with plenty of downtime. They can recommend lesser-known locations, suggest the perfect amount of activities, and help you avoid the trap of over-planning.
- Consider the Season and Pace of Your Destination
Some destinations naturally lend themselves to slow travel better during certain seasons. Research when your chosen location has its shoulder season—when the weather is still pleasant but crowds are lighter and prices are lower.
The Unexpected Benefits of Slow Travel Elopements
Couples who embrace slow travel for their elopements often report unexpected benefits. There is time to actually process the significance of getting married, rather than it becoming a blur of activity. Many find that slowing down helps them communicate better, make decisions together more easily, and really enjoy each other’s company without the distractions of everyday life.
There is also something profound about associating the beginning of your marriage with presence and intentionality rather than stress and rushing. The patterns you establish during your elopement journey—the way you move through days together, how you handle decisions, the way you prioritize connection—these can set the tone for your marriage itself.
In a world constantly demanding we move faster, do more, and check off every box on our bucket lists, there is something revolutionary about choosing to slow down. This is especially true when it comes to one of the most significant moments of your life: your elopement and honeymoon.
Slow travel is not just about taking your time to get from point A to point B. It is a philosophy, mindset, and perhaps most importantly for eloping couples, it is an invitation to be fully present in the experience of beginning your marriage. When you embrace slow travel during your elopement journey, you are not just visiting a destination—you are living in it, breathing it in, and weaving it into the story of your love.
How to Design Your Slow Travel Elopement Journey
- Choose Your Elopement Destination Intentionally
Rather than planning a multi-city route, consider selecting one home base for your entire elopement journey. Whether it is a cottage in the Scottish Highlands, a villa in Tuscany, or a cabin in the Pacific Northwest, find a place that resonates with both of you. This becomes your sanctuary, a place where you will create morning rituals, cook meals together, and truly settle in.
Popular slow travel elopement destinations include Iceland, New Zealand, the Italian countryside, and remote mountain regions throughout the American West. The key is choosing a location with enough depth to explore leisurely rather than a destination you can “see” in a day or two.
- Build in Generous Buffers Around Your Wedding Day
If your elopement includes any structured elements—whether that’s your ceremony, a photographer’s time, or a special dinner—pad your schedule generously on either side. Arrive at your destination at least two days before your ceremony to decompress and acclimate. Plan to stay several days afterward so you are not immediately shifting into travel mode. These buffer days are often where the magic happens.
- Embrace the Power of Repetition
In slow travel, there is beauty in returning to the same beach, the same hiking trail, or the same restaurant. This repetition allows you to notice details you missed the first time. You become a temporary local rather than a perpetual tourist. For your elopement journey, this might mean having breakfast at the same café each morning, or taking an evening walk along the same path, watching how the light changes each day.
- Say No to FOMO When Planning Your Honeymoon
The fear of missing out can poison even the most thoughtful travel plans. When you are planning your elopement journey, resist the urge to pack in “must-see” attractions just because guidebooks tell you to. If you spend your entire honeymoon exploring the coastline near your rental and never make it to the famous museum two hours away, that is perfectly fine. You are not there to collect experiences—you are there to live one deeply.
- Prioritize Unstructured Time
This might feel counterintuitive when you are planning something as important as an elopement, but some of your best moments will be completely unplanned. Leave entire days open. Sleep in. Spend an afternoon reading on the porch. Take a spontaneous drive because the weather is nice. These moments of unstructured togetherness are the foundation of slow travel and often become the memories you treasure most.
Starting Your Slow Travel Elopement Journey
Planning a slow travel elopement requires a shift in perspective. You are measuring success not by how much you have seen or done, but by how you have felt and connected. It asks you to trust that less can truly be more, and that the depth of your experience matters more than its breadth.
Your elopement is already a departure from convention. Why not extend that philosophy to the entire journey? Choose slow travel, and give yourselves the gift of time—time to savor your first days of marriage, time to explore without rushing, and time to simply be together in a way that honors the magnitude of your commitment.
After all, you have the rest of your lives to see the world, but you only get one beginning. Let us help you make it unforgettable.
Ready to start planning your slow travel elopement? Let us know!